Connacht Team Talk Thread VI - Some like it TOH

I'm a fan of Gavin's raw talent, power and pace whats not to love about that? However there is lots to improve on with regards to handling and defensive work.

Imo he is finishing the season as a fairly distant 3/4th choice centre but could with the right improvements be well up the pecking order come the start of the season.

There are new competitors to consider as well with the return of Ralston the addition of Frawley and Walsh in the academy so it won't get easier.

We certainly have a great crop of centres for Bundee to mentor.

Gavins talent is very obvious but he looks for too many collisions, on both sides of the ball, that he was dominating at underage, but he's hunting in a different jungle now and needs to adapt his game, which I'm sure he'll do with experience.

That's a long way of saying I don't think we can risk him in a game this big yet, but his time will definitely come.

I think some of those guys were unlucky to not win more (any) caps. Chris Henry could have been considered average for much of his career, but played a key role in a 6 nations winning team. Unheralded names such as Mike McCarthy, Dan Tuohy, Robin Copeland, Darren Cave, Dave Kearney, Felix Jones, Robbie Diack, James Cronin, Ian Keatley, Billy Holland, Roger Wilson, etc. all featured in the 6 nations winning squads of 2014 and 2015.

I don't think either Healy or Adeolokun were particularly hard done by, but Niyi would have had a very high ceiling if he had gotten into a high level setup at a younger age, or if there was a national sevens programme at the time.

O'Halloran was definitely more talented than the average Irish outside back at the time, durable, and had a lot of experience at a young age. He was extremely unlucky to get injured in that South Africa game in 2016 when he was playing quite well from what I remember. Apparently he dirtied his bib at some point by going on the piss while in Ireland camp, and he declined quite young, presumably as a result of playing first team rugby straight out of school.

I still think that Buckley was the second best loosehead in the country for a spell, behind Jack McGrath. It's easy forget because he came back so strongly around 2017/18, but there was a time when Cian Healy was really struggling for form post neck injury, maybe around 2014 or 2015. Maybe Buckley was too small but I think squat looseheads were still viable in the early to mid 2010s. Thomas Domingo was very effective for France at the time. I think the game did move away from players like Denis, and he suffered when referees started clamping on hands on the ground before a jackal.

Great post - agree with it all.

As an aside, since you mentioned it, the focus on jacklers hands on the ground has gone overboard in my opinion - the onus should really be on whether they are supporting their bodyweight. Lads being penalised for a momentary glance of the ground with their hands, when others are getting away with kneeling fully on another player really annoys me, and it happens all the time.

I have a feeling Sam Ilo will start, but either way, we're in good shape at tight head. I would assume anyone who was listed as needing further assessment will miss out, which includes Darragh Murray and Harry West. Dooley will presumably be the backup loose head. Josh Murphy and Joe Joyce start in the row, with Paul Boyle starting at 8 in place of Jansen, and Sean O'Brien coming into the bench. I love Jack, but I'm not sure we should continue with him and Sean Naughton on the bench.

https://www.connachtrugby.ie/news/squad-update-monday-25th-may/bp3737/

Mod Edit

Warning issued.

Hansen hasn't played a game in a year. If he is a certatainty don't you see something wrong with that

There is nothing like a good pitch invasion!

It was great to see them returning this year.

Based on a Zeugnis comment about 39 man squads I searched on this with Leinster included. And it seems they live within this. Now obviously Leinster can't live within such confines when it is the major provider to the International team.

So my question is this. If Connacht last year provided 2 players to the International team and next year (arbitrary number) provide 7 players to the International squad. How does that work? Clearly their 39 man squad will no longer be enough. So how does the system compensate, not financially, but in further required players in such a case

Had forgotten that we had two tries disallowed in that game. Some team!