I heard him promise he's going to keep hitting the post until people stop putting a "h" in his name. :L
Tbh it’s much more impressive hitting the posts, should be double points
Spotted Shane Delahunt in the training photos. Big boost, thought he was out for a good while longer.
Ya think he's back in training but will be a while yet before he's match ready
Rejoice, Frank Murphy will be in charge on Friday...
If we could start getting non irish refs for Interpro games that would be great
Don’t get why there isn’t a rule on this already. Most professional sports have rules in place to get neutral refs involved. Screams to me of a money saving scheme, just so the league doesn’t have to pay for flights
Pretty sure that Murphy has his affiliation through the Munster branch which means that the league sees him as a neutral between Leinster and Connacht.
I meant more so non Irish refs reffing the interpros
Yet we had Italian refs in SA, rightly so but seems to be a different case for the Interpros....
Does the same happen for derbies in other countries I wonder?
In a game between an Irish province and an Italian team the ref will be from a neutral country.
In a game between two Irish provinces the ref will usually be from a neutral province.
Frank Murphy is I believe considered neutral because his refereeing registration is with the Munster branch.
The Italian Derby last year before Christmas had an Italian referee for what it's worth.
Thanks for that interesting
He has refereed Munster Connacht games in the past and was one of the ARs last week. He's registered through Munster but played for both. It's a situation he should never be out in.
Connacht should make an offer to John Ryan.
Could do a lot worse than bringing him in. Tom Willis and Oli Morris also Irish qualified
Great shout. Especially on Willis. But both would add real dept.
I can see the case for Ryan even though I doubt the budget is there for him. Signing a tenth senior back row or seventh senior centre would be crazy imo.
Team for tomorrow
Team named 5 changes from last week 4 in the pack and a start for Reilly at scrumhalf
CONNACHT RUGBY MATCHDAY SQUAD VS LEINSTER RUGBY
Friday 14th October 2022, 19:35 @ The Sportsground
Number/Name/Caps
15. Conor Fitzgerald (56)
14. John Porch (63)
13. Byron Ralston (4)
12. David Hawkshaw (4)
11. Mack Hansen (17)
10. Jack Carty (181) (C)
9. Colm Reilly (11)
1. Peter Dooley (4)
2. Dave Heffernan (169)
3. Finlay Bealham (177)
4. Niall Murray (38)
5. Gavin Thornbury (66)
6. Josh Murphy (4)
7. Shamus Hurley-Langton (4)
8. Paul Boyle (76)
16. Grant Stewart (2)
17. Denis Buckley (212)
18. Jack Aungier (35)
19. Oisín Dowling (28)
20. Conor Oliver (44)
21. Caolin Blade (152)
22. Tom Daly (64)
23. Ciaran Booth (1)
Still no sign of Wooton or Byrne, wonder what's up there...
I don't know on Wootton, but heard Wilkins say during the week that Adam Byrne is still trying to shake off a foot injury from a few weeks ago, and isn't at full fitness yet.
Byrne has spent most of his career a couple of weeks away from full fitness.
Wooton and Fifita stayed out after the warm up the last night for some extra running, not sure if it was just a cool down etc or more fitness related
24th and 25th man usually do that if no injuries to the 23 picked. Would suggest that they are fit
That 23 looks really good to me, Conor Fitzgerald at fullback could be a great move, strength in depth across all positions, impact off the bench, looking forward to a big game from Connacht! C'mon ye boys in green!
Adam Byrne on the bench for UCD this weekend.
Weird game tonight. We have no idea what to do in attack and seem to have forgotten how to bring it out wide without having a tackler already on top of you. On the other hand, our scrum was good, and Thornbury, Murray and Dowling are going to trouble every line out in the URC this year. Fact!
Can’t have major complaints over the performance. Players gave it everything. Just lacked accuracy inside the Leinster 22. Had more than enough chances to put some scores on the board. Think that’s the 2nd or 3rd time this season that we’ve let ourselves get shoved into touch from a 5 metre lineout. Just can’t do that.
If I never see Frank at the Sportsground again it'll be too soon.
Can't fault the effort. Disappointing to lose even the losing bonus point however.
The scrum was not good? Don't conflate Frank Murphy refusing to give Leinster penalties or giving Connacht a few spurious ones with a good scrum. The only dominant scrums in tonight's game came from Leinster.
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