Connacht v Ospreys 28th September 2013 K/O 17:00

While Elwood was in charge, I always went to the Sportsground with hope. I always felt there was a chance we could win because we pulled out unbelievable performances from time to time. The obvious example is when we beat Harlequins after 14 straight defeats. I remember going to that game still with a little hope we could win.

It's too early to be very pessimistic about Lam's era but we need a performace soon to show we are capable of big performances. Otherwise, the enjoyment of going to the Sportsground will be eroded.

Optimism will come from a good performace. I'm still hopeful at the moment

tomsauce2000 wrote: It's too early to be very pessimistic about Lam's era

here here! end of.

3 games and gone, 1 win, 1 away loss and 1 home loss vs the finalist and table toppers from last year.
even after 14 losses in a row 20 months ago, people werent throwing in the towel 24 hours before kickoff.
FFS lads and cop on, if people are so negative go back and ''support'' man utd or barcelona in the pub, sure they win most of the time.

pat has changed or game plan, which has been awful for along time, aimless kicking, now its running style, early days and people have lost hope!!??

how about these people, show up 40mins before kickoff tomorrow, clap the players coming out for the warm up and when its quiet in the stands, start singing and others might join in.

fucking hell; we have great weather, why are so many people down? cheer up

Couldn't agree more Swify4prez and Mareegoo. Hear hear.

If it's blind optimism you're after you'll find plenty of that on the official Connacht Rugby Facebook page. Most of the regulars on here are more realistic about our chances in any given game. It has absolutely nothing to do with supporting the team which I have done for many years and will continue to do. I would dearly love us to win this but I just don't see it happening given Ospreys current form and what I've seen from us this season.

I'm always going to support my team. I'll shout til I'm hoarse. So far this season there's been nothing that tells me we have anything that will worry the Ospreys. Struggled again against Zebre, lost to a Cardiff team that was there for the taking who in turn lost to Zebre, we then lose to one of the weakest Ulster teams to play in the sportsground. Ospreys on the other hand have won in Treviso, which is always a tough place to go to, should have beaten Leinster and hammered Edinburgh. They are unbeaten and are coming with their full team from what I see. We are in shite form and they are not. What from all I've said makes you think otherwise? You talk of white flags, but you've offered nothing to back your opinion that we're going to win

swift4prez wrote:

tomsauce2000 wrote: It's too early to be very pessimistic about Lam's era

here here! end of.

3 games and gone, 1 win, 1 away loss and 1 home loss vs the finalist and table toppers from last year.
even after 14 losses in a row 20 months ago, people werent throwing in the towel 24 hours before kickoff.
FFS lads and cop on, if people are so negative go back and ''support'' man utd or barcelona in the pub, sure they win most of the time.

pat has changed or game plan, which has been awful for along time, aimless kicking, now its running style, early days and people have lost hope!!??

how about these people, show up 40mins before kickoff tomorrow, clap the players coming out for the warm up and when its quiet in the stands, start singing and others might join in.

fucking hell; we have great weather, why are so many people down? cheer up

Sorry Swifty, but I'm entitled to my opinion. And I'm not positive about this game against very good opposition and for good reason. I haven't lost hope, I just have an opinion about this one game.

And if someone else thinks this means I should be moderated out of this board for my opinions then anything I've said has already been overtaken on the "saying stupidly outrageous things" list.

I'm not throwing in a towel for the season. I'm looking at our next opposition and saying they're way better than us on current form. A loss to Ulster wasn't a loss to last years finalists, it was a loss to a poor Ulster team we all fancied ourselves against. A team missing its internationals and firing blanks. A team that lost away to Dragons is exactly the kind of time we should expect to beat and we didn't because of poor play, bad decisions, awful defence and no invention.

So sorry, everyone, if I don't come on here every week and wave pom-poms and twirl my nipple tassels, sometimes the outlook is bleak. There's a difference between optimism and being blind.

Do I want us to win, of course I f**king do. Do I think we'll win? No. Tough. Get over it, everyone. And if we win the cheerleaders will have their moment of berating everyone else for being negative, but if we lose I won't be coming on here saying "I told you so" because that's dickish.

fwiw I'd like to see a more coherent gameplan and after that the score is less important long term - a good performance by our new signings would be as much of a result as a win. Based on form a losing bonus point would be a reasonable result for connacht, but we all know for better or worse form means very little with connacht.

Well that's just defeatist and you're obviously not allowed on here...

think the negative chapps need to get dr eva to tell em to "cop on"!!!!!!!!!!!! lol

well i think there are reasons for optimism:

7-5 lead at half time with clarke on board - he hit 15 rucks in that time!
heenan
ronaldson offers more than parks
and this is a chance for henry to stake his claim

good bench options in naoupou, carr and parks to close out game

yes eternal optimism !!!!

A weaker Connacht on the paper beat Quins Biarritz and Leinster, so I assume on a one-match perpective, there's no reason to be more pessimistic than we were one or two years ago

Personally I am fearful for tomorrow. I used to feel at home that we could beat the majority of teams on our day but I just don't see that with us at present. Its very early days for the new management and we have some new players but I think given the squad we have the performances in the first three games haven't been anywhere near up to scratch full stop. There will always be excuses if you go looking for them but we need to bring a lot more to the table tomorrow. There were some positive signs against Ulster but all in all it was depressing following on from another less than convincing performance in Cardiff.

I'm not expecting a win but if Ospreys go back home with a win at least let them have earned it.

If we dont win by 50 points, we will have failed......

I always live in hope ! It's the only way, we will not win the league or Heineken Cup, but we will always give of our best. As long as that happens you have to be happy. The lads all do their best, we do our best to support them. Maybe stupidly but I always think that we can win every game ! I know we won't, but always think that we can.

I don't know what the significance of Clarke stat of hitting 15 trucks in first half is?!

The only significance of the breakdown in 1st half is 4/5 holding on pens and 2/3 turnovers.