Connacht Team Talk Thread VI - Some like it TOH

Cooney is knocking on 35. How long would the kicking problem be solved? And it would impede Devine/Murphy's development, probably resulting in one of their departures. So I don't find the hypothetical very attractive.

Genuine question, do we put a huge amount of pressure on 10's in Ireland. Do other countries see them as pivotal as we do?

Hard to fathom such a proposition. Sheedy is only in his first season with Cardiff. What is the evidence that Cardiff are in particular financial trouble?

Have a read of the URC thread. The last few posts.

https://www.connachtrugby.ie/news/squad-update-tuesday-8th-april/bp3373/

Only Ralston and Sean O'Brien confirmed to be unavailable for the weekend, a decision will be made on Prendergast later in the week.

Dooley returning is a big plus, realistically I think we should pick O'Conor at 13 to give ourselves the best chance of winning. I think I'd go with:

15-9, 1-8: Hansen, Bolton, O'Conor, Aki, Treacy, Hanrahan, B Murphy, Dooley, Heffernan, Bealham, J Murphy, Joyce, Prendergast, Hurley-Langton, Jansen

16-23: Tierney-Martin, Duggan, Aungier, Dowling, Boyle, Devine, Ioane, Gavin

I can see the case for Forde, not a huge fan of him at 13 but he's also too good to leave out.

Hard to know about the game generally. For me it comes down almost entire to the team Racing select, and their interest level. A team containing Bamba, Kpoku, Taofifenua, Woki, Dayimani, Joseph, Tuisova, Habosi etc. would be far too powerful for us to deal with imo.

I think that is the thing… Gavin was never really played at 13 on the way up… Even for U20 Ireland it was wing or 12…. I think he is learning his position and he could be gold in it over time…

Players not knowing why they're not being selected is certainly not a good thing but I think we just have better options than most of the players you've mentioned.

Smith took a sabbatical for sevens and opened the door to the likes of Bolton, Jennings, Mullins, etc. He was unlucky in getting injured after 20 minutes in when he did get a shot. Munster makes more sense for him, we are stacked with outside backs and probably don't have enough gametime to go around.

Carty played over 900 minutes last season but doesn't seem to suit how we want to play this year, i.e. never kicking (second least in the URC) and playing an incredible amount of phases.

Oliver is good depth but is not as good a player as Hurley-Langton, who I think would be in and around international squads if he were IQ.

Farrell is an odd one alright given his form and his ability to beat players and offload would be very useful in our "on-ball" system.

Forde has played the 4th most minutes of anyone in the squad this season, but drops out when Aki is available. I'm fine with that, Bundee won't be with us too much longer, and misses a lot to to IRFU player management anyway. Forde will have a long reign as first choice 12 and is tracking well IMO.

Porch is average and I have no issue with minutes going to high-potential young players like Treacy instead.

Niall Murray's USP is the lineout but we have the best lineout in the league, so hard to say we're missing him too much. His carrying and ruck stats are very poor which is an issue as we require a lot in those areas from our pack given how insistent we are in playing endless phases between the 22s.

Hawkshaw is good but Aki, Forde, and Gavin are bigger and (at least will be) better.

Jennings I agree with, it infuriates me how stop start his development has been. He joined the academy as an 18 year old but only has 11 starts to date, now aged 24. He emerged at the perfect time to succeed O'Halloran at 15 but we've half arsed it and moved him between wing and fullback. No idea why he didn't get the Finn Treacy treatment back in 2022 as he has it all from what I can see.

Yeah Gavin needs time. 13 is his third position and an extremely tough one to defend from in particular.

Agree with almost all of this. Especially on Jennings. The last extension to his contract was for just one year, which is worrying.

It sounds as if Prendergast isn't certain in which case the answer would be at 6. They may pair up Murphy/Ioane, have to see if they're willing to leave Blade out.

Ciaran Frawley can't buy time at Leinster this season, and we should be moving heaven and earth to get him in next season - even if it's a season-long loan. He's our 10 for next season.

Generally id imagine how the season has panned out we wouldn't see him selected unless something happens to josh/JJ. But is he injured? Saw him taking part in the training pics/videos released today

I heard Carty is going full-tilt at the vitamin business now because he's finishing up on his own terms and let management know earlier in the season. If so, fair dues to him and all the best in retirement. A frustrating player at times but when he was on form he was a joy to watch and deserved his caps.