Hopefully the Devine rumours are just rumours. Once Connacht start losing the good young local players they produce to any of the other provinces they may as well knock down that big stand they are in the middle of constructing. It's a fast track to irrelevance.
Ignoring Leinster for a minute, but have any of the other Irish teams announced new signings for next season?
I wonder are we seeing the impact of the 2023 World Cup? The IRFU admitted that we lost money that season. Maybe the coffers are a little empty right now, and we need to persist with what we have currently.
Usually there would have been multiple signings announced at this stage
Yes both have. Ulster have that big Saffa backrow coming in from Northampton and Munster have announced Milne, Barron and Dan Kelly (pretty sure that's official). Not a huge amount maybe but all more than the 0 we've announced with still question marks over a few renewals.
Not to single you out SqueakyKneecap. Lots of us fans are down on the team right now, but I'm going to try to be optimistic
"What a depressing couple of years it's been"
Since 2021, we've had
Go back 10 years, and all of that would be a pipe dream
I know you mentioned "couple of years" and I've gone back 4 years, but it's good to probably put some perspective on what we're going through
Unfortunately, our biggest issues have come down to coaching/attitude of the players
Fans (well, me at least) are frustrated, as the players dont seem to play anywhere near their potential when playing for us.
We need a restructure of our approach from top down. Hopefully that will come with the appointment of Millard. We need all the coaches having the same goals, and understanding of how we can get there. There is no point in one coach wanting players who play a physical, tight game, where as an other wants the ball thrown around, and our players relying on fitness.
We look disjointed these days, but hopefully we're near the end of a dark period, and there is light approaching
Irfu always record a loss in RWC years due to no Autumn Internationals. It's not unusual.
I'm fairly optimistic about this group of players generally.
I am a bit disappointed that it looks like we have very few new additions coming in especially in light of Porch, JJ, Cordero, O Connor all supposed to be leaving. Surely their collective wages would allow at least one medium quality addition in a key role?
I read somewhere that Jack Dunne and Eoin O'Connor are being let go by Exeter. They didn't feature much for them, but they might be a bit better than being cut suggests, given Exeter's need to slash spending.
A lot of Connacht fans seem to highlight the lack of oomph in the engine room. Dunne is 6'8'' and 120kg and pretty athletic with it.
Dunne could be a good signing, and God knows we need some oomph in the second row.
Sam Larner on X commenting on French ProD2 players that would be a good fit for English premiership teams, good read and even if these guys don’t make it, it’s still an interesting thought process of which players are needed at different clubs. Think Connacht could do with a player like this
Pick 10: Bath Rugby
Gabin Lorre (23, Fullback) - Not many holes Bath need to fill so in place of need they go for want. Lorre is super prolific; 16 tries this season, 14 last, and he can kick - 258pts last two season. He'll take over kicking when Russell is away.
Don't Connacht have an interest to Jarlath Gleeson ? He plays currently in Lyon (maybe academy) He was ex -London Irish player and IQ (in my memory). age 20, Height 207cm, weight 111kg). If there is no LO at this age level, he seems to deserve to be researched.
Andrew Browne coached him for Ireland u18 and is now an EPDO with Connacht so I'm sure he's on the radar.
Thank you very much for your good information.I remember Andrew Browne as a good LO player.
IIRC we tried to recruit Dunne before, at the time he left Leinster for Exeter.
He's a good player but what does he bring in comparison to our existing locks? I'd like to see a moneyball analysis of our second row performance so that we can identify where the inadequacies are i.e. which facets of play.
Also a player not getting a game at a team suffering record defeats isn't exactly a ringing endorsement.
He's a right side second row, and our only two natural tighthead locks seem to be out of contract this summer. I don't think he'd be a game changer but definitely an improvement on Dave O'Connor.
To be fair there are three internationals and an enormous England A rep ahead of him.
I'd rather give our older academy lads a shot than bring in Dunne. They have the potential to work out great, he has not.
Anyone else find it unusual that there was no details about the actual pricing in the email about the season ticket renewal? Or did I miss that somewhere else.
Nevermind they have just sent out a pricing email
We don't have any locks in the academy though?
Season ticket information is out. Looks like new stand will be officially opening January 2026. Which was more or less expected. Pity it won't be open for the Christmas fixtures.
It went into junk on a bank Holiday Saturday. That isn't a great start.
Only had a quick look at the pricing. However, if those prices include the discount, they are about to lose a lot of ST holders.
At 2nd glance I can see how the structure works. It makes more sense than I first realised. I would have hoped for more of a discount on the cat1 and cat2 tickets.
Still, we have had STs for more than a decade and will need to have a think about it before renewing this year.
By all metrics we have underperformed for this season and last. That doesn't mean that there aren't occasional positives. Castlebar was a good event, the stadium is a huge investment in Connacht's future but on the field we have been underwhelming.
The appointment of a new coach of a reasonable calibre is absolutely essential.
The complete communication silence from Connacht Rugby since Wilkins departure is concerning. It appears as if they were totally blindsided by his departure which would be very surprising considering the long period of noise regarding his tenure.
On a positive, the lack of leaks under this management is to be commended 😀
Rodders and the boys 🙏👌
New contract for Carty confirmed, no mention of length as of yet
Got some season tickets. Looks like plenty still available.
Didn't see an option as to where they will relocate you before the stand opens - presume that will be based on where your current season ticket is located?
I'm glad to see this, it would be a shame to see us lose his experience when there isn't any sign of an experienced 10 joining us.
There was a drop down that was defaulted to the south stand on mine.
You hear stories from ex-players who knew themselves that the game was passing them by before they even retired. Having watched Carty in a few games this season that's exactly what I could see. Maybe he had injury or wasn't fit but I think that would just be an excuse
I thought he looked unfit too the few games he played in. Obviously we couldn't attract Harry Byrne, Frawley or any other IQ outhalf so it's better to have him on board to mentor Naughton.
The silence on recruitment is worrying tbh especially the season tickets going on sale.
Regarding the season ticket sale - like many previous Connacht rugby ticket sales, it was an absolute $hit $how (at least for anyone trying to by multiple tickets for a group, as the branch themselves suggested doing). The site would allow multiple seats to be selected, but only one was added to the basket. I was trying with a friend to buy 12 seats together. My next door neighbour was trying to buy 9. We all had the exact same experience. In the end, the only option was to buy tickets individually, and hope someone else didn't take the seats you were planning to buy in the meantime. Buying the tickets individually meant authenticating each time, filling out the forms, going through the checkout process etc. It was slow and error prone. To improve our chances of ending up beside each other, we chose a less popular area. My friend and I managed to get the 12 tickets, but not exactly together. My neighbour was the same - he bought 9, but not together. Oh, and to make the matter even more farcical, the confirmation emails for the tickets show a different section to the one selected (for example, selecting seats in section 104, resulted in email confirmation for seats in section 106).
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