Cardiff Blues v Connacht, Friday 13/09/2013 1905

clan clover wrote: If anybody has recorded the game I would suggest

deleting the evidence immediately

Jaysus I must have been watching a different game to alot of people on here. I thought Connacht played very well away from Home against Cardiff. lost by was it 10 points in the end??? Ok there is room for improvement but right up until rodney got sent of i believed there was still a chance for us to win the game. I think the ref was the ruining of us......

I thought George (cant spell his surname) was excellent for us.

Other posts about Parks not playing well, fair enough but look do not doubt it for one second but he is our prized possession in the squad at the moment...Class apart from any one else in his position in the squad, great head on his shoulders.

As already said we are only 2 games in we have won 1 lost 1(away in wales), lets now get behind the lads come saturday and make Galway a fortress!!

After the start that they have had, Ulster will be up for it.......... They sure did drop some balls this weekend !

This will be a very important game for us.

How did TOH last the full 80 minutes let alone start ahead of Carr He has not been playing well for a while. Parks looks his age on the pitch too slow and a lot of questions about his defence. There was no leadership on the pitch Friday night first 15 we got quick ball and scored our try after that the work rate dropped. Connacht need to play the conditions and earn the right to go wide. There was a lack of fight which is the most disappointing

Exactly, it's the lack of fight and intensity that irritates me. Lam has put on the record that he understands the parameters of the job in terms of squad ability etc, and that we need to be at it every week to survive. If it wasn't Zebre last week we would have been beaten.

I'm sorry, but I can't accept using the referee as an excuse or the fact that it was an away game. Bullshit as far as I'm concerned. Are we ever going to be taken seriously with that attitude? If you watched Leinster last night with a very inexperienced bunch of players, they were giving it socks to stay in the game. Not taking a step back, not dipping back into a comfort zone that seems to be prevalent in Connacht. 'Ah we're not expected to win this' attitude. It's time we snapped out of it.

In terms if leadership, if you compare the amount of caps between the 2 sides it's night and day. The likes of White, Duffy, Swifty, Wilko, Muldoon and Naoupu have huge experience, where was this evident.

Unless we up the intensity massively, improve our discipline, show a bit of heart and pride and cut out silly, inexcusable mistakes then Ulster will have their merry way with us next week.

This is a make or break season for us in my opinion. With the revelation about the debts, then unless we justify it this season, the IRFU will come down with an iron fist. And so far we're not remotely justifying it.

You look at Leinster last night - behind, the likes of Fanning and Macken who wouldn't make our bench in the team, and they put 10 points on the Ospreys while they had their hooker in the bin. That's pure desire, allied to an unshakeable belief that because you have a blue shirt on you're better than everyone else. Unfortunately in that regards we seem to have the opposite opinion of ourselves

But to be honest Porterbelly, I don't see how you expect leadership from any of those players in the last quarter of a game. Wilko and White were subbed, Muldoon has stated he dislikes the captaincy, Duffy wasn't a success as captain, and the likes of Swift and George clearly are not captaincy material. Most of these guys have spent a decade getting badly beat, I think we need to be looking at players from outside that history (Clarke, White, Faloon, Marmion, Parks).

Anyway, I'm not getting too down after Friday, we'll see how we go next week. One team or other will be teetering on the edge of crisis after that one.

And everyone, what's with all the TOH hate? I know he carries himself like one of the Kearnashians, and he certainly wasn't mistake free on Friday, but what about the smashing of Cuthbert, the try saving interception, the workrate? I thought he was the pick of the backs, perhaps Marmion excepted.

And everyone, what's with all the TOH hate? I know he carries himself like one of the Kearnashians, and he certainly wasn't mistake free on Friday, but what about the smashing of Cuthbert, the try saving interception, the workrate? I thought he was the pick of the backs, perhaps Marmion excepted.

Agreed. I think the Cardiff guy made the most of the TOH push which wasn't that bad at all. To be frank our backs couldn't do much with a platform and that was missing after Ah You came on. I thought Henshaw had a very good first half in the 13 shirt also not so much in the second half but we were starved for ball.

With respect I don't think you can make a clear comparison between Connacht playing away in Wales with Leinster playing at home against perhaps their arch rivals in the league. I can see the point about a lack of leadership, it probably is fair to say that none of those senior players put a serious mark on the game, I don't remember any huddle convened to remind everyone of the game plan, etc. However you also do a disservice to Leinster; Strauss, Ross, McCarthy, Toner (over 100 caps), Jennings (close to 200 games combined I think?) Reddan, Darcy (well over 250 games leinster and Ireland) - that's an extremely experienced spine to a team, and importantly its mainly made up of multiple medal winners.

There was about a 5-10 minute period in the second half when the ball was recycled between the forwards linearly and after it had been tried a few times and no break was found it did seem as if Connacht settled back, let Cardiff come at them, and perhaps hoped they would get some penalty kicks of their own. It didn't happen and even if it had I don't think that would have been acceptable.

In terms of heart and pride I think the defence showed that several times, yes at times Cardiff made too many easy yards but the defence on the try line was fantastic, it would have been easy to allow Cuthbert in and excuse that as 'he's a lion, what do you expect' but they didn't do that. Since defence and the lack of defence coach was/is a concern that should be taken as a positive.

I do think the captaincy could become a bone of contention throughout the season, if Muldoon has actually stated he doesn't like the position then that's a really bad call by Lam. And as there were 3 captains named it should be expected that at least one of those three should always be available throughout the season - if Duffy or Muldoon are playing later in the season but White or Clarke or anyone else is named as captain then questions must be asked.

Looking at the Cardiff game , while we didn't lose by 50 points I accept, I am unsure if was lack of ability or lack of desire in the jersey. Regardless, the game against Ulster needs to be used as a serious shot in the arm (already) for Connacht. I hope Lam puts out our very strongest first 15 , playing in their favoured positions, with the strongest bench ready for back up.

I know its only the third game of our season but season are very swiftly defined by the winning or losing of games like next Saturday night. The game is all about momentum and a good victory against Ulster , on the TV, creates interest. We have a good squad now but the manager has got to show leadership now and make some big calls - Heenan , Ronaldson ,Carr etc.

We need to get a big big crowd to the game and generate the atmosphere for the players.....'the skypeople think they can come and take our land , but we need to send them a message , that this , this is Connacht's land'

Point taken on the relative strengths of the team phatguerilla.

BTW the press seem to unanimously agree the ref was awful. Davies is being cited for striking Swift (sly blindside elbow to the head, alledgedly) also.

On the defence thing, yeah, our defence in the 22 was phenomenal, even when they had a break or were bashing away at our line I never got the feeling they'd get across. It's just a shame we can't cut out the sloppiness in the other 22.

The View from the Llan Terrace?

(pronounced the same way)

3 lads were definitely there it cut to them celebrating the Healy try and one of them shouting 'We're the only one's here! Woo!'

p.s. Does anyone know if JHW is ok? I saw him indicating to the bench he needed to be taken off. I assume he just pulled something but thought I'd ask if he's alright.