Ah ****. Yeah looks fine on laptop but I just checked on my phone and the table formatting is messed up.
Eoin De Buitlear 2 year contract now too.
I have concerns about every option linked to us but we seriously need another ten from somwhere:
Unless Forde wants to play at out half and the coaches back him there's no combination of the above list that gives me any confidence starting next season.
Hawkshaw has also signed a contract
I could be wrong but the wording on the Connacht website sounds to me like Hawkshaw and De Buitlear are both 1 year extensions
De Buitlear and Hawkshaw have both signed contracts for the 2025/26 season, and further contract announcements will follow in due course.
On Twitter they specifically mentioned it was a 2 year contract for Murphy but no such mention for Hawkshaw and De Buitlear
I mixed it up you are correct.
very happy Josh Murphy's contract. Even from now,He may become 'Ireland' imo.
Smith, cordero, carty, ioane, Reilly, mcCormack sobrien, Oliver, o Connor, Joyce, lasisi all out of contract.
I think Joyce is the only one thats essential for us to resign. Obviously some of the others may be required to fill out the squad but ....
So what are we missing for next season?
Front row looks like it's as you were with maybe a step up for Barrett.
Lock id like to see a signing.
Back row, 7 needs someone if we don't resign Sob or Oliver.
9 as we were.
10 ohhhh my God do we need a 10, id like to see ioane kept.
Centre no change
Wing, we will probably stay as we were
Full back badly needed
Smith off to Munster on a short term loan deal.
Not sure how Smith fell so far down the pecking order this season played a lot last year. Letting himself and porch leave at this stage of the season hopefully won't come back to bite us.
He's probably destined to score against us in castlebar now assuming it isnt like soccer where you can't play against your owner club
I think we'll be ok considering they've played 22 mins this season between them. I like Smith but all the players who've been picked ahead of him are good prospects, I've no issues with us prioritising Jennings/Bolton/Mullins/Treacy.
Quinn Roux played against Leinster while he was on loan with us but that's a long time ago now.
Agreed we have a bit of cover in the back 3 but was more a comment on how Smith played a lot last season and showed a lot of promise I thought.
The move makes sense for him for sure with the injury problems Munster have at the moment in the back 3 he could easily play himself into a contract and best of luck to him except against us :)
A little luck goes a long way. Smith and Mullins both got starts on the wing in early December. Smith went off after 20 minutes, needed surgery on his thumb, and missed two months of rugby. Mullins has gone on to get five more starts since and has played over 400 minutes of rugby. Both are behind a queue of talented outside backs so they needed to seize their chance.
Last season I thought Smith was an extremely promising player who looked like he'd mainly played sevens. He had lots of flashy breaks but his judgement and skills around finishing or recycling good ball afterwards were always questionable. If he's improved that area of that game he'll have a good future.
Best of luck to him with Munster.
The Connacht Eagles matchday squad has been named for tomorrow's IRFU 'A' Interprovincial Championship meeting with Ulster 'A' at Creggs RFC (k/o 3pm).
CONNACHT EAGLES VS ULSTER 'A'
15. Harry West 14. James Nicholson 13. Finn Treacy 12. John Devine 11. Shane Mallon 10. Sean Naughton 9. Colm Reilly (C) 1. Temi Lasisi 2. Adam McBurney 3. Fiachna Barrett 4. Joe Joyce 5. Charlie Coghlan (u20) 6. Niall Murray 7. Charlie Keane (u19) 8. Oisin McCormack
16. Matthew Victory 17. Jordan Duggan 18. Thomas Connolly 19. David O'Connor 20. Cian Brady (u20) 21. Chay Mullins 22. Shane Jennings
Apart from his kicking he 100% has earned his place, adds so much in attack.
He looks excellent in attack but if there isnt scope to improve his kicking from both hand and the tee then I'm not sure you can afford to have him 1st choice 10 unless you make Forde the goalkicker fulltime and find another option who can kick to touch reliably.
People spent a lot of time complaining about Jacks goal kicking but Ioane is quite a bit worse. Hopefully they have a plan to work around his limitations if he is going to be 1st choice 10 next season.
The Instagram post reads like it's a 2 year contract. If we're signing another outhalf they'll have to be IQ so probably not many live options.
Ya It says 2026/2027 which I assume is a 2 year deal.
A good 10 in play with an alternate kicker is far, far better than a mediocre 10 who is a great kicker.
His kicking from play albeit, is something he needs to improve. But he's exciting and a lot of this is coachable.
He's brilliant with the ball in hand but the coaching team better have a solid plan for kicking. We can offset it a bit with Forde at 12 but that plan goes out the window with Bundee playing some of our biggest games. It's not just penalties or line kicks either. Our exits have suffered badly from poor length at ten (not just Ioane) and opposing teams have been able to pressurise our scrum halves as a result. How many times in the last couple of seasons have we barely scrambled the ball off the pitch? He'll be setup to fail if we don't sort that problem.
Glad to see him resigned he's been good.
Signs of things to come for next year? West at 15, Naughton at 10 and Tracey at 13.
In fairness he's 30 in the summer. If his kicking game isn't up to scratch at this stage of his career he's unlikely to improve hugely in that area and it's not like we have better coaches than what he would have been exposed to in New Zealand.
Not against keeping him on but this idea that his kicking game is going to improve is optimistic.
Finn Treacy looking sharp at 13, scores the first try of the game after 10. Naughton converts from 15m in on the right side for 7-0.
Try for Zac Ward from close range after we conceded multiple maul penalties. 7-5.
I didn't realise he was that old, assumed he was a youngster. All the same, he is a flawed player but he is very good at certain aspects and I think, no disrespect, that is the kind of player Connacht probably need to build around.
Close range Oisin McCormack try on the second phase from a tap penalty, converted by Naughton. 14-5 approaching half time.
Ulster try from Tom Brigg breaking off a maul, brilliantly converted by Morgan. 14-12 at HT.
Beautiful try, Fiachna Barrett runs a nice line 5m out and steamrolls Morgan for the score. All came from a line break from McCormack. 21-12 approaching 50 mins.
Ulster sneak it at the death, finishes 21-24. Lots of good individual performances but we didn't get much from the bench and Ulster finished strongly.
Thanks for the updates. Any stand out performances?
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