Connacht Team Talk Thread VI - Some like it TOH

For me the most interesting selection is Hugh Gavin at 22 and Naughton at 23. That suggests to me that if Carty had been available he would have been 22 and replacement for Ioane. With Gavin at 22 and Naughton at 23 says Ioane will play the full game if he is not injured. So in a way this is a further knock to Naughton being considered at out-half in times to come

Can't think of one off-hand that could be that high - I think Leinster have started 6 different players this year at LHP (Porter, McCarthy, Boyle, Usanov, Cahir, E Byrne) and 6 at full back (Keenan, J O'Brien, J Osborne, Frawley, A Osborne, McLaughlin) but can't think of many others as high as 7.

I know it will work well for him

The game tonight is kinda interesting in that we go into more out of hope than expectation. Obviously the hope is that we win but it's also showing to others that we deserve to be here and that today we are capable of competing at the highest levels.

As such we have an advantage. And that is while Glasgow literally must win this game to prove their status as top tier team we have far more freedom in terms of expectations.

That said this does not mean we deviate from our plays that have served us well. It just means we shouldn't be afraid walking out onto that pitch. The systems that Lancaster has put in place will suffice nicely. So just what you normally do and enjoy.

It is amazing what Lancaster has done in such a short time. Simply transformative

Anyway at 50/1 I couldn't leave it alone

isn't it so interesting listening to Premier Sports commentary that Ben Murphy is first choice with Devine second. But in reality Murphy is the best starter and Devine the best finisher

Just made too many basic mistakes tonight something which we had pretty much avoided for the last few months unfortunately

Thought we gave it a good lash and forced Glasgow to play something approaching their best rugby to see us off. Got unlucky with injuries and made a few poor errors at times, but those were symptoms of the fatigue brought on by playing high quality rugby against a tough team. Cian Prendergast and Josh Ioane the stand outs for me.

Still not convinced their fourth try was legal but it was cleared by the TMO so presumably ok.

Not sure why we were made finish with 14. According to law 3.33, tactically replaced players may return to play to replace an injured front row player. Don't think it had a material impact on the game but that's an utterly disgraceful mistake at this level, unless I'm missing something.

Just didn't play well

Some poor individual performances on the evening.

Not scoring a try just before half time was crucial

Strong disagree. It was an extremely physical game in warm weather with high phase counts and I presume a high ball in play time. Errors are inevitable as players fatigue. Glasgow are a good, well coached team and had pretty much their first choice squad available. They had to play some very good rugby to win.

We defended well for long periods, attacked well, our lineout was good and our scrum survived. We were abrasive and held up in the collisions. Probably lost the breakdown battle and struggled to defend the maul, but Glasgow are elite in those areas. We can hold our heads high.

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Terrible luck with injuries on the night. And that was with losing Jansen during the week. Bolton, Boyle, Ioane and Gavin all off with various injuries. I would fear Gavin is in for another long term injury lay off.

Gifted a couple of tries to Glasgow. Gilbert putting up a wonky kick straight into midfield led to a try. And then O'Brien letting a restart drop through his arms. Led to the insurance try for Glasgow. Gilbert made more errors tonight than he had the entire season combined.

A fair point made above. Now that he doesn't have to worry about the place kicking, Ioane has been a revelation at 10. Frawley is coming to play 10 but it's very possible Connacht's best side next season would have Ioane at 10 and Frawley somewhere else.