Poor scrum.
Poor Lineout.
Poor handling.
Poor maul defence.
Terrible discipline.
Any line breaks in the game ?
No go forward ball, never in their 22 for the first half, only twice in the second half.
Ulster only had one warm up game and I genuinely thought we might be in with a shout.
Really worried for this season based on this.
Seemed to be leaning that way with him brought on Ireland tour over the summer.
Would be a shocking appointment. I don’t think Nucifora/IRFU are overly concerned about provincial performances and they seem to take easy option all the time eg renewing Graan last summer. A shortsighted approach.
Pack 3/10
Backs 6/10
Pack beaten in set piece provided no ball and conceded so many penalties that the game was never in doubt.
I liked the defensive structure and thought we got off the line well and generally tackled well.
Think we might be short of a 2, 3, 8 and 15
That was tough to sit through. Ulster away isn't a match you expect much from the best day ever but the nature of that performance was very worrying given the upcoming schedule.
As usual there was lots of positive vibes coming from the camp during the week about how the coaches have Bern empowered and all thus no sense. Also saying this is the start you want that Ulster wouldn't want to play us first up and it's the best time to catch the South Africans etc. I think it was the ideal game for ulster they didn't need to over extend themselves and picked up as easy a 5 points as will be offered all season.
After 1 game it looks almost certain we won't be anywhere near the play offs again. Call me negative if you want but its an uphill task for the play offs even with a strong well drilled team. This team is a mess. The internationals will improve us but other teams have far more ammunition to come back into the fold and getting close to the 50 or so points needed is very difficult. If this team reaches 30 that'll be about the height of it.
What frustrated me most was the period from just before half time til 60 mins or so. That 2nd try was shameful for a professional team to give away but at 14-3 just after half time you have to try dig in and keep yourself in the match. What followed after half time was absolutely shocking indiscipline that to me hints at there being zero leadership within that group. Indiscipline let us down so often last year and to come into our first game of the new season and start losing all control at the first sign of trouble says to me that nothing has changed. One losing BP in all of last season and its clear to see that in games where we aren't on top that's not going to change.
Looking at Cardiff earlier in the day they'll be significantly better this year. Treviso hammered Glasgow and Zebre gave Leinster a good scare. The teams above us are moving ahead and the teams behind excluding maybe Dragons are progressing too.
Wilkinson and Friend need to be gone. Friend hanging it on the players again in the post game interview. You cannot blame the players everytime there is a big defeat. The book stops at him and he can't get the message across its his fault.
Murphy as expected gave us the dog that's badly needed. 10 could be an issue now if only Forde and Hackshaw available. Both very inexperienced going to South A. Hopefully Fitzgeralds injury is not too bad.
hard Watch, heffernan hasn’t been playing at a decent level for about a year and TOH, great servant to Connacht but it’s time to hang up the boots
The penalty that led up to the first try was a strange decision by the Ref, usually it's offensive team that are penalised for off their feet or going in from side. Porch came down cleanly enough placed the ball and defenders got in position to protect the ball.
One positive? No major injury appearently..
Farrell tried to survive decently.
Find to hard to understand how winning or losing is irrelevant. Sounds like throwing in the towel before the match starts.
Ironic that we were torn a ew one, but not in the way we expected. I thought Ulster's threat would be out wide, but it was in the tight. Unpofrtunately it appears we will spend the season dreading scrums, and the only way to mitigate that is impeccable handling in possession - but there were a lot of knock ons tonight.
I felt we looked better once Blade and Hawkshaw came on, they gave us some purpose and momentum. Likewise thought DTM was good, and Murphy very good, and I prefer Murray to Fifita every time.
Don't despair, we're better than this, and the return of Jack and our international cohort will make a big difference.
Only positive for me was I thought Murphy played pretty well, best of a bad lot maybe but definitely showed the most of the new signings.
Very poor performance overall though and could be a long 5 weeks for us.....
I’m sure the usual spin of “a lot of learnings” will be trotted out. Friend seems like a decent guy and all but all patience for that bullshit expired long ago.
Maul defense awful.
Discipline awful.
Handling awful.
Hard to see any positive tonight.
Conceded 30+ in nine league games last season including 35 at home to Dragons and Edinburgh seconds putting 55 on the scoreboard away in especially humiliating defeats.
Nothing changes under Friend. A clear out of the coaching staff at the end of the season is my main hope for the season right now.
Haven't seen us look so bad with ball in hand in years.
Early days and the season could prove me wrong yet but have to hope the IRFU haven’t done any contract renewals for coaching staff as they did with Van Graan last summer. Munster got out of that when Bath came in, I don’t think anyone will be doing likewise for Friend or Wilkins.
Based on tonight we are looking at a four or five win season.
Going to be a long season on this evidence.
Jennings played 15 in school, but not since from what I have seen. According to a poster on the Leinster thread the fullback last week had a very tough game, so this could be a case of shoring up the backfield rather than a more permanent change for Jennings. He certainly has the skillset though.
The result won't suit you then.
With that Ulster backline we'll probably conceed 40+
But we're able to score 4 tries, mostly with forwards
I prefer something like 41-27 with a Try Bonus Point than 17-9 with no point at all
My only wish is a working defence. Lose or win is irrelevant. Get the defence right. If that happens I am happy. Then it's a really good start
Sorry about that
Still fascinated by the idea of Jenning FB
David Hawkshaw is on the bench against Ulster. It’s his brother playing for the eagles
Shane Jennings as 15 and David Hawkshaw as 13, as interesting calls for Eagles
Biggest issue last year was two centres working together. So if Tom x 2 have resolved that issue we have enough across the park to give Ulster a run for their money. There was a lot of blame attributed to other players last year but if your centres are haemorrhaging the guys behind them don't even know where to start defending
4) (without Murphy if he's busy as n°6)
Thornbury, Fifita'a, Dowling, Murray 1, Murray 2
6) (without Prendergast)
Murphy, Boyle, Booth, Dowling, Butler (next week), D.Byrne
9) (without Blade)
Marmion, C.Reilly, Devine (great prospect), W.Reilly, Gilvarry
3) (without Illo)
Bealham (next week), Aungier, Robertson-Mc Coy, Fiachna Barrett
We're not in a horrible situation for now
Grant Stewart was released by Glasgow and is a six month emergency signing. Maybe he defies expectations but it’s likely he has no long term future here and Tierney Martin is evidently ahead of him currently.
Not trying to be smart but getting a Scottish cap is relatively straightforward if you are in Glasgow/Edinburgh squad, you’re basically a couple of injuries away from a spot. He has one cap, I wouldn’t have high hopes.
Cian Prendergast has been our best back row in the last two seasons, that’s why he went to New Zealand, he’s a huge loss.
Having both Marmion and Blade in the 23 is far better than not, I think that’s fairly obvious.
Look we won’t agree but this thing is very bad for Connacht with the potential to get even worse with an injury or red card even.
N.Murray/Thornbury is a great pairing, Dowling very efficent too, Fifita'a has a final year in him, very happy Murphy is kept to 6 for now
Disagree with DTM too, if we want to get points in this horrible run of game, we have to get our more experience pairing who is made of both international guys Heffernan/Stewart
Agree re Blade but Marms is able to play 4X70 minutes + Reilly can do 10 min (very lively guy) without much harm I'd hope
It's never good to miss players but it's better now than mid december with 10-15 injuries in the squad
Connacht are losing the option of bringing on a proven quality nine after 50/55 minutes, that can make a big impact in a game as we have seen in recent seasons. Losing one of if not our best player over the last two seasons. Josh Murphy looks an excellent player but with Prendergast we could have both in the back row or Murphy in the second row if needed or one adding impact off the bench, Prendergast is clearly better than most of our back five forwards other than Murphy. Losing the opportunity to give Tierney Martin gametime and see where he is before Delahunt returns, game time which will instead go to a six month emergency signing with no long term benefit.
Injuries have the potential to make it even worse of course but Connacht are clearly far worse off because of this bullshit tour already.
Murphy is a very very decent blindside, Prendergast isn't fully made yet, so no, no massive gap. Dowling's there to play 6 if needed too
Marmion as any SH can play 70 minutes for 4 games, I don't worry about that position as long as he's fit.
And DTM at this stage is still barely 2nd choice, no bother to have Heff/Stewart experience
Not even talking about Illo (for now 3rd choice with Bealham there next weeks) or Mullins (not even in main squad)
There will absolutely be a drop. Bringing Blade/Marmion on is a far better option than O’Reilly at this stage at least. Cian Prendergast has been one of the most impressive players for Connacht in the last two years, we are clearly worse off for him not being involved.
Time will tell but I don’t expect them to be involved on the 9th barring emergency. They’re not come back in for one or two days of training max after a month away and be selected.
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