Aironi v Connacht - 07/01/12

Glad to hear from Mike that the team were embarrassed - they should be. And it's all well and good having a positive mental attitude about an upcoming fixture, but if ever there was a game where we should rest our front line lads, it's Toulouse away. We haven't a notion of winning so give a few lads a rest with a view to pulling a victory out of the bag against Quins.

RonanL, exactly what I was thinking. Of course I wouldn't expect Macca to say anything different than he has, but I hope the management will be realistic about this game. Let's mix somethings up and use the bench relatively early. The game they could win if everyone was at their best is the Quins at home. I'm not sure a handful of players in the squad could be at their best without a little rest.

Very Embarrassing indeed

im posting this point here as there is a lot of feel good on the more recent threads(and rightly so) about toulouse trip and team performance there.

it just makes me wonder if some of these players are playing for themselves(in public eye sat) or the club.why does a team bust a gut in a dead rubber of a game one week and absolutely fail to perform in a must win winnable game the week before. The big diff between the two being media profile.

dont mean to piss anyone off but thought id ask the question?

Hard to say definitively as playing a big game in the HC (big crowd, tv, atmosphere etc.) is always going to be easier to get up for then playing someone like Aironi or Treviso.

Having said that I feel that there are some players in the squad who are really out to prove a point in the Heineken and go through the motions in some less glamorous Rabo games.

Squad depth and that sort of thing plays a part but I think there is a lack of leadership in terms of the standards the group are demanding of themselves in every game and big question marks as to the "bottle" in the squad when it comes to games we could/should win. They'll say the right things in public and say "we've had words on the issue" kind of thing but nothing changes.

Also there is the plain facts that we don't put up big scores so after a poor opening 20 against Treviso,Aironi even Gloucester at home etc. we were left chasing, trying to force things, making stupid mistakes compounding the earlier problems. Also we don't concede massive scores but with our record teams might regard us as a soft touch and expect a handy enough bonus point and not reach their normal level of intensity which was obvious with Toulouse for most of the game the last day and perhaps Harlequins were caught a bit unawares on the opening night after our poor effort against Ulster a week previously.

have to agree borders. i think there is a hint of shop window mentality for some of the players.

then again they were told that they were playing for their futures. its a pity they werent told this a minimum of a week earlier!

Agree with some of the points but I also feel Rob Murphy got it spot on in his article on Knockon

In the games we're expected to win, we seem to freeze. When the odds are stacked against us we produce, almost in fear of getting a thrashing. Loads of mistakes in Aironi, probably not to do with not trying but tenseness and pressure knowing that it was a must win game.

Need to have cool heads all the time, just have belief and here leadership kicks in. Do the simple things well and the rest will follow