Aironi v Connacht - 07/01/12

Vanikolo does look dangerous and very aggressive with ball in hand. Why he is not utilised more is beyond me. Ok there has been a few brainfarts but surely that will diminish over time. I think it is far too early for those that are writing him off.

Has Vainikolo ever played with a McSharry/Griffen partnership? Tonetti is showing glimpses, especially against Glaws, but Fets needs to play with our best centres to really show what he can do.

connolly wrote: Lads after the sat performance i was absolute gutted, it was a disgraceful performance. I tweeted on sat during the game saying EE has to go and after calming down (only now mind you), i still feel the same. same tactics week in week out, same team week in week out and same outcome week in week out. People are saying new players aren't doing the job ok a good few aren't near good enough but ther is one or two that have done ok and not being used to there potential example Fetu - they gave him the ball to run onto once in the whole game and caused big problems for them nearly getting over the try line with 3 lads on his back and yet did not once try that route again after that, he was the first one to get into help players. for me he has done enough to be given a good run of games and with henry beside him i think it could be a great combination. I'll prob get a lot of stick for this but its my opinion.

fetu cant catch the ball tho and thats a necessary skill for a winger in the sportsground

rossie how many times has he dropped it i can only think off 2 maybe 3 times, gavin and tiernan done that alone on satlay off the lad untill he is given afew games in a row and than judge him

maybe your right we will see but my gut feeling is that he is a dropper.

HE came on in a game in galway and he did try catch it but ball went back. ref called knock on surprise surprise and now that piece of play is how people remember him

it was a terrible effort at catching a rugby ball though!

Connolly, was thinking along the same lines. This season is a write off and Toulouse are going to put up a cricket score against Connacht if the Aironi game is anything to go on so it won't hurt to really experiment. One such experiment would be to play Henry and Vainikolo together in the centre, get two players out there next to each other that know how to offload the ball and be there to receive it. There's been questions about their defense, but as I said Toulouse are going to score a hatful of tries no matter what at least maybe Connacht can get a couple of their own.

Can't write him off yet, because we can't afford for him to be as poor as he's looked so far.

Hope he turns out brilliant but not holding my breath, if he was a quality player we would have seen some evidence of it in his five games. Five starts is more than a lot of players get before being dismissed.

Last season we had big red haired winger, started 3 times i think plus maybe 3 subs looked excellent defensively and was a real weapon on the restarts, but he butchered a try scoring chance against leinster and was never seen again. Why does an niq deserve more chances than an Irish player?

McCarthy refusing to lose faith as he targets huge Toulouse upset

Tuesday January 10 2012

THIRTEEN defeats in a row, the latest being an abject loss in Aironi, but Mike McCarthy is still a believer.

The province's beleaguered supporters may be dreading this weekend's Heineken Cup assignment in Toulouse, but the second-row is convinced Connacht can cause the biggest upset in the tournament's history -- if they play to their potential.

That's a big 'if' based on their 20-6 Pro12 defeat in Aironi at the weekend, which McCarthy says left the squad feeling "embarrassed" with the knowledge they had let their fans down

However, the Ireland international says going into the clash as massive underdogs works in their favour and says Harlequins have shown the way.

"I know we can win it because we have proven we can compete with the best sides when we play at our best," said McCarthy. "Toulouse beat Harlequins at the Stoop by a similar score to the one Toulouse beat us by at the Sportsground and then Harlequins beat them in France, so anything is possible.

"Gavin Duffy (Connacht captain) was saying today how everyone should be looking forward to it, it's like going to Manchester United, and I for one can't wait. They are not going to expect anything from us, no one is going to expect anything from us.

"I know for a fact that they will be taking us much more lightly than Harlequins going on our results. So, in that way, we couldn't be in a better place going over.

"We performed well against Leinster and against Gloucester away and Harlequins away, and you could argue we should have won those games.

"So, we know we are capable of competing against the best sides when we are at our best, but when we drop off one or two per cent we suffer, like we did against Aironi.

"We can understand the fans being upset and just hope they keep the faith. It has been a hard run of losses and we are embarrassed by our performance against Aironi.

"The performance was very poor. We let ourselves down and our supporters down. We just have to keep working hard, try and stay positive and hope it will turn around for us.

"The mood in the camp is very positive, we are sticking together and backing each other up and we're confident it will turn for us."

McCarthy, who was capped twice in August but missed out on World Cup selection, has been one of Connacht's most consistent performers during their losing run but says he has given no thought to the upcoming Six Nations squad selection -- focusing all his attention on turning Connacht's season around.

"I've made a few mistakes which I'm not happy with and I just have to keep working hard. It is not for me to decide how I am performing but I am just going to try as hard as I can and then wait and see.

"I was delighted to get the two caps in August and massively disappointed not to have gone to the World Cup. <strong>But I learnt a hell of a lot being in that environment.
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"Things are the way they are and you just have to keep working hard, that's all you can do. Now, every time I go out I just want to play my best for Connacht and try to put my heart and soul into every performance."

Connacht will be without Frank Murphy for Saturday's clash. The scrum-half is due to go in for a groin operation today on a long-standing groin problem and will be out for three to four weeks.

- Hugh Farrelly

Irish Independent

Well said mike.

Chance for Moore to show what he can do in the abscence of murphy.

Fetu is a good player, let him have the ball and you can see what he can do, but it's not just ball in hand watch him off the ball he wants to be involved he covers the whole pitch unlike TOH who drifts in and out of games. Henry and Fetu will come good given the chance, one off load from Henry and Fetu would be over the try line before Henry has hit the floor. Great article from Mike as well?