Great to get the win and tbp tonight. Thought midway through the 2nd half it was going to be one of those nights that slipped through our fingers.
Barring the obvious with the kicking for goal issues I thought jack pulled the strings very well tonight and really improves our overall play.
Murray Oliver and Hansen (bar his issues for their try) were immense all night but there were a lot of standouts all over the pitch.
Now to follow it up with a win again next week and things may not look quite as bleak for us as it looked to be a couple of weeks back....
How can a converted n°10 be so impressive in contact in the inside centre area, in addition with slow balls facing forwards?
Can't be more surprised by Hawkshaw on this point
He's a fantastic strong carrier. He still needs a little work but, I reckon he's going to be a fan favorite. Connacht have been impressive in the forwards. Dowling has been good and Murray superb. With Murphy capable of stepping into the 2nd row and playing very well at 6, there's certainly depth growing.
Dave Heff does throw a few duds in the lineout but I think most of the people commenting online have no idea how complex a modern lineout is. The hooker has limited influence on the calls and most of them are jumper timed throws. When things malfunction quite a lot of his "bad throws" end up close to their intended arc but are either well contested or poorly lifted for, neither of which is the hooker's fault.
Great win, wasn't pretty in the first half but much improved second half. Big impact from Dowling and Aungier coming off the bench.
Heffernan has just strung 3 great performances in a row together imo and rightly deserves great praise.
However that doesn't alter the first 3 games of the season where he wasn't great. Lineout malfunctions, maul decisions, defensive lapses and to say a modern lineout is complex is fair enough but not straight is fairly uncomplicated. Hookers get judged in comparison to other hookers who face the same complexities. DTM putting a bit of pressure on is probably good for Heff.
Well done Heff keep it up, playing like an international.
Thought Prendergast put in a big physical 80 as well.
Poor Jack, a few easy ones in front of the posts on a nice dry sunny day would help. Playing good rugby other than the place kicking.
Hansen has many talents but outstanding pace (for a wing) isn’t one of them. Once those backs were past him he was done.
We have being leaking trys for so long it's just nice to see we are not doing that as much anymore. So maybe there are negatives but to see us playing defensively better is a massive start. And kudos to Hawkshaw in that way. Has really improved our central defense which has been underperforming for quite some time.
He has played 7s for Australia, therefore he is surely ineligible for Irish selection? Connacht signed him straight from their 7s squad.
In the past year or so there was a change to allow players switch countries if they had not played for the country they were first tied for a number of years. Charles Piutau and Isreal Folau recently took advantage of this to switch to representing Tonga having previously represented New Zealand and Austrailia, respectively
Australia A is the Aussie second team, not the sevens
That's only if you have ties to the new nation, i.e. you, a parent, or grandparent born there. Can't be used to qualify via residency.
This only applies to players who are either born in those countries or have family ties. It does not count towards players qualifying on residency. Unless Porch has Irish blood, he can't qualify.
Second teams, ie the A teams AND/OR 7s selection make you ineligible.
Yeah, but I think those players have to be born in, or have recent ancestors from, their new country. Can't qualify on residency for a second country after playing for one, as far as I know.
Porch would have to use the Olympic 7s loophole if the plan was to become IQ.
Are you sure, that's not how section 8 reads. Sevens appearances tie you into the sevens game, not the fifteens
Thanks for setting me straight, I had just assumed this was the method of qualifying if that's not the case then I have no idea how Porch might qualify for Ireland
Don't think that applies any more. That was the criteria for changing nation for players naturally qualified. But has since been removed, meaning the only criteria is not playing a test game for the three years. That's what I've read anywyay. Could be wrong.
Pretty sure it applies for both, and vice versa.
Fair enough, I'm surprised friend didn't realize that
I'd certainly pick several lads before Porch. He's a good player but, I'd definitely prefer Stockdale; Larmour, JOB and RB.
Does anyone think that Hawkshaw is making a challenge to Daly? I think Hawkshaw is a similar type of player to Frawley and has a very good rugby iq. Although, Daly does give the team size in the center.
I think Heffernan will get the 16 jersey v SA. He's playing really well atm. A win this week will put Connacht in a fairly good position. I would expect a win. Connacht will have a strong squad to pick from.
Honestly Hawkshaw has been making more of impact physically than Daly has recently, despite the size difference. He's a really tough competitor, plus he's a talented footballer which we haven't seen much of yet.
If the document at this link is up to date players can only switch if they were born in the second country or had parents/grandparents from there:
It's part 8.6. It says the player has to satisfy part 8.1 a (born) or b (ancestors).
Yes, Hawkshaw looks like he's in pole position at twelve in the absence of Bundee. TD has been poor by the standard he set in 20/21 and which resulted in him being called up to the Irish squad for that summer's tests. Hopefully he'll return to that level.
With Hawkshaw, I think the question is will he challenge Jack at outhalf, or if he could be tried at fullback where we have a vacancy. DH makes mistakes but looks full of confidence and unusually happy playing rugby. The guy has a spring in his step and his decision to move west has been vindicated. Carty has played a bit at FB and if our aim is to get our best players onto the pitch, then either version of those two at 10/15 could be an avenue to explore.
There's an Adam Byrne question there too in terms of the composition of our next back three, but I'll leave that mystery for another time.
I agree with this. Read this as Andy Friend propping up one of his Aussie mates. Porch is a good player, but I'd be utterly shocked if he was picked for the Wallabies, and he isn't good enough to be picked for us either.
Am I missing something? Friend and Garry Doyle in his 42 article both seem to think Porch can qualify on residency for Ireland.
As far as I can tell his only route would be to become an Irish citizen and then play for Ireland 7s in a certain number of 7s comps that count towards Olympic qualification. I'm not sure there's time for him to do that before Paris 2024.
I see the Munster money tree is still going strong with Ryan and Morris on the way in.
Probably got the lads for a decent deal but just shows how big the gap between us and the other three is :(
Ryan is only on a 3 month contract.
He is not a bad player either. IMO the main reason he was released was because of the need for succession planning.
With Archer injured and needing surgery it makes sense to bring someone in.
In what position do you need a medical joker, or are without a senior player pending a court case?
Calm down there Syd, no need to go trawling for offense where none was meant.
At the moment none but last year we had squads where the THs had 1 senior appearance between the two of them.
I don't mind munster getting the replacements, just highlighting how difficult it is for connacht to compete with the richer provinces on this island.
And Farells case would have been known about in advance so that should have been planned for, but a player of Morris's quality available at low wages is a good signing.
No offense taken, I'm not a Munster supporter. I just find the constant poor mouth from some connacht fans to be incrediblly tedious. You constantly get fully developed senior players move across from other provinces as you have such a difficult producing your own, and you have a very limited capacity stadium which restricts your finances and bargaining power, yet you complain still when another province, which has a horror injury list, manages to recruit a short term injury cover and a longer term cover for a player who may never play for the club again.
A bit of self awareness wouldn't go astray here.
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