Connacht Team Talk Thread VI - Some like it TOH

Fair ****s to O'Brien. One of the few to come out of this match with credit in my eyes. Papali'i showing he was worth a contract too

SOB has been class any time I've seen him this season, looks like a great prospect

1 of the Leinster jackalers there definitely off his feet by hasn't been called all evening

When did Papalii become prime Nakarawa with the one handed waves?

Great finish from Sullivan there, to be fair, but if he hadn't made it, he'd have been crucified for not passing it.

That must be at least half a dozen penalties from Leinster in and around their own 22.

No idea why Marmion quick tapped there. Not convinced the player was back 10 either though.

Have Connacht won a single jackal penalty in this match?

Absolutely pathetic defensive performance. I don't particularly care about this trophy but these games are important for Connacht in terms of taking something positive from an at best very mixed bag season.

Before anyone says anything we all know how good Leinster are and all credit to them but once again we went from a situation where we had played some excellent rugby and were in a really strong position to complete capitulation within 10-15 minutes. Leinster just had to up the intensity a notch and we fold like deckchairs. Same story v Scarlets, Leicester, Ospreys, Ulster at Christmas etc. etc. The volume of cheap scores we are shipping and the rate at which we ship them when the tide turns against us is alarming. The maul defence is once again beyond belief. If a team overpower us or go through a large number of phases and wear us down I've no problem but we have shown no signs that we have any idea how to cope defensively and in particular with the maul, if you saw that level of disorganisation at junior level you'd be asking serious questions

Leinster were running the ball over the line off mauls without having to build any concerted pressure. Once the first shove came on, any resistance caved in. Some tries we gave them an uncontested lineout and still had no ideas of how to make them work for the try at least.

We have a new forwards coach coming in but that isn't going to solve the systemic issues within Connacht. I like Friend as a person and when we are in full flow we play some great stuff but to me there is pretty limited leadership in this team as a whole and I don't see any accountability in terms of our defence. How Wilkins is being kept around is beyond me. Nigel Carolan's loss looks like it'll be huge too.

A few big wins have papered over the cracks to some extent but Im very worried about the tracjectory we are on.

Saw something about roux going to Toulon, hopefully that’s not true.

Not having Tom Farrell has been a huge loss this season. Hopefully he can get a good run next season. Is bundees suspension over now? Would expect the team to get a real boost when he plays next abs are we likely to see ginger sob during the rainbow cup?

d-gal wrote: »

Heard SOB2.0 (centre) leaving for England as well

Where did you hear that? Would be big mistake by Connacht to let him go! Especially as I doubt Robb will get contract extension next season given the amount of injuries he gets!

Wegians89 wrote: »

Saw something about roux going to Toulon, hopefully that’s not true

If it is true, the money needs to be found to bring in a test quality second row from somewhere, a big lump who can stand in the way of a rolling maul and hopefully give a bit of on field leadership.

If Quinn is leaving, it must be because of money, Toulon are ceretainly not going to win a champions cup. If it's a wage issue, the IRFU surely should have to explain their financial analysis. Quinn is an international and important member of the Irish squad. It would be very odd if he was to be lost to the Irish system (Leinster are also in need of a lock of his type.). Claims of times being tough are not sufficient if money can be found to bring Zebo back from France and sign Jenkins for Munster. And there are rumours that Munster's are not finished shopping.

Regarding last night, it was nasty to see the identified weaknesses result in a rout. On the other hand Leinster learnt the lessons form the last outing and fixed their vulnerability in the line out.

Inability to win the ball on the ground, and a continued failure to properly protect the ball carrier, these things we've seen over and over. And the maul, it was a disgrace. Occasionally it has appeared as if progress was being made on that front, but last night exposed it in the most gory manner imaginable. somebody needs to be given the job of fixing this problem and given the resources if necessary to do so. Failure to solve the problem should result in dismissal.

Last night's maul failure was behind five of Leinster's tries. Now they're a great team, so some of those scores they would have gotten anyway, but they didn't have to sweat. Something has to change or we will not be competitive.