Harlequins Oct. 20th @ The Sportsground

Taken on the whole it was a good game from a Connacht perspective. In regards to missing out on the losing bonus point, they probably got what they deserved. I felt like they really didn't go hunting for it until the last 3-5 minutes. Clearly the Quins deserved their victory, but for a 10 minute period though Connacht could have quite easily won the game. If the ref had any deficiencies it was equal to both sides. I was amazed he missed Turner-Hall's early knock on in the move that resulted in their first points.

Care's first try was just frustrating all around. First I'm not even sure Vainikolo knocked on in the prior play and if he did it was because the Quins player's arms got short when he saw Fetu'u charging up on him. So for them to have a scrum there after what was a good defensive play was just cruel. Thought Connacht got the alignment wrong given the amount of space there was on the short side, but hindsight is 20/20 and hopefully it is something they will work on for the future. I was disappointed with Muls though. He had his head up the whole time so he seemed to see this coming, but he was nowhere near Care. Perhaps that's harsh on him and with Care's quickness he scores from that position no matter what, but I thought the effort was a little lacking. Muldoon didn't do much better, maybe worse, for Care's second. I thought he gave him too much room to squeeze in.

There were, however, plenty of very good performances. George and Vainikolo had some great runs that probably should have resulted in a try or two, but at least netted some points via Parks' boot. Thought Faloon was prominent as Connacht were required to put in a ton of tackles. McCarthy as well. It may though be time to admit that the team is better served with Swifty coming off the bench. Marmion is a revelation at scrum half. My one quibble was a box kick he made around the 70th minute. At that point Connacht desperately needed possession and someone had won turnover ball, but the kick went 5, maybe 10, yards and right back to the Quins. He is just 20 though and has been impressive so far this season. Parks is doing everything I'd hoped he would since he's got on the pitch. Long may it continue. It can't be a coincidence that the backs have looked more threatening with him in the side.

They must take all the good points from this game and build on it for the game against the Ospreys.

swift4prez wrote: i seen on the connacht website that alex saul is saying, this will be connacht second biggest attendence, behind toulouse.
frankly i cant see this happening. at the moment, the clan and the enclossed area upstairs is sold out and the main terrace is filling up.
little over 5,800 was at the leinster game with only a man and his dog behind the posts.

we need to start selling fast if we want to over take, 6000, heineken cup games is count by whoever walks in the gate with a ticket, rather then pro12 which is count as how many tickets are sold.

as it stands
1) toulouse 9120 (november 2011)
2) munster 7022 (march 2012)
3) toulon 7000 (april 2010)
4) leinster 6582 (january 2012)
5) leinster 5813 (september 2012)

how wrong i was. ill have high hopes in december for biarritz and munster to have high number at both games if we get result between now and then, updated table

1) toulouse 9120 (november 2011)
2) harlequins 8199 (october 2012)
3) munster 7022 (march 2012)
4) toulon 7000 (april 2010)
5) leinster 6582 (january 2012)
6) leinster 5813 (september 2012)

I know eric has given lots to connacht rugby and is leaving etc etc, but i was a little disapointted with the quality of analysis in the post match interview seems very simplistic and that doesnt bode well from a learning aspect, also in the wests awake documentary i found it embarrassing same as i did when they filmed eddie the clown in the irish dressing room the constant use of expletives and thats it no examination of game details and whats going on, for example the kick off problem with easter constantly winning it should have been solved immediately but wasnt for the entire match this smacks of incompetance, seems all the coach had to contribute in the talks was very limted i dont think a quality coaches approaches motivation and pre match half time talks this way id lose respect straight away

sea_point wrote:

Devils own wrote: I know eric has given lots to connacht rugby and is leaving etc etc, but i was a little disapointted with the quality of analysis in the post match interview seems very simplistic and that doesnt bode well from a learning aspect, also in the wests awake documentary i found it embarrassing same as i did when they filmed eddie the clown in the irish dressing room the constant use of expletives and thats it no examination of game details and whats going on, for example the kick off problem with easter constantly winning it should have been solved immediately but wasnt for the entire match this smacks of incompetance, seems all the coach had to contribute in the talks was very limted i dont think a quality coaches approaches motivation and pre match half time talks this way id lose respect straight away

Different strokes for different folks...

You have to remember the context of TWA really when judging it, it was after all filmed in the middle of a 14 game losing streak.

With regards the restarts. Very little a coach can do when the game is in play, its entirely down to on field leadership to react on a play by play basis really to be honest if opponents are moving away from their usual patterns...

Dont remind me of the infamous streak,I can understand coaches have different approaches but IMHO it just says to me there's not much between the ears of a coach if all he can muster is a bunch of expletives and id be just as sick of hearing it as i would be of losing but maybe as you say he was doing the in depth game analysis and man management prior, i have my doubts tho i think EOS and Kidney are similar tatical geniuses . Cant agree that the coach cant get instructions onto the pitch if we can get them to the moon surely a quick bark of instructions during a lull in the game eg penalty kick etc isnt rocket science but i do agree that he shoudlnt have had to it like you said it should have been apparent what was needed to be done by the players themselevses so two failings.

As with any documentary there would have been a large amount of material to cut down to something presentable. A documentary of cold boring analysis doesn't get punters in, blue air and levitating tea cups does.

Just because we didn't see something in the documentary doesn't mean it doesn't happen. There's also the possibility that the team didn't want their analysis techniques exposed.

Living with Lions is a great documentary and one with a very professional Lions squad, but the best bit is Telfer's "This is your Everest" speech. Blood & thunder won't work 100% of the time, and all the uplifting bombast never lasts longer than the first slap in the chops on the field, but it gets the viewer pumped up so that's what you see.

swift4prez wrote:

swift4prez wrote: i seen on the connacht website that alex saul is saying, this will be connacht second biggest attendence, behind toulouse.
frankly i cant see this happening. at the moment, the clan and the enclossed area upstairs is sold out and the main terrace is filling up.
little over 5,800 was at the leinster game with only a man and his dog behind the posts.

we need to start selling fast if we want to over take, 6000, heineken cup games is count by whoever walks in the gate with a ticket, rather then pro12 which is count as how many tickets are sold.

as it stands
1) toulouse 9120 (november 2011)
2) munster 7022 (march 2012)
3) toulon 7000 (april 2010)
4) leinster 6582 (january 2012)
5) leinster 5813 (september 2012)

how wrong i was. ill have high hopes in december for biarritz and munster to have high number at both games if we get result between now and then, updated table

1) toulouse 9120 (november 2011)
2) harlequins 8199 (october 2012)
3) munster 7022 (march 2012)
4) toulon 7000 (april 2010)
5) leinster 6582 (january 2012)
6) leinster 5813 (september 2012)

The real attendance would put the game in 5th..

ummm, wrote: As with any documentary there would have been a large amount of material to cut down to something presentable. A documentary of cold boring analysis doesn't get punters in, blue air and levitating tea cups does.

Just because we didn't see something in the documentary doesn't mean it doesn't happen. There's also the possibility that the team didn't want their analysis techniques exposed.

Living with Lions is a great documentary and one with a very professional Lions squad, but the best bit is Telfer's "This is your Everest" speech. Blood & thunder won't work 100% of the time, and all the uplifting bombast never lasts longer than the first slap in the chops on the field, but it gets the viewer pumped up so that's what you see.

Ya suppose your right there it wouldnt be the most entralling viewing alright although id watch it, I watched the telfer speech it actually was a little like erics in fairness, i think its a bygone era type of style personally, guys should have the self belief in their own abilities and talents and not need to be told the oppostion doesnt respect you in order to rile them up, if they truely dont then you most likely dont deserve to be yet because you probably havenet being doing the business on the field prior, the message should be you havent earned the right to be respected yet go out and take it week in week out as munster have and leinster have done in the heineken cup and ulster are on their way to doing and if you do that and they still dont then they are fools who should be taught a lesson. Id probably be saying to the connacht guys playing a biarritz side you dont deserve their respect yet go out and earn it piece by piece second by second for the whole 80 minutes for yourself and for your province and again next week against whoever dragons etc.

sea_point wrote:

RonanL wrote:

swift4prez wrote:

swift4prez wrote: i seen on the connacht website that alex saul is saying, this will be connacht second biggest attendence, behind toulouse.
frankly i cant see this happening. at the moment, the clan and the enclossed area upstairs is sold out and the main terrace is filling up.
little over 5,800 was at the leinster game with only a man and his dog behind the posts.

we need to start selling fast if we want to over take, 6000, heineken cup games is count by whoever walks in the gate with a ticket, rather then pro12 which is count as how many tickets are sold.

as it stands
1) toulouse 9120 (november 2011)
2) munster 7022 (march 2012)
3) toulon 7000 (april 2010)
4) leinster 6582 (january 2012)
5) leinster 5813 (september 2012)

how wrong i was. ill have high hopes in december for biarritz and munster to have high number at both games if we get result between now and then, updated table

1) toulouse 9120 (november 2011)
2) harlequins 8199 (october 2012)
3) munster 7022 (march 2012)
4) toulon 7000 (april 2010)
5) leinster 6582 (january 2012)
6) leinster 5813 (september 2012)

<strong>The real attendance would put the game in 5th..</strong>

Real attendance? Which was...

Certainly on TV it didn't look like there was much of a squeeze in the Sportsground, decent crowd alright but the bits either side of the Clan and the terraces behind in goal areas were not full at all like they were for Toulouse.

I genuinely can't remember the figure, but I know it began with a 6

6,118,741

approximately.

Sheepsean wrote:

Edward Eagle wrote: was happy enough with our performance last night, was it just me or was the ref v lenient in policing quins going offside?

I thought the same purely because they seemed to be up and flat so quickly .In fairness i kept an eye out and didn't see anything conclusive .You could argue that they were simply well organised .

As for our 5-1 defensive split for the 1st try .Correct me if i'm wrong but do they not dictate our defensive lineout.We can hardly go 4-2 if they are 5-1 ?!?

im not a defensive coordinator but to my mind a scrum in that position required 2 defenders on the blind side. the scrum half and 7 should add extra cover on the open side.

Uploaded some video that I took during the game! Missed the important part of the 1st Harlequins try because I couldn't believe what was happening! Enjoyed the game all the same!

lets get behind dave and make him win try of the round.~

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Done Swift