Connacht Team Talk Thread VI - Some like it TOH

Andrew Smith has signed a 1 year deal with Munster for next season

Best of luck to him, he's got a bit of something but wasn't getting a look in for us this season.

The thing is Irish rugby doesn't really do "swaps", generally the big 2/3 just generally take the players they fancy, the players that go the other way aren't really swaps.

Aside from not being able to buy multiple tickets, a screw-up that I've been a victim of on other occasions, the block numbering changed during yesterday so it was probably wrong at 11:00 when the process opened for business and was noticed and "corrected" at some stage. The top image is how it looked last night, the bottom image is how it looked yesterday morning. The block numbering, e.g. 103-203, is completely flipped.

Yes, that's what I was alluding to in my post with the 104/106 confusion. An utter omni-shambles.

A surprising resigning really.

David

I will agree with yourself and Shiney, swaps are not the IRFU thing (seems we take now and be happy)…

Our coaching ticket has been the main place of concern in attracting talent and more important keeping them… Andrew Smith leaving is no surprise, Tom Farrell, Diarmuid KILGALLEN… We are the Munster backline development squad…

The reason Leinster would be interested is because they have been searching for a scrum half for 9 years… Becasue the way their club is set up they fail to give the quality time to young SH.. Gunne has had 350 poor quality minutes this year while Luke McGrath has had 700 far higher quality minutes… Gunne is being just asked to bookend games won before he brought on or play in third string SA games… It is in Leinster's interest to send him to Connacht even without a right of first refusal in 2 years time.

I think they would want first refusal on Spicer in 3 years. Let Connacht have him and plough the minutes into him (in season one) and they would hope to get back an almost finished article… This deal would be a winner for IRFU… Connacht would have the player for three years and if worked out, a path for more promising talent in Leinster to leverage.

Henry is hitting a dead wall in the Leinster system… It is all internationals in front of him… He need to gain his 1000 min (the initial minutes to get you to speed as professional rugby player). Connacht have the gap and minutes available if he can show a reasonable level of form. With a proper coach, he could explode from here… Look at Hanson, Bolton,…

Totally agree on the the cynical nature of internal swaps and contracting in Ireland… There seems to be very little give and take, just take and let the other side b*tch….

Agree with you… IRFU for ourselves seemed to have created an idea which might have seemed great on paper but a disaster in reality… They thought they were putting all the new coaching talent under one roof and it failed bad, very bad… They seemd to have doubled down on the idea in Ulster as well… Murphy is better and is clearing house quicker and resetting in a team on the fly, but it is costing Ulster this season…

I don't think the IRFU know that:

A coaching set up is as good as its weakest link and if you bring in inexperienced or unexposed coaches you are drastically increasing that risk… This hole is then left to guys learning their trade to cover up… So in Connacht set up defence started to fall a part last season…Wilkins then tried to double job and effectively did neither.

Giving long term contracts to unproven coaches is very constraining… Wilkins three year contract was madness, he was totally unproven at the level… I don't even think he like the role and preferred the more hands on approach…

Also, leaving a young set up on there own with no Director of Rugby (even part time) to help and support is quite cruel… I say Pete had issues where he would have loved to have a Declan Kidney or someone to talk to about for the last two years…

So going forward:

Connacht just need to go back to basics an build a new team of coaches with known pedigree but have eye to develop with the game… Mark Sexton has left a good attack and the line out is the best in the league.

Defence is 3rd worst, Kicking is worst, Scrum is the worst in the league.. So that is area of improvement.

On a sidenote on kicking… I don't see why we are persisting with Ione for penalties… It is a learnt skill, with the background in GAA (which develops timing and strength) and time practicing, a number of players should be quite competent kickers… Make Jack Carty the kicking coach while we are at it, he couldn't do worse…

Mullins signed a new deal back in March

https://www.instagram.com/p/DHViizNPI_3/

I wonder how long that contract is for. It confuses me a bit, Andrew Smith showed a much broader range of skills than Chay yet management had no enthusiasm for him this season.

I have nothing against Mullins but haven't seen him do anything but walk in tries that required a minimum of finishing. Meanwhile I recall one game where Smith won 3/4 turnovers.

Smith has a far more expansive skill set… But in the Wilkson era his face didn't fit… This was highly frustrating and some players have said privately that there was little to no communication why…

There are player pissed about this and felt demeaned by the experience… There is a professional courtesy to tell a player why he is not picked and what he can improve so he could get picked.

Sorry, that is not good enough…. The player can disagree but at least they can be transparent and honest…. This is the bit I feel for the players, they deserve a hell of a lot more respect than that…

signing up Jack for another year says it all really for our aspirations

Bundee and Mack both in the Lions squad

Savage

Great for the 2 lads, Finlay probably a bit unlucky to miss out too.