Connacht Team Talk Thread VI - Some like it TOH

Utopia Parkway · 29-03-2025 05:14PM

Munster dominating possession with only 13 players. Not good.

AccidentallyOnside · 29-03-2025 05:38PM

My wife has suggested I give up on Connacht.

Might be the smartest thing she's ever said to me.

realhorrorshow · 29-03-2025 05:43PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123309586#Comment_123309586

I'm getting that a lot these days!

AccidentallyOnside · 29-03-2025 05:47PM

Upsides, and there were a few:

Jansen and SHL can mix it physically at the top level

Hansen playing back towards his best

Gavin and Tracy are well able to play at this level and maybe above.

Real pity Corderos Connacht career has gone the way it has, absolutely quality player but it just hasn't worked for him with us. Getting subbed on and off is harsh but his defense just couldn't be trusted.

niallm77 · 29-03-2025 05:48PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123309586#Comment_123309586

And then you kicked her out of the gaff, right?

reap-a-rat · 29-03-2025 05:51PM

I had gone through the stats around this time last year for points scored versus conceded when Connacht are a man up (yellow or red) - at that time, when we were a man down, we had 55 points scored against us. When we were a man up, we had 53 points scored against us. We did also score 69 points ourselves when the opposition were down a man, but it's the concession that's so worrying, and I haven't checked the stats for this season but I don't think it's changed.

I won't say it's categorically the case, at least until I've time to run the numbers, but it doesn't seem like any other team concedes so much when they have a man (or two) advantage. And it's not just a this season problem. It's essentially a disadvantage for us to be a man up, whatever goes wrong psychologically with the lads. How you fix that, I've no clue, but somebody who gets paid for that should.

ElisaAtWar · 29-03-2025 07:05PM

Its important to be harsh about this result. It was incredibly disappointing.

ElisaAtWar · 29-03-2025 07:07PM

there is no oomph in that Connacht pack

Digifriendly · 29-03-2025 08:18PM

Connacht need to put all their eggs in the Challenge Cup basket. With trip to S. Africa in URC it seems unlikely they will make top 8.

ShineyShiney · 29-03-2025 08:39PM

Mmmmmm 😕

Hansen was good, Tracey was decent. Munster were average but that was more than enough to keep us in their pocket even when down to 13 men.

Totally devoid of any idea how to magane a game.

Please let the season end soon and this group of coaches depart.

MarinersBlues · 29-03-2025 08:55PM

Man of the match had to be pitchfork guy.

The relentless dedication to his role was just mesmerising. A true sporting hero.

PMC83 · 29-03-2025 09:02PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123310070#Comment_123310070

Sorry to say but Hansen looked at sea when it came to defense, Connacht in general did. Thirteen man Munster freely ran the ball against them finding space everywhere.

ShineyShiney · 29-03-2025 09:41PM

😀 He was playing 15 with acadwmy 13, 11, 14 and then a completely inept Cordero. His defence was pretty ok considering.

Strand1970 · 29-03-2025 09:48PM

A second pitch fork guy appeared near the end. I had the same thought that guy loved his job

Former Former Former · 29-03-2025 10:41PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123310218#Comment_123310218

Isn’t that exactly when you want your senior guys to step up and lead by example?

Hansen is a great player but his defence is definitely a weak point.

2025Connacht · 29-03-2025 10:58PM

Of all the problems we have Hansen's defence is low down on the list. It is undoubtedly a weakness but there's be dozen of things I'd be focusing on before zoning in on that.

Zeugnis · 29-03-2025 11:52PM

As a statistical matter we're ranked 14/16 on defence, 16/16 on our kicking game and 15/16 for scrummaging. That last one surprised me, as did the fact that we have the top lineout, despite the gutting of our defensive capacity due to the sidelining of Niall Murray. Munster turned over our lineout twice today, we got no joy on their throw.

Zeugnis · 30-03-2025 12:15AM

Any news on Chay Mullins? Was he taken off for a HIA or some other issue? Very unfortunate, only lasted five minutes.

FACECUTTR · 30-03-2025 01:14AM

Looked like a shoulder issue.

Utopia Parkway · 30-03-2025 03:33AM

Hansen had a great game. Was probably in the running for MOTM from either side. The very least of Connacht's problems today. He's probably Connacht's best 10 even though he doesn't even play there. By a mile Connacht's best playmaker. I like Ioane with ball in hand but his kicking is woeful from hand and tee.

Defence absolutely terrible yet again. Couldn't handle the Munster maul at all. Cordero was subbed on and subbed off again. Says it all. Very rare in rugby.

kita99 · 30-03-2025 09:02AM

Who selected Cordero？　Very heavy responsibility.

Treacy was the best Academy player in whole Ireland.　I think that he can play at every positions of backs even FB.　　　Connacht will be stroger by younger players like him, Gavin, Devines, Power etc. But they need one or two taller LOs. I hope Tucker make Bohan, Lasisi be stronger by super hard works. Anyway Connacht players was a bit insufficient on arm powers. They tackled well, but could not rob the ball. If Prendergast did not get injury, They could win easily this game. But it's rugby, so all young players of Connacht need hard training than other provinces.

testtech05 · 30-03-2025 09:29AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123310676#Comment_123310676

Cordero had a shocker alright bar one good catch of a high ball I think basically everything else he did went wrong.... After not being involved for a few weeks I wonder is that the last we will see of Santi barring injuries to others

Just on the point of subbed on and off I think the same happened to Alex Kendellan but obviously the situation was different for Munster

MarinersBlues · 30-03-2025 10:54AM

Is it time that Forde takes the starting 12 spot off Bundee?

He absolutely should have been in the 23 at a minimum.

ShineyShiney · 30-03-2025 12:19PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123310332#Comment_123310332

I wouldn't agree. While I think it's u likely he will hammer anyone physically in defence I think he's decent.

Yesterday he made the last tackle on Aherne and didn't stop him but really most wingers aren't stopping Aherne from 3 mtrs. But the important bit is that he made the tackle on Casey in midfield 10 seconds earlier in the break by o Connor but was still last man.

I'm not arguing that he's the world's best defender or anything but I kind of think it's like saying Furlong is shite at the 100 meters. Hansen is a play making wing /fb who was pretty much the only connacht player to perform well yesterday.

Former Coach · 30-03-2025 02:40PM

Very disappointing not to get the win considering the opportunities we had, especially with the numerical advantage. Unfortunately there seems to be a significant gap in quality between our internationals and the rest of the squad...

niallm77 · 30-03-2025 03:22PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123311377#Comment_123311377

Connachts issue all stem from an awful defence which to me points to a poor coaching.

They also need to get someone else to kick penalties to touch other than Ioane because it costs connacht valuable field position and just puts the team under pressure when they should be attacking.

Utopia Parkway · 30-03-2025 03:26PM

At least the crowd in Castlebar saw plenty of tries and an almost grandstand finish. Probably got their money's worth in the end. Apart from a Connacht win. No hiding though that in reality it was another very poor Connacht performance. Against 14 men for much of the game and 13 for parts of it. They'll have a job on their hands to fill the Dexcom at this rate. Will be a novelty factor for a while which will get crowds in but performances and results really need to improve.

ElisaAtWar · 30-03-2025 05:00PM

Really thought Connacht were going to win the game before it started. Main reasons were the switch to McHale and the fact that the tickets were sold out in such a short time. I thought that would lift the team. And with the red and yellow card against Munster it should have made the win a slam dunk. But the reality was Crowley and Casey were streets ahead of Ioane and Blade so that was the beginning of the problem. But even more worrying was the lack of vision with the numerical advantage. The end of the season is not looking promising

AccidentallyOnside · 30-03-2025 05:42PM

I've been thinking about the tour to south Africa, it being a dead rubber opens the possibility to give fringe players two games in a row and rest guys with too many minutes.

We need to get minutes into:

Lassisi, Barrett, Illo, DTM, N Murray, Dowling, McCormack, O'Brien, Reilly, Hawkshaw, Tracy, Jennings. Put a few experienced heads around that and send them out to SA with a brief to learn. It's going to be two losses regardless so may as well see if any of our fringe players can step up in adversity.

You'd hope we're doing some recruiting this year, though the performance in the 6N probably means budgets will be down again. We need to get size in the pack, we're visibly smaller than our opposition nearly ever week. We're last in the league for dominant tackles and while some of that can be out down to a facile defence, it's very difficult to defend when virtually every team in the league can just pick and go for 2-3m every ruck.

Looking at the fixtures remaining can't see us finishing anything but 15th unfortunately as I can see zebra targeting that last game with everything they've got

30-03-2025 05:49PM

The Connacht performance aside the GAA stadium experiment went reasonably. The view was reasonably good from everywhere despite the larger pitch. The weather did us a huge favour by staying dry. It's been a while since I was in McHale park and the traffic management is ten times better with the road improvements.

My biggest non-rugby disappointment was that everyone was encouraged to get in very early but there was barely enough food/drink concessions for a crowd a third the size. I wasn't having a pint myself but plenty of friends gave up after experiencing the 40 minute queues and others missed kickoff. If we do this again expect loads of people to arrive at the last minute from pubs.

Connacht Team Talk Thread VI - Some like it TOH

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