Caolin Blade sit down relax for the weekend Elisa has Jack in their sights now
I think it's more a case of injury woes than late blooming. From day one at Connacht his set piece was excellent and he was stepping up demanding the ball in difficult situations. Whenever we keep him fit for four or five games he starts looking like he deserves an international call up.
Based on the media reports La Rochelle signed Donncha Ryan on a three year contract so he's not available until next Summer. ROG will likely be able to offer a good deal to retain then.
I wouldn't want Felix Jones in our coaching team. All of his coaching experience has been in teams with a South African game plan. We don't have the squad to play a highly prescriptive power oriented game.
Very sad news about Tom Tierney.
RIP.
Way too young. RIP
Tend to rotate between them KBurke,😂
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Delighted for Mack Hansen getting MOTM. That said Keenan is such a class full back and James Lowe was everywhere. Was concerned about 9 , 10, 12 and 13. Thought Ross Byrne stood up really well but I always wondered about how well the rest would do and to be honest I didn't think they did that great. While Finlay was great, Tom O'Toole is not shabby. So a lot learnt
Big result for ulster today, that could drag sharks back into thr fight with us.
They finish the season at home to munster so if we're still in the fight then we've got a chance.
After watching Ireland vs Italy, then you watch Wales vs England. And it's legacy rugby. That is what we all watched happily for years. How things have changed. That Welsh English game was rubbish in comparison today. Would like to see the same coaching integrated into our provinces (other than Leinster who already play delightful rugby)
Thank you Ulster
We need IMO 16 to 17 points now.
Win next 3 (Dragons away Embra/Cardiff home) with TBP or we don't deserve Champions Cup anyway
Then 1 or 2 points in Glasgow, not the easiest but more likely than a win that would have been needed without this Sharks defeat.
OR Munster wins on last day in Durban, then this point would not be necessary!
Loosehead
Denis Buckley (33) - Signed 2 + 1 year contract in 2023
Matthew Burke (26) - Signed 2 year contract in 2022
Peter Dooley (29) - Signed contract in 2022
Jordan Duggan (25) - Signed 1 year contract in 2023
Oisin Michel (21) - Academy year 1
Charlie Ward (23) - Academy year 3
Tighthead
Jack Aungier (24) - Signed contract in 2022
Finlay Bealham (31) - Signed 2 year contract in 2022
Sam Illo (22) - Signed 2 year contract in 2023
Dominic Robertson-McCoy (29) - Signed 1 year contract in 2022
Hooker
Eoin De Buitléar (21) - Signed 2 year contract in 2023
Shane Delahunt (29) - Signed contract in 2021
Dave Heffernan (32) - Signed 2 year contract in 2023
Dylan Tierney-Martin (24) - Signed 3 year contract in 2023
Lock
Oisin Dowling (26) - Signed contract in 2022
Leva Fifita (34) - Signed contract in 2021
Joe Joyce (29) - Signed contract in 2023
Darragh Murray (22) - Signed contract in 2022
Niall Murray (23) - Signed 2 year contract in 2023
Gavin Thornbury (29) - Signed 1 year contract in 2023
Back row
Ciaran Booth (23) - Signed contract in 2022
Paul Boyle (26) - Signed contract in 2021
Jarrad Butler (32) - Signed 2 year contract in 2022
Shamus Hurley-Langton (23) - Signed contract in 2022
Sean Masterson (25) - Signed contract in 2021
Oisin McCormack (22) - Signed contract in 2022
Josh Murphy (28) - Signed 2 year contract in 2022
Conor Oliver (27) - Signed 2 year contract in 2022
Cian Prendergast (23) - Signed 3 year contract in 2022
Donnacha Byrne (22) - Academy year 3
John Forde (20) - Academy year 1
Scrumhalf
Caolin Blade (29) - Signed 3 year contract in 2023
Kieran Marmion (31) - Signed 3 year contract in 2020
Colm Reilly (24) - Signed contract in 2021
Matthew Devine (21) - Academy year 1
Will Reilly (u23) - Academy year 2
Outhalf
Jack Carty (31) - Signed 3 year contract in 2022
Conor Fitzgerald (25) - Signed contract in 2021
Harry West (20) - Academy year 1
Centre
Bundee Aki (33) - Signed 3 year central contract in 2020
Shayne Bolton (23) - Signed contract in 2021
Tom Daly (30) - Signed 2 year contract in 2022
Tom Farrell (29) - Signed 2 year contract in 2022
Cathal Forde (21) - Signed contract in 2022
David Hawkshaw (24) - Signed 2 year contract in 2023
Byron Ralston (23) - Signed contract in 2022
John Devine (u21) - Academy year 1
Hugh Gavin (u20) - Academy year 1
Daniel Hawkshaw (21) - Academy year 1
Back 3
Adam Byrne (28) - Signed contract in 2022
Mack Hansen (25) - Signed 3 year contract in 2022
Shane Jennings (22) - Signed contract in 2022
Diarmuid Kilgallen (23) - Signed contract in 2022
Oran McNulty (23) - Signed 2 year contract in 2022
Tiernan O'Halloran (32) - Signed 1 year contract in 2022
John Porch (29) - Signed 2 year contract in 2023
Alex Wootton (29) - Signed contract in 2021
Shane Mallon (21) - Academy year 1
Chay Mullins (21) - Academy year 1
Josh O'Connor (22) - Academy year 2
*ages as at 01/09/2023
IN: Joe Joyce (Lock, Bristol Bears)
OUT: Grant Stewart (Hooker, TBC)
Seems like an odd move but must have to cut wage bill.
Oh dear. Matthew Devine will only be 23 in two years, horrible decision if true imo.
"Preference is completely going with home grown players" - no way this can be true, would be utterly deluded to expect more than 15-20 Connacht born players in the squad at any time. Picking up the likes of Marmion, Bealham, Boyle, Prendergast etc. at 19-20 has been incredibly fruitful for us I have no idea why we would turn our back on that now. Kieran has over 200 caps and been with us for 11 years, he's as Connacht as it gets.
Yea, that reason makes no sense. There since 19 is homegrown imo.
I think that’s a sloppy reason to justify a decision that is based on reducing wages.
Reilly + Devine are enough behind very good Blade.
We have to (finally) put money on a n°8, 10, hooker (for Delahunt) and back-3 (for Wootton and TOH)
Would Marmion be eligible for Wales next year under that mad new three year rule thing that makes Cooney eligible for Scotland now? Looking at the state of them and Tomos Williams' performance yesterday it's maybe not beyond possibility that he could end up picking up a few Wales caps before his career ends.
I saw somewhere that delahunt might be gone too.
Would be very hopeful that that is not true. Madness if so.
If Delahunt goes it wouldn't be the end of the world in my opinion. Have good options there with DTM and Heff, and De Buitlear looked good last week. I'd be devastated if Marmion goes though, especially with that reasoning.
100% agree with all of this.
If Marmion leaves Connacht I hope its for a payday elsewhere. I feel like his profile has fallen over the last 3 years so I doubt that Connacht would be offering a big pay rise.
To a certain extent I feel like Marmion was hoping for a return to international rugby last time he renewed his contract.
If you think that you can make it into the Ireland squad you may feel like their pay is 150K more than their contract. 150K is about right for appearance money and win bonuses for an Irish international in an average year where we aren't particularly good.
Now I feel that he doesn't have a real chance of return to the Ireland squad so he has to be accepting his Connacht contract as total renumeration.
As far as I can tell, he would be eligible under World Rugby regulations but Wales wouldn't pick him due to their self imposed 25 cap rule.
Edit: although I think there's an exemption to that rule if the player has not been offered a WRU contract.
Marmion is even now very impressive SH in Ireland. If there is some problem, it's that he looks don't like a box kick. Maybe it's by his belief. On the other hand,I wander that Connacht wouldn't use M.Devine.I think he will become Irish Dupont (too much praising?) in near future. His pass, kick and run all superb. Is it some problem with him?
The 25 cap thing wouldn't actually be an issue for the length of his first contract outside Wales after being called up. The same way Rees-Zammit has been playing away for them for a few years.
Anyway it probably won't happen, I just find it interesting that he's probably eligible despite all his Ireland caps.
If Marmion is confirmed on a longer and better contract elsewhere then I wish him all the best. He's been a brilliant servant for the club and probably has two decent contracts left in him if he stays fit. Ideally we'd have kept him another season to shepherd through Reilly and hopefully then Devine, but he's too good a player to just retain with a simple one year extension.
The rumour mill seemed to be Declan Moore in from Ulster with Delahunt unfortunately leaving. Nothing stronger than rumour, but the emergence of Tom Stewart has left him a distant fourth choice with almost no minutes before Ulster even look in their academy for next year. The IRFU may want another chance for their project. I'd have preferred to keep Delahunt if that's the case.
Marmion would also be able to play for England I believe?
Moore would make sense, Heff is down the pecking order internationally again with Stewart coming through and DTM would be a clear second choice
"I'm sure there are" is fact-free statement based off no information other than your own wishes.
You're right in that there are opportunities in Connacht as both Warren Gatland and Pat Lam discovered. However, any prospective coaches would need to pass the four tests of a having good track record, as well as being interested, available and affordable. I don't know how many of these people are out there, and I doubt you do either. And maybe after you apply those filters you end up with ... Pete Wilkins.
Now, you could be right, and it may have been or laziness, or a "go with the one you know" attitude that got Pete Wilkins the job, but you can't know that for certain.
Pete Wilkins has the weakest cv of any coach appointed in decades. I noted the calibre of previous head coaches who had head coaching super rugby experience/premiership/international 7s, etc
The Connacht job is now significantly more attractive that it was when those were appointed, there has been improvements in facilities and planned in stadium, budget is bigger leading to more competitive squads and relatively recent success (obviously unlikely to be repeated but shows potential at challenge cup level/make the league playoffs), there is stability in Irish rugby unlike every other country bar France where the are significant financial concerns for most teams.
The idea that Pete Wilkins was the best candidate in this light defies all known logic.
I know I get repetitive but the loss of Marmion is simply bad news and yet not unexpected. If you take the recent Zebre game you begin to understand that neither Blade or Carty can manage a game. It was only when Marmion came on that some sanity returned to the game.
But he has been second choice to a player he should be first choice to for far too long. So I wish him well and have no doubts he will be treated better elsewhere
And on other matters Jack has been a 7 year experiment that has failed. How much longer must we continue this. At some point do you call a spade a spade or believe it's not a spade
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