It's foul play so that doesn't matter.
it was one of the best games Connacht has played this year
Last decision was obviously correct, but thought you got done by the ref on multiple occasions, especially around the scrum
The pass from Duggan to Aungier on the one before was poor, too high and he ushered Devine out of the way beforehand, good performance overall and v.unlucky not to win. Premier sports feed only cut in at 27 min in when we were 27-14 down, thought it was going to be a pasteing.
Crossing is foul play?
It was obstruction technically.
Is obstruction classed as foul play?
Yes
Didn't realise that!
Let's be honest our season is closing up and but today we saw what we have been missing for a while now…
Carty was a revelation, he showed actual leadership… The further he went into the game even our dire defence looked better.
One of Carty's bad kicks was because he couldn't find a strike runner and knew if caught himself he was getting turned over…
Oliver seemed a man possessed and really forgot how actually good he is…
Yes, our defence has been criminally neglected and will need some serious TLC by an actual defence coach.
Mark Sexton despite a slowish start has built a very formidable attack, that is something we should protect and build on next year.
Shane Jennings also looked very good today and seemed score for fun…
As a word about the Ref…
I am a supporter of rugby… I feel that we should be explained a number of those descisions today…
Were they Rugby is meant to officiated or were there mistakes? I am sorry but it is coming very frustrating watching a game and at the end we didn't know who was the better team on the day.
We just want to know… I am not trying to blame the ref, I just want to know what I am not seeing…. Is the ref not seeing something (he is human)…
Some super attacking rugby from Connacht but, once again, our defence was simply not good enough!There were a few occasions when Stormers appeared to push before the put-in but the ref penalised us. Thought that these were extremely dubious penalties. Still two points achieved which I certainly wouldn't have anticipated beforehand.
There are signs of life all right.
Absolutely no surprise that Carty was decent, he's been decent for his whole career. How and why we select JJ ahead of him is beyond me. I get Ioane, he's a quality attacking player, I get that Carty gets the yips from time to time but we have wasted him this season. At the very least he should be out bench 10 every game.
Oliver had a good game, been a while since we targeted the breakdown and it was effective.
Very unlucky not to come away with all the points but that's 2 games in a row we have turned up, well played.
Today was heartening. Maddening, of course, but enough quality rugby to resurrect hope. Loved the dogged resistance to Stormers' siege of the try line and subsequent weathering of Forde's yellow.
Good performances from the castaways: Conor Oliver better get a contract extension, Jack too, and Jennings should be getting more minutes. Any thoughts on Chay Mullins?
On to Johannesburg, a win there then we can stay in the fight until the final rounds, even if my optimism died against Ulster at Xmas…
Carty should have played in castlebar
Oliver, Carty, and Hawkshaw were excellent today. Great performance in defeat. If we can get three wins to finish (not ridiculous if we continue to play like this) then we'll sneak into the last 8 and maybe even qualify for the HEC next season. Everyone is taking points off everyone else and there's still three places to be fought for (Leinster, Glasgow, Bulls, Sharks, and Stormers are safe).
For me the ideal scenario would be 3 wins from 3 and finish 9th. It would give us a bit of momentum to bring into next season and we could take another crack at the challenge cup. Remember that part of the reason we did so well in the challenge cup was because we were top seeds going into it. If we had a run like this year it would give us a chance to bring knockout rugby to the new stadium
Given a choice between bottom seed in Champions Cup and top seed in Challenge Cup I would take the latter every day of the week.
Except when the player you're obstructing is 'matadoring'.
I enjoyed that game. First time I can say that in a while. The result was a pity but the referee really had us in his line of sight from an early stage
Really thought Carty's leadership with Oliver's doggedness was very evident.. The best thing about the game is Connacht actually improved during it rather than the other way round..
URC has to do something about the reffing, it is so bad games are becoming lotteries… No one could say which team was better on the day because the ref had notions about one side during the scrum…
The problem with this is the difference in money and prestige between the competitions is huge. 80% of teams in the challenge cup don't care about it until the knockouts and even then it's conditional on their situation. The lack of good English sides in the group stage doesn't help it either.
Ultimately we got to the same stage of the challenge cup last year through the champions cup route even if it was away.
Personally I've seen far more challenge cup games than I ever want to over the years. The knockout stage is interesting but the group stage is more like a development team competition and produces some horrible non events.
Also even with seeding there's still an element of pot luck how the challenge cup fixture draw will work out.
We couldn't have cherry picked a better run of games this year up until Racing but that might not be the case next year.
It's very difficult to predict how winnable it is because you don't know who'll come down from the European Cup and how interested they'll be.
The value of European rugby to Connacht is numbers through the gate for the big teams visiting, sponsorship opportunity, media coverage, being seen to be at the top table and exposure internationally.
We are a long way from winning either competition. We need to stop fooling ourselves. We can take a scalp and have a punchers chance anytime we meet big teams but not 4 games in a row which is what we would need.
Give me Champions Cup every single time.
We should always be capable of a top two/four seed in the Challenge Cup which is a completely different prize to the seedings that come from dropping in from the Champions Cup. As mentioned above it would be class to have some home euro knockout games in the new stadium. It is definitely our best chance of recreating the Edinbrugh buzz of 10 years ago
It's about resource management as well.
We would have to go fully loaded for every game all season in the Champions Cup. Historically that has had a big knock on effect on league performances. In the current format third seed gives us a fighting chance of knockout European rugby of some kind, but bottom seed is such a big hill to climb.
Top seeds in the Challenge Cup gives us a chance to rotate, particularly around the international windows.
This is explicity about top seed vs bottom seed. Anything else is a different question.
If we get the defense sorted we'll be in the top 8 in the URC next season.
Just have to hope that Seib has a ruthless streak in him and will rid the place of poor coaches like his fellow Aussie Fardy.
above could be said for the last half dozen games in all competitions tbh.
Ulster announcing 8 players leaving.
Our last home game of the season is Edinburgh so we should have some idea what next year's squad will look like soon.
Based on the weekend Oliver is well worth another contract, we managed to slow ball at the ruck for the first time in months at the weekend, not all down to him but certainly a big contributor.
What happens with Oliver is an interesting test of this management's ability to admit their mistakes. Let's see.
Oliver was conceded a meaningless penalty (he wasn't luckily received any card). I have looked that he has done such a foolish plays so often. Last week, maybe if SHL was in the pitch, Oliver was not there. At 7 position, I think that Connacht have some better and younger players there. McCormac, SOB, Flynn and (espcially) Power.
Fardy has already gone hasn't he? He certainly won't be around next season.
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