Connacht Team Talk Thread VI - Some like it TOH

Hadnt seen anything about Ralston leaving, where is he going? He had been contracted to the end of next season I think.

With Porch, Smith and now Ralston leaving we have kind of gone from having an overload of back 3 players to the opposite. Ralston obviously played a good bit in the centre too

That would seem short sighted, hes a decent wing and a good 13. He's a better defender at this stage than all the options we have been trying there other than Piers.

Piers, Ralston, Smith, Porch, Cordero all leaving would leave us with just Jennings, Mullins, Mack and Bolton and Tracey stepping up to a full contract, as our full roster of back 3 players for next year. That's not going to work!

I really hope this doesn't mean Cordero is staying, nothing personal but it really hasn't worked.

I wouldn't pay any attention regarding Ralston leaving.

Anyone can make up stories.

Boffelli would be a excellent addition if he came available

Byron listed as a long term injury (knee) last week.

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

Don't take much if any heed of that JD poster, well known stirrer across the internet .

I try not to give him oxygen generally

It seems pretty bad… Our coaching set up is in a very bad shape right now…

The loss of Senekal can't be underestimated.

My main problem is that even if we found our best team setup we seem to be constantly changing it… JJ and Murphy this week and Ioane and Devine the week before… How can you play with that consistency…

I would have faith but we were the team that let Tom Farrell go last year… We loaned out Andrew Smith who was capulted on to the wing for Munster….

Carty is a complete mystery… He doesn't do well when you have a poor set up, he plays a lot on the edge but he has more of a tactical brain than our other tens and a better boot from hand…

So many players have disapproved by what looks like systems they either don't understand, not working or have little faith in… Generally Connacht was the team with good coaching and maybe not the talent or bulk all the time… We are definitely underperforming…

At the moment our attack seems to have improved and the scrum seems to be OK…

Our line out is a mess, Maul attack and defence is falling, Defence is a disaster..

Team selection seems confusing and the team seems to be frustrated too… I say communication is probably bad.

We are two years of looking at this now and we don't see improvement. I understand coaches need time, Pat Lamb barely won a game for the first 6 months…

Rumour mill says wilkins has left connacht with immediate effect

And now we have to start looking for a new head coach late in the season, the whole thing is in a shambles at the minute.

Best of luck to Wilkins. Any criticism posted was exclusively down to his professional skillset for the headcoach role but he always came across as a gentleman, even when it was all going to ****. Our poor performances and lack of belief are not solely on him but I think a change of coaching is badly needed.

This is good for all parties but hopefully we don't repeat mistakes and appoint Tucker "because he knows the setup". He hasn't done a good job in his brief caretaker tenure. Fresh eyes are needed.

It's not ideal but it was absolutely the right decision. Hopefully we can attract a quality coach and 1 or 2 marquee players to get things on the right foot.

I got the following message forwarded in a whatsapp group, so I have no idea if it's true "Connacht have already spoken to Noel McNamara apparently"…….

Best of luck to Wilkins moving forward in his career, and most importantly with his health. I think he was done a disservice being surrounded with such an inexperienced staff on his first head coaching gig. I don't think it's a coincidence that we reached the URC semis when Friend was in situ as DoR, it must have been a lonely place once he had lost that experience to bounce ideas off.

The IRFU should be going all out for the right coach, even if it means running a thinner squad and relying more on the academy. There is a huge cohort of potential internationals in the squad, they need an environment that nurtures that talent.

From RTE:

Scrum coach Cullie Tucker will continue to lead the management team until the end of the season, while it is expected Australian Rod Seib will be the province's new head coach for next season.

The Brumbies assistant (below) was already confirmed to be joining Connacht as a "Senior Assistant Coach" for next season, though RTÉ Sport understands he is likely to be head coach.

I agree with you but this section from Wilson's message today means that maybe he was hired with a view to being head coach.

"During this season, I have been having some very open and honest discussions about my future at the club"

I felt like the "Senior assistant coach" title was a bit odd as I don't recall anyone else holding that title so this may have been planned throughout the season. Or I could be giving the branch too much credit and they're scrambling to sort out the coaching ticket for next season