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

connachtexile wrote: 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.

Dave Finn ‏@Furlo
#connachtrugby BAD NEWS 2: Eagles game took tole: Leyden hamstring out for 12 weeks: Walsh-medial ligament; Finn- knee ligaments

Dave Finn ‏@Furlo 3h
#connachtrugby Injury Updates: BAD NEWS 1: Miah out for up to 5 months with dislocated shoulder which requires surgery.

Dave Finn ‏@Furlo 3h
#connachtrugby Injury Updates: GOOD NEWS: No new injuries out of Blues game: Bucks & Craig training; Dave Mc back next week

Seriously bad news about Miah - a big blow to us. Ronaldson will have to get his chance !!!

Any news on So'oialo and Mckeon. I'd be confident Ronaldson can do a job for us in place of Miah, just imagine if we still had O'Connor.

You used the word 'resplendent' so I'm sold.

connachtexile wrote: 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.

Haha, that was us at the match that they showed after the try. Me in the centre and Brother & Dad either side. The brother shouted that we're the only ones here - but I'm pretty sure he said Mooo, not Woo! (do ya like that Connacht Cows!).

I travelled to the one we won last year and said I’d have to make it back again this year so the Bro & old man came too. Afterwards, I met a guy from Tuam that lived close to Cardiff and he said that he saw 2 others behind him in the stand so there were at least 6 of us there, but I’d say that was about it.

Conditions were fierce! Not too much wind but very wet. Don’t know how it looked on the TV but can’t blame handling errors too much. Our kicking was poor and some of the decision making whether to kick or run from the counter was very poor. I think we gave away far too many kickable penalties to say that we left the win after us but definitely left at least the bonus point. I’d love to blame the ref, and even Cardiff fans were even saying that he was a terrible ref (when it suited them), but we were obviously doing something he didn’t like in the scrums & breakdown and should have adapted our play. On a positive note, some of our open play was quite good and if we were able to keep ball in hand or stop infringing, we would have threatened their line a lot more or forced them to foul. Our defence was very good at times but it really wasn’t a good Cardiff team. If conditions were better, I think we would have won, despite the sh!tty ref.

Gotta say, the Cardiff fans were great again. Loads thanked us for a good game and for coming to the match. We were in a pub later and a Cardiff fan that was at the match, came up to us and invited us over to have a drink with him and a few other lads who were there. Had a great chat about how the old regions became the Blues, Ospreys etc etc, & how the Celtic Warriers went bust and broke up even though they were the best region at the time and that now 4 teams were probably too many for what they could afford and keep competitive. We talked about the battle with the IRFU a few years ago, marches and all that, but then I got a little annoyed when they kept saying they were weary of central contracts and risk one of the 4 becoming a Connacht type club. Good thing I wasn’t drinking or else he’d have gotten a Connacht type haymaker in the jaw!!

I noticed this about the Italian Ref on the Ulster Rugby forum...

"Meanwhile Ulster coach Mark Anscombe has apologised to the RaboDirect PRO12 organisers for criticism of Italian referee Claudio Blessano following the NG Dragons v Ulster match at Rodney Parade on September 6."

apology not accepted after his performance reffing our last game.

Its a bit uncomfortable seeing the words Rodney and stabilise in the same sentence

i was told that the ref for this game; Referee: Claudio Blessano (FIR, 4th competition game) has been banned for the year and that Connacht has received a letter (from whoever is incharge) saying sorry about the ref

swift4prez wrote: i was told that the ref for this game; Referee: Claudio Blessano (FIR, 4th competition game) has been banned for the year and that Connacht has received a letter (from whoever is incharge) saying sorry about the ref

Any chance of a replay on this basis?

Who told you - I find it really hard to believe either of those statements could possibly be true.

If this referee was considered to be inadequate at this level I would expect him to be retrained, more closely supervised and monitored whilst refereeing lower grade matches. Whilst he might not be picked for any more games in the Pro12 until he was considered suitable, it would be an odd decision to announce he was 'banned' for a year.

I also find it hard to believe Connacht, alone, got a letter of 'apology'. If so, it's shocking. It's tantamount to saying this guy's a cheat.

RockSalt wrote: Who told you - I find it really hard to believe either of those statements could possibly be true.

If this referee was considered to be inadequate at this level I would expect him to be retrained, more closely supervised and monitored whilst refereeing lower grade matches. Whilst he might not be picked for any more games in the Pro12 until he was considered suitable, it would be an odd decision to announce he was 'banned' for a year.

I also find it hard to believe Connacht, alone, got a letter of 'apology'. If so, it's shocking. It's tantamount to saying this guy's a cheat.

It's true, he has been sacked