Connacht Team Talk Thread VI - Some like it TOH

100% wouldn't like to see larmour at Connacht, we don't need him and to be honest it would be a waste of tight resources.

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How he rates against Sexton, Ross Byrne, Sam Prendergast etc is entirely irrelevant its how he rates against Ioane and Carty. He will improve our squad.

No Syd, I totally got your point. Just because i quoted you doesn't mean I disagree with you. I am suggesting that regardless of how he may rate in a Leinster squad he is an improvement in ours. No conspiracy, no judgement on any Leinster player, no judgement on how he compares to anyone other than the player he will replace at Connacht. Personally I couldn't give a shxte about Leinster or their players. If he helps us get to 8th then hes damn good enough for me.

In a Leinster context he is a utility back but in a Connacht context he is a starter at 10. I don't see any disagreement in what I have said to your post..

Glass half-full…maybe Lancaster could get a bit more out of Frawley at 10 than Leinster did? They’ve both had success in their careers and would be completely focused on that task.

I think Frawley will do a fine job at 10 for Connacht.

There was little complaint coming from Leinster until MOD EDIT Prendergast came along and then the tone changed on Frawley.

A loose collection of thoughts having looked through URC stats a few times (I'm ignoring volume based stats as we have played a game less than most other teams and I'm too lazy to pro-rate):

• Our dominant carry, gainline, and tackle evasion percentages are amongst the lowest in the league. Our carriers are hit by 2+ tacklers more than all but three other teams.
• We have the highest number of touches per error by a considerable margin.
• Tackle success and dominant tackle percentages are amongst the top teams.
• Third highest rucks per jackal.
• Lineout success percentage one of the worst in the league, but one of the most effective defensive lineouts in terms of stealing opposition ball.
• No maul to speak of.
• We are playing much much closer to the ruck than in previously seasons.
• We are kicking and kicking to compete much more than previously.
• We play 5 or more phases more than any other team bar Glasgow. We end 47.4% of possessions with a kick, more than all bar one other team.
• Our percentage of rucks <3 seconds is amongst the top performers.
• Second lowest percentage of tries from first phase and percentage of tries originating from own half.
• We score a try from 54.5% of set pieces within 10 metres of the tryline.

My take on the above information vomit, starting with the good:

• We have quickly managed to implement some of the hallmarks of a good Lancaster team - very low error count, good ruck speed, effective restarts.
• We are clinical when we get close to the line.
• We are more pragmatic and kicking much more, whereas Wilkins had us playing possession based rugby that was very much out of date.
• We are more physical in contact in defence.

The neutral:

• We have no real jackal threat, electing to defend multiple phases with more men on their feet.
• We play much closer to the ruck, having played wider than pretty much any other team in Europe under Wilkins. Interestingly, Ulster have gone in completely the opposite direction, clearly the Mark Sexton effect. I think it works better for them married with Richie Murphy's pragmatism.

The bad:

• We are playing quite simple attacking rugby, seeking to carry hard and very direct close to the ruck to generate quick ball before trying anything more expansive. This has worked very well when our forwards have won the physical exchanges, particularly against Benetton, but we probably don't have the power to do so week in, week out.
• Huge disimprovement in the lineout. Possibly a consequence of forwards focusing more training time on contact skills.
• While I think it's a positive that we are kicking away possession more, rather than going through phases until getting turned over, I think there's many occasions where we could kick a lot faster. The combination of playing many phases, making few errors, but not winning much gainline, often sees us retreating phase after phase and kicking the ball under pressure.

Would probably have Gavin at 13 instead of Forde, and possibly Forde at 12 rather than Bundee. Happy enough with Carty starting, he should have come on earlier last week. They have gone for a bigger pack this week too.

IIs Mullins injured? That is a big game for Ryan to be making a debut, particularly with the quality of Ulsters back 3.

Indeed. Young Ryan could only be an improvement.

Misfits we are. But that's just because we care. Happy Christmas folks