Cheetahs vs Connacht (Sat: 3pm)

(15-9) Tiernan O’Halloran, Niyi Adeolokun, Kyle Godwin, Tom Farrell, Matt Healy, Jack Carty, Caolin Blade, (1- Denis Buckley, Tom McCartney, Conor Carey, Ultan Dillane, Gavin Thornbury, Paul Boyle, Jarrad Butler (Capt), Robin Copeland.
Replacements (16-23): Shane Delahunt, Peter McCabe, Dominic Robertson-McCoy, James Cannon, Colby Fainga’a, James Mitchell, David Horwitz, Cian Kelleher.


Could do with another 5 points here please

Nice rotation to keep the lads fresh. Expecting a big performance form Copeland.

No SOB, injured or too pale for the SA summer ?

Buckley fit, MCCartney and Copeland to add experience, Boyle to carry/ruck, Thornbury to jump, Fainga'a to bring impact .
Perfect. Just harsh on Kelleher who was good last week.

I like that team. Cheetahs have definitely fallen away from last year but still a tough opponent especially in South Africa.

A win pretty much stops us having to worry about them and keeps us in a solid 3rd position going into the interpros. The 3 games they have against Kings is an example of the league not being like for like really.

Good result that.

Cheetahs will say they were unlucky not to get more scores but truth is they were throwing 50/50 or worse offloads all day and knockons were always going to occur.

Good solid performance, Godwin and Copeland before he went off the picks for me.

9 points from two away trips: that'll do pig!

Amazing to have held that. Big Champions Cup for next season is achievable now

Big win. Sets us up nicely for the interpros. Difficult conditions for the players but we definitely made it a lot harder than we needed to. The lead up to the 2nd try was very disappointing and we let 2 or 3 tries slip at key points that would have made it a lot easier afternoon. At 10-15 we had to soak up a lot of pressure though. They made a lot of unforced handling errors in that spell. If they got ahead it would have been a big ask to come back. When we got it to 10-21 we looked in control and should have been able to close the game down then but again we were hanging on at the end. The important thing was that we did though.

Cardiff losing gives us a bit of breathing space over them too.

Perpignan next week I'd give a few other players a run. Europe is always important for us but the league is far more important for us this year. A place in the play offs or minimum 4th is very achievable.

Teams who have won both matches in their SA double header this season or last: Connacht, Munster.

Teams who have not: Leinster, Scarlets, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Ulster, Treviso, Cardiff, Zebre (Ulster, with a win and a draw, did remain unbeaten).

Teams with double headers to come: Ospreys, Dragons.

Super stuff. Worth noting that the last three wins (and the performance of the pack in the Ospreys loss) have showcased pragmatic, set-piece/forward-driven rugby of the type that will prove very useful over the winter months.

salmson wrote: Super stuff. Worth noting that the last three wins (and the performance of the pack in the Ospreys loss) have showcased pragmatic, set-piece/forward-driven rugby of the type that will prove very useful over the winter months.