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

Match highlights here, if you're feeling brave. Poolman continues to be a highlight, but Muldowney managed to mix a lovely offload for the try to being among the guilty parties who let Tebaldi waltz through.

Fair enough the stats don't lie. I just remember the good teams scoring easily against Connacht and the regular debates here about it. Danny care springs to mind but there were many other instances.

rossie wrote: Fair enough the stats don't lie. I just remember the good teams scoring easily against Connacht and the regular debates here about it. Danny care springs to mind but there were many other instances.

For the Rabo, tries conceded were as follows:

12-13 2.0 per game
11-12 1.6
10-11 2.0

Too early to tell where we are this year.

rossie wrote: Fair enough the stats don't lie. I just remember the good teams scoring easily against Connacht and the regular debates here about it. Danny care springs to mind but there were many other instances.

I think there's definitely a history of switching off at key times defensively, the so called 'championship minutes' often pass Connacht by in a haze it seems. If you're thinking of the Care try off the back of a scrum that I'm thinking about last season then it was not that different to tebaldi's try this weekend, in that a simple and telegraphed move was easily converted because Connacht left a massive hole in the defensive line and hoped no one would notice.

Would love to see Poolman and Muldowney starting a lot more games from now on. As things stand for me Marmion, Ronaldson, Healy, Griff/McSharry, Henshaw/Griff, Poolman, TOH is the backline of the future imo.

That's the very one. They happen too regularly though to just blame it on the lack of a defence coach. One is definitely desirable of course.

totally agree it has to be drilled into them to concentrate concentrate concentrate only 80 mins and they can go back to bed after!!!! we can't be giving away such soft trys its so amateurish they should be castigated joe smidht style!

i think TOH deserves a shot at full back he can run with ball in hand and i feel he would have got that tackle that gav missed ; gV was also giving out to healy (i think it was) for not collected a pass when it was gav's pass that was behind him!!

ronaldson was extremely composed after his first few errors and he was growing into the game 4/5 conversion rate aint bad and the one he missed was miles out. hes defo one to watch

clarke is a savage buy.....at least we have comfort that our lineout will be ala paulie style and the scrum solid

A few unrelated points, mostly regarding the Ospreys game:

- While Ronaldson kicked well, the intercept pass he threw was dire, and what he was doing going for the posts from half way just before that is beyond me. Dan's form has been poor too, and with Miah injured, I see 10 as a problem position for us. Actually, I'd feel that way regardless of Miah's injury status.
- Most of the Ospreys tries were very soft, and most featured bad tackling, but I feel it comes back to our general lack of physicality, and the lads were just out on their feet at times, resulting in weak tackles. Also worrying.
- We're defintitely playing a nice brand of rugby under lam, but with a rock solid lineout, I'd like to see a bit more variation in our play, rather than the run it at all costs approach they seem to be adopting.
- The new scrum rules might be partly to thank, but with the Ospreys starting 4 lions in their tight 5, I was delighted to see our scrum holding up well, and if anything coming out on top in some cases.
- Keenan and Clarke esepcially seem like great buys, and Muldowney might be handy too.
- Danny Poolman is our stand out player at the moment for me

it was worrying that Ospreys were playing only at 100% a few times during the game, they had the measure of us after the first 5 minutes

I'd forgotten how good Poolman was on the wing. I was guilty of overlooking him.

Poolman is a winger and not a centre, said it all last year and many others did as well

He's a very balanced runner, ball in 2 hands and picks some good lines.

For a big lad he's not physical enough though. To me he looks a bit soft going into contact which is odd for a Saffer. He played well the last day, and was our top try scorer last year. No surprise then that he popped up with a try off a great line and picked the line which set up the 2nd try

Just to temper the enthusiasm about him a small bit, he butchered what looked like could have been a try in the 1st half off a lovely backs move when he threw a pass to Matt Healy's ankles and into touch when he could have been away.

ronanl - i have to come back to you re ronaldson - he was on the pitch for the first half - ok he threw a woeful pass to swifty and had a charge down after that but he attacks the line at speed and has the eye for a gap like marmion does i.m.o he's streets ahead of nikora....

i'd actually have jack carty up next he showed up very well in pre-season and his passing is extremely quick and crisp.....

Ronaldson was poor. It's one thing throwing a wild pass, it's another to be that slow and predictable in possession. It was ridiculous. He was too slow generally and looked out of his depth. It's a long way from AIL to Professional rugby. I'm not sure who missed the tackle for the Ospreys third try but I think it was him. I could be wrong but in fairness he was far from the only one in that regard.

This "let's give such and such a go" is nonsense. It has to be based on something. For example Muldowney did enough when he came on to merit a starting spot. Poolman should be first man on the team sheet. The guy is class. I agree with previous comment about him being a winger.

have to disagree tomsauce2000 but we'll see how he goes for the rest of the season

your remark re its a long way from ail to prof rugby is disingenious to say the least ref matt healy and mcshaz

as i say i hope you eat your words re ronaldson

To be honest, contracts aren't worth the paper they're written on, and when push comes to shove I can see other teams swooping and removing Clarke, Heenan, Poolman and Faloon from under us. Maybe that's a bit of paranoia coming through, but that's my biggest fear right now.

Connacht need to push ahead and introduce more young talant, every time we have been forced to it has proven to be to our benefit. Henshaw,, marmion, buckley all were basically forced inclusions and they are now some of our best players a short time later. Im sorry but some players on the team are basically damaged goods and as i said clarke after two games is practically the de facto captain because none of the 3 named captains (stupid) have the capacity nor the winning experience/mentality to know what to do.

We are not going to make it into europe on our own merit as of right now and i cant see us improving on our league position of last year.

What we can do is afford to experiment to see if our Connacht academy players can shine. Its the henshaws etc that get us the positive media exposure and constant increase in profile that we need to hit the top, its all about producing a decent number of players with real potential who can realistically improve the national team.
Thats what will put us in the limelight not the odd win, when we have the calibre of a BOD or a POC in our starting lineup then we can be more conservative but lets be honest our stalwarts are light years away from them.

Winning the odd match is all well and good and makes us happy for a week but honestly if its done with many players who are never going beyond connacht its pointless unless we are challenging for league and european titles which we are not.
No body outside of connacht cares if we finish 7th or 10th but they do start to chatter big time when they see guys who might have serious potential, how many articles etc have there been in the media about henshaw and correspondingly connacht, plenty.
I say get the younger and academy connacht players on the pitch if only for 20 mins such as heffernan, walsh, carty, etc for starters.

Connacht team almost picks itself when everyone is fit esp in the back line.

15. Henshaw.
14. Carr.
13. Griffin.
12. Mcsharry.
11. Pool man.
10. Parks.
9. Marmion.

Tonetti is as big a loss as mcsharry because at a similar level in 12 Jersey. To have both out at same time is a big blow .

There is a bit more competition in pack but jhw, white, Clark and now Heenan are also nailed on starters.

Healy has been our best winger this season and probably 1 of our top 3 players

McCarthy has been a keenly felt loss, particularly v Ulster, but I think Vainikolo's loss has been very big as well, especially his form in the second half of last season. He didn't score enough tries but he could make a 50 yard break out of nothing to get us up the field time and time again. Matt Healy has been our only back with glmipses from Henshaw, who has the ability to make a break out of nothing. Fionn Carr hasn't really come alive yet.