Blade, Illo, Tierney-Martin and Prendergast off to SA:
https://www.irishrugby.ie/2022/09/14/emerging-ireland-squad-named-for-toyota-challenge-in-bloemfontein/
Well ok for Blade and Cian
Not good for TH and Hooker above all
Hope we get an exception, because of Delahunt injury, to have Heffernan straight in 1st game, doubt it
If not it's Steewart/De Butlear, who played 30 and 0 minutes respectively last season, will be difficult
Aungier has to step up fully and quickly too...
Well it turns out I was wrong about Blade
Chay Mullins also listed as a Connacht player on that release
Pretty sure the emerging squad players are available for the first game as the internationals aren't back untill the second game.
Great news
For TH and hooker
Now without Prendergast it's either
for 4/5/6/8
Thorn/Murray/Murphy/Boyle
or
Thorn/Murphy/Boyle/Masterson
Opinions?
It’s a joke that blade is going on that sh*t during the season, playing below urc standard games. Having two quality nines is really important for Connacht, having that taken away for some Mickey Mouse tour is ridiculous. Likewise for Prendergast.
They will gain a bit of understanding of how Ireland play sure but it doesn’t justify missing multiple league games and it devalues the league. Playing against Cheetahs etc will do very little to develop them for test level.
Thorn/Murray/Murphy/Boyle is what I think is best.
On the flip side, Blade is out of contract at the end of the season and may look abroad if he feels his international career is over. If being kept involved in the Ireland setup contributes to him signing a new two year contract, it will be worth him missing a few early season games in my opinion.
We have plenty of depth, Colm Reilly looked sharp in the Sale game and in my opinion needs minutes this season to continue his development.
Yeah Reilly was lively vs Castres too
With Marmion playing 65 min at least I'm not worried
same with Prendegast, we have Murphy who'll add experience and Boyle
The "only" real issue is we're 1 injury from being weakened
And then there's Devine. My only concern is at TH, and medium term it will surely be good experience for Illo to have access to the Irish coaches etc.
Have to say though, this squad selection has me at a bit of a loss in terms of its purpose, there's a touch of randomness to it.
Appreciate the point about his contract.
I meant it mainly as a broader issue. The players going on this are going to miss at least five league games. There’s only eighteen games in the league, they’re nearly missing a third of the season for a rabble of a tour playing teams below URC standard. Makes the league look small time. Absolute joke shop stuff in my opinion.
The players going on this are going to miss at least five league games.
It's only two weekends? Surely at most they'll miss three?
Apologies Connacht players will miss four league games, Connacht are away to South Africa next week so those selected won’t be going on that obviously, they will miss interpros against Munster and Leinster on October 14th I expect also, given the touring team plays on October 9th.
Completely ridiculous.
Congrats to Jimmy Duffy on his new job down under. Weather will be a bit different to the sportsground
If he's physically ready I think its a great chance for someone like Devine to get a shot, to me he was one of the most promising players in last years u20s.
https://www.the42.ie/connacht-depth-chart-2022-5865871-Sep2022/
Chay Mullins confirmed, very solid bit of business.
Think Mullins in particular could be a big winner from the emerging Ireland series. If he puts in a couple of decent showings there he could find himself moving up the pecking order at Connacht quickly.
https://youtu.be/-MF6Zq3hpm0 here Ralston makes it pretty clear he’s coming over to play mainly at 13. So back three depth would look something like:
11) Hansen wootton
14) Byrne Killgallen
15) Porch Toh McNulty
I’d expect Jennings and Mullins to get decent time on the wings, considering Macks time will be limited
Lock/Back row John Forde has been given a trial in the academy. He made his debut for Munster against Wasps last year
Team named
CONNACHT RUGBY MATCHDAY SQUAD VS ULSTER RUGBY
Saturday 17th September 2022, 19:35 @ Kingspan Stadium
Number/Name/Caps ( * denotes uncapped)
15. Tiernan O’Halloran (206)
14. Byron Ralston *
13. Tom Farrell (79)
12. Tom Daly (61)
11. John Porch (59)
10. Conor Fitzgerald (53)
9. Kieran Marmion (209)
1. Peter Dooley *
2. Dave Heffernan (165)
3. Jack Aungier (31)
4. Gavin Thornbury (63) (C)
5. Leva Fifita (15)
6. Josh Murphy *
7. Conor Oliver (41)
8. Paul Boyle (73)
16. Dylan Tierney-Martin (6)
17. Denis Buckley (208)
18. Sam Illo (2)
19. Niall Murray (35)
20. Shamus Hurley-Langton *
21. Caolin Blade (150)
22. David Hawkshaw *
23. Oran McNulty (9)
That's Ok
No Wootton or Byrne in the 23 is the little surprise
Hopefully TOH is having a revival but on the evidence of last season hard to understand him being first choice. Would rather Porch at 15. Ulster have a nice back line, their pack is far from their best though.
That emerging Ireland tour could really make a mess of the start of season. One injury to Dave Heffernan away from having Grant Stewart and Eoin De Buitléar as our only available hookers for four games against two league finalists last season and Munster and Leinster. Likewise a Marmion injury would leave Reilly and Devine as only two 9s available.
If some of the 5 boys do not play the final Emerging game, I expect them to be released early, no mendatory rest period either, as it's not even Ireland A
Confident to have most of them available for Leinster..
They will fly back together, there won’t be early releases and they won’t be available against Leinster unless there’s an injury crisis in Connacht.
Attendances were well down last season from previous years (based on what I saw, I haven’t checked the figures). Start of the season was already very difficult for Connacht without taking away 3/4 lads from first 23. Start the season with a few hammerings and it could be a long year.
Disagree
Even if the don't flight back early, those who did not play on the 9th of October will be available on the 14th
Same GMT, 10 days rest, no reason
They won’t be back in Ireland until the tenth so they won’t be available until Tuesday training at the earliest with the game on Friday and they won’t have trained with Connacht for a month.
Maybe Blade or Tierney Martin will be put on the bench if we’re struggling but they won’t be available for selection in the proper meaning of the term.
Average attendance was around 5k last season compared to 6k the pre covid seasons.
I’m surprised it was as high as 5k to be honest but still a 15% drop.
Optimistic about chances of getting a win tomorrow
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