Match Thread - Connacht vs Ospreys 15/2/13

My only gripe on the night was the decision to bring Rodney on, its a terrible thing to say but luckily he went off injured as if he'd stayed on I firmly believe we'd have lost. Brett Wilkinson came back in and steadied the ship again. How much more do they need to see of him. Why not put Bealham or someone on the bench at least we'll see someone new get gametime and see if they are up to it.

Agreed in fact I found some of EE's decisions baffling tonight like why take off White at halftime? Was he injured? Even with little gametime you felt he could have lasted another 5/10 minutes. The same with AH You and Reynecke. We had a massively dominant scrum in the first half yet we insisted on taking off these players which brought Osprey's into the game.

Was very impressed with Griffin tonight his defensive effort was immense like the rest of the boys.

P.S. Wonder how long the Osprey's boys are going to be suspended for after they get cited for the spear tackle?

beaten the pro12 champions, beaten the amlin cup champions and beaten the heineken cup champions. were more then just the 4th province

ill give my match review tomorrow, but willie try was great. how swifty didnt get man of the match ill never no. anyone who says he's ''past it'' ill fight them till the end

King and Ross Jones won't be playing much rugby in the near future. Just saw a really good angle on the Faloon spear tackle, and let's just say the disciplinary panel won't have too much work to do.

Good performance .

I almost feel sorry for Rodney, two lost attacking scrums and then a gifted Penalty for lazy running. Then rightly substituted. Awful. God bless him.

I wish people would get off Rodneys back, it was the same on here with Fetu and now he is a hero. The scrums last night went both ways and if you the watch the game again on tv you will clearly see Wilkinson was buckled on a number of occasions as well as was white,Loughney cannot scrum and never could, hence why the IRFU bought Bent. Hagan could not scrum when he came here and only the fact he got game time did he improve but he was still miles off what he could have been.
Rodney is big around the park, huge ability and IMHO lots of potential if he got some proper one on scrum coaching from the likes of Greg Feek or Reggie Corrigan and while we are it Loughney could do with some too. Rodney got up off the ground last night while injured to get in the line when he clearly could not walk just to make himself available to defend most injured players stay down and let there team mates go short handed , remember away to Ulster this season. Rodney is a potential star in the making, if he tackles you, you will know about , if he runs at you again you will know about it and unlike some of our players if you have a pop at him or a team mate you will also know about it. I don't expect anyone to agree no one agreed with me about Fetu but you all changed your tune eventually.

Delighted with that result, and the performance was immense. The game management from Connacht was excellent, and the defensive effort, when it was required similarly so. Swift and Griffin were fantastic, and Henshaw's chase and tackle off Parks' kick was a joy to behold - pretty much sealed the match. It was a real pleasure to see the scrum go so well too, they made mincemeat of the Os in the tight, where Cai Griffiths was a liability every time. That fella must have a great agent, because every time I have seen him play, he's been rubbish. I only saw the spear tackle incident once, but it looked pretty bad.

As Swift4prez says, just look at our home results this season; we're turning into the real deal. Now we need to start pushing even harder in the away matches for similar results - we still have to go to Blues, Treviso and Edinburgh. Here's hoping, eh?

Rodney got injured. He was barely able to stand before he was taken off.

Rodney was injured yes which appears to have been missed by some.

loughney, wilkinson, buckley and white are streets ahead of rodney when it comes to scrummaging. loughney performed better at TH last season in his first appearance in the position than rodney had in the entire first half of the season.
he carries ball well yes but then so do archer and buckley but they both struggle to lock a scrum aswell.

all props have their moments good and bad but rodney you expect bad and thats mostly what you get. i dont buy the arguement fully that gametime will improve them and that you have to learn the position. ryan at munster in comparison to archer has proven that to be false as did ronan here.

im not fetus biggest fan. imo he has a good attitude but doesnt score enough tries and has obvious weaknesses in defence. imo if he stays he will struggle for gametime behind poolman, carr, teirnan and even duffy now that henshaw must be 1st choice full back. he was excellent again last night.

it was a good win against the champs. the scrum was significantky underpowered with browne at 2nd row and joc + willie on the flanks. a worry throughout the game was their ability to make yards through the tackle. they managed it ll night.

did anyone else notice our kick chase strategy last night?
we appeared to chase to half way and stop.(1st half particulary). this more often than not meant that the ball carriers made it into our half as their momentum carried them through the static tackler for extra yardage. im not a defence coach but imo the higher up the pitch you pressure the ball reciever and make the tackle the more successful your kicking stategy is.

Maybe wind in 1st half had an effect, kicks were very long especially towards Clan Tce. range was better in second half as wind held the ball up.

rossie wrote: Rodney was injured yes which appears to have been missed by some.

loughney, wilkinson, buckley and white are streets ahead of rodney when it comes to scrummaging. loughney performed better at TH last season in his first appearance in the position than rodney had in the entire first half of the season.
he carries ball well yes but then so do archer and buckley but they both struggle to lock a scrum aswell.

all props have their moments good and bad but rodney you expect bad and thats mostly what you get. i dont buy the arguement fully that gametime will improve them and that you have to learn the position. ryan at munster in comparison to archer has proven that to be false as did ronan here.

im not fetus biggest fan. imo he has a good attitude but doesnt score enough tries and has obvious weaknesses in defence. imo if he stays he will struggle for gametime behind poolman, carr, teirnan and even duffy now that henshaw must be 1st choice full back. he was excellent again last night.

it was a good win against the champs. the scrum was significantky underpowered with browne at 2nd row and joc + willie on the flanks. a worry throughout the game was their ability to make yards through the tackle. they managed it ll night.

I disagree, Loughs cannot scrum and never could, as mentioned which is why the IRFU brought Bent over he got one cap and that will be it, New Zealand showed the Irish Management he was not a TH. Rodney has potential unlike Buckley as he was just too tall for the weight of the guy. When Jamie Hagan came he could not hold up a scrum, it always went down on his side or backwards. He got games and his ability to lock a scrum improved dramatically, his overall game lacked experience. Fetu will gain you yards all day long, he is a good winger, our game plan does not provide big opportunities for wingers to score tries as the ball rarely reaches them and if it does it is usually too late. TOH will go like Danny Riordan, he thinks he has got it but he is miles away yet, he plays well in the big games as he knows someone is watching other games he is just not interested. I think when Lam comes he will be lucky to get a game, he has potential but he is not trying to reach for it just like Danny didn't. I think Poolman is a fantastic player,he was bought as a centre though, even though it was clear he was a winger and now we are seeing what he can do which is excellent.

If you are proven right about Rodney Clan Clover I'll be more than happy to eat humble pie. In fairness I have noticed improvements in his workrate around the field but still he's a weakness in the defensive line and his handling is suspect. He's a fearsome man with ball in hand running at you with a bit of momentum but Munster made that mistake with Buckley, they stuck with him for what he might offer from time to time around the field in the hope that it would compensate for his inability to scrummage.

The bottom line is that he's been here two and a half years now and there are no signs of real progress in scrummaging. I'd agree the scrums were over and back but I've yet to even a semi-consistent run of scrums in the last couple of years where he has kept the scrum relatively steady. Its not a one-man operation by any means but given the number of times our scrum has gone into consistent reverse as soon as he's come on it can't be a coincidence.

You say Loughney cannot scrum, I'd agree at the top level but in the main he's held his own at Rabo Direct / Magners Level. Also in scrummaging terms imo Hagan was miles ahead of where Rodney is now when he first came. By all accounts Rodney hasn't even held his own when given games at B&I Cup level. The management can't possibly justify giving him more gametime.

He's been given every chance by the Connacht management and on both sides of the scrum but he hasn't delivered. Maybe he could benefit from better coaching but imo almost every prop we've had Dan McFarland has got them playing at or very close to their potential.

Maybe one of the big teams could afford the luxury of keeping him on the books in the hope he delivers on his potential but we most certainly can't

Great result.

Before the game, thought this was going to be a very important match. Really think this could be a turning point for the rest of the season. The confidence of beating the Ospreys should be a spring board for the next 2 matches. Victory over Blues and Zebre both possible, mean we would be near the top of " Division 2".

We never know what team is going to turn up. This is the difference between us and the rest of the provences.

That's it. Buckley had potential for years and still does but he never made it and never will. Rodney is the same. The simple fact is we're a small club and can't keep the likes of a player like him on the books in the hope that he might come right someday. I've nothing against him I meet him once and he was a really nice bloke but professional rugby is a business and he hasn't produced the goods.

Did anyone see what happened with White? Thought it was weird of EE taking him off at halftime. Is it bad?

Heard an interview with Eric Elwood saying that he picked up a neck strain/injury and had to go off at half time. Not sure will he be available for next week. Eoin McKeown and Tiernan O'Halloran are also doubts after coming off injured last night. McKeown is the major worry I'd say which is tough for him as he's just coming back and had a fine game last night again.

Very happy with last night's performance. Tonetti was man of the match for me. Absolutely outstanding in defense and attack. Think he carried 3 times in the lead-up to Falloons try. Haven't seen the replay but the spear tackle looked awful. If it was as bad as it looked from the Clan terrace the player responsible should be banned and so should the touch judge who did nothing about it, despite it happening a few feet away from him.