I think Daly and Farrell need to be given an extended run together to see if they gel.
Taking Bundee out of the equation I think they are the strongest option. Forde getting squad time once he returns.
Bundee is still out best option but we will unfortunately be seeing less of him this season and going forward.
Team named https://www.connachtrugby.ie/seven-changes-for-bkt-urc-meeting-with-vodacom-bulls/
6-2 split on bench
Jack still not fully available for selection.
Stewart and Booth could make their debuts off the bench
CONNACHT RUGBY MATCHDAY SQUAD VS VODACOM BULLS
Friday 30th September 2022, 17:30 Irish time / 18:30 South Africa time @ Loftus Versfeld Stadium
Number/Name/Caps ( * denotes uncapped)
15. Oran McNulty (10)
14. John Porch (61)
13. Tom Farrell (81)
12. Tom Daly (62)
11. Mack Hansen (15)
10. David Hawkshaw (2)
9. Kieran Marmion (211)
1. Denis Buckley (210)
2. Dave Heffernan (167)
3. Finlay Bealham (175)
4. Leva Fifita (16)
5. Oisín Dowling (26)
6. Josh Murphy (2)
7. Conor Oliver(42)
8. Jarrad Butler (96) (C)
16. Grant Stewart *
17. Peter Dooley (2)
18. Jack Aungier (33)
19. Gavin Thornbury (64)
20. Shamus Hurley-Langton (2)
21. Colm Reilly (9)
22. Byron Ralston (2)
23. Ciarán Booth *
One of the few positives of last weekend, Dylan Tierney-Martin not available and not in the 23 for Emerging Ireland.
Presume this is more to do with him not being in camp with the Irish squad in the build up to the tour, same for prendergast and illo
Probably and he will likely get 80 minutes (assuming a start and sub) between the other two games against pumas/cheetahs but I think it’s pretty obvious he would be far better off starting against the Bulls against Munster next week.
Hopefully he’s available for Leinster game, assuming he doesn’t start last tour game.
Good chance for Hawkshaw to get back in the saddle, same for McNulty.
Sorry that we won't see Murray or Boyle, but thought Dowling made an impact when he came on last week so hopefully he can do the business.
Murray Kinsella says Aki's ban could be for 7 weeks.
....
Had expected a fairly long one to be honest with the history etc. Interesting to see the player being injured explicitly mentioned as an aggravating factor, cant say I recall seeing that before. Darcy Swain comes to mind from a couple of weeks back.
A long suspension for Bundee as expected. He'll be back for Munster in Thomond, so that's something. If the two Toms can stay intact, we'll be ok, should mean chances for Forde/Jennings. And I think Bolton is hoped to return end of November/early December.
8 Weeks is very severe. Hopefully he learns from it and stays away from the referee in future
If this ever happens again, there will be no mitigation and he'll be looking at 10-12+ weeks of suspension
He can get 1 week off if he does a coaching intervention course, so that would be 7 weeks, but that would be no benefit to Connacht, just makes him available for Australia
you can't complain about the ban, zero tolerance in rugby is taken seriously by displinary board,as opposed to the muppets I'm our other sport
Reading the URC displinary decision, it appears Bundee's protests extended his suspension by an additional two weeks (provided he does his course).
I honestly expected him to be in the 10-12 week bracket this time around, considering his red card record and the aggressive remonstration.
A net 7 weeks is fortunate.
when is Bundee out of contract, im sure the French will come looking, if the team keeps moving like the last year or two.....
In the summer I believe? Not contracted up to the World Cup. So likely to see a year extension at least
I'd expect Bundee to get a one year extension to his central contract a la Keith Earls, Cian Healy etc
While it does say 'Player Injured' in the graphic, I don't think it was referenced in the specifics of the decision.
On this topic; one thing which I've found a little unusual in the week since - is whether or not it was actually Bundee's hit that caused Senatla's injury. He played on in the game and played a key part in their excellent length of the field try afterwards where he didn't show any signs of injury.
I'm not disputing the illegality of Bundee's hit for a second, but if Senatla did incur the injury in that moment then the Stormers should pipe down a bit about losing the player for months where them not taking the player off the field at that point is a least a minor contributory factor.
I was wondering that as well. If the injury is as bad as they are saying, and I'm sure they aren't lying about that, then I don't see any way adrenaline could have been enough to keep him going. Did he even receive treatment on the field after the collision.
Just to be clear I think the 7 week ban is correct without any injury, I'm just a little confused around the whole injured by the collision narrative. Wishing the player a speedy recovery regardless.
Yeah, the coaches comments were kind of strange. You'd think reading them the guy was taken off on a stretcher instead of playing on meaningfully.
There was also some confusion around the specifics of the injury for a few days; with some noting a head injury, yet he's gone for surgery on his shoulder and pectoral.
Very poor attempt by Daly from the kick off.
Absolutely blessed that maul was called back. They are very rarely checked these days.
Connacht's ability to shoot themselves in the foot is unmatched. Looked like a loose pass in midfield from Porch hit the ground and the Bulls player picked it up and ran in the try from half way.
And another Bulls try!
We're a mess.
Edit: and it just gets worse
The South African outside backs are deadly in open space.
Hawkshaw misses pen and now McNulty out on the full now. Just mistake after mistake.
Definitely thought there was a forward pass in the build up to the 2nd try but Daly seemed to be running in treacle after getting caught too tight.
Another poor mistake by McNulty backing up the missed penalty we just compound then one after another all the time
Are forward passes just not a thing down in SA?
And Hawkshaw looks a shadow of the lad who played against us in the sportsground last season. Poor miss.
This is painful. Mistake after mistake and all unforced
Need to take advantage of YC now
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