Connacht vs Cardiff Sept 1st 17:00

My point cows is this if they gave a proper injury list ala the following players are ruled out due to injury then we wouldn't be focusing on second hand information or rumours because we'd know who was available or not. It's not that hard for them to do when there say releasing the team that are going to be picked for a game.

A west of Ireland/pacific island fusion backline. Cool!

ummm, wrote: Jays, McCrea can't even get on <strong>that</strong> team!

connachtexile wrote: My point cows is this if they gave a proper injury list ala the following players are ruled out due to injury then we wouldn't be focusing on second hand information or rumours because we'd know who was available or not. It's not that hard for them to do when there say releasing the team that are going to be picked for a game.

If it was say on the verge of a big game or tactical I agree but in the league they could let know the medium/long term injuries at least i.e. Dave Nolan. We don't need to know every single player right away but an up-date on how the players recuperating or how long they are out for is bread and butter for most teams at this stage. I think its one of those ones we'll have to agree to disagree.

As expected the Blues side is officially the weakest and most inexperienced ever to be fielded at this level, due to internationals not back, injuries and obscure selections(eg Copeland the flanker in the second row and Davies the 3rd choice out half playing inside centre!)

Good to see Connacht having strength in depth and hope you have a good season and challenge for a top half finish. On the subject of alternative 15s to the one selected for tomorrow, I am quite keen on this one for the blues:

15 Halfpenny
14 Cuthbert
13 Hewitt
12 Roberts
11 Czekaj
10 Tovey
9 Williams
8 Young
7 Warburton
6 Paterson
5 Cook
4 Davies
3 Andrews
2 Williams
1 Borrust

connachtexile wrote: My point cows is this if they gave a proper injury list ala the following players are ruled out due to injury then we wouldn't be focusing on second hand information or rumours because we'd know who was available or not. It's not that hard for them to do when there say releasing the team that are going to be picked for a game.

bluesboy wrote: As expected the Blues side is officially the weakest and most inexperienced ever to be fielded at this level, due to internationals not back, injuries and obscure selections(eg Copeland the flanker in the second row and Davies the 3rd choice out half playing inside centre!)

The IMF wrote:

bluesboy wrote: As expected the Blues side is officially the weakest and most inexperienced ever to be fielded at this level, due to internationals not back, injuries and obscure selections(eg Copeland the flanker in the second row and Davies the 3rd choice out half playing inside centre!)

You'll fit in well here bluesboy, I think we have written a few books on our own obscure selections over the last couple of seasons.

Delighted to see Grifin back in the team for us, his injury problems have at the least managed to temper the meteoric expectations that we all harbor for the lad. A untried partnership in the middle but hopefully will gel together well.

Interesting to note that Paddypower had us down at +1 prior to the announcement of the Blues team and then moved us to -1 thereafter. I think they aren't far off and it will be a close game.

Absolutely buzzing for the season to get going and hopefully securing 4 points tomorrow.

I'm worried about this one. Some question marks about the team thats starting. Back 3 is as strong as we have, Fa'fita I don't know a huge deal about but its a big step up for him, good to see Griffin back hopefully he gets a good 80 under his belt.

Marmion and Nikora is a new combination at half back, good to see Marmion get a chance, a strong showing from him tomorrow would be huge with regard to the season ahead as imo no.9 is our weakest position at present. Dave Moore must be thinking he should have moved on during the summer. Nikora has been good and bad but again a big performance can make the jersey his own and put pressure on Parks when he returns.

Pack is pretty much fine and will need to take ownership of the game against a weakened Cardiff pack. Denis Buckley had a few decent outings last season so hopefully he can put in a strong performance. Himself and Ronan Loughney will have to stay there for most of the game.

This one is likely to be tight but even allowing for injuries, given how many regulars Cardiff have absent its the sort of game we have to be winning.

Lets hope this team can get the job done and the injury worries will start to ease in the weeks ahead.

Bluesboy, I don't know if this will be your first time in Galway, but I hope you, and anyone you're bringing along, have a great time.

Make sure you fall in with a few local fans, we'll take care of you.

This is one of the games we should have won but somehow found a way to lose last season against a much stronger blues lineup than now. Im watchin ulster atm and noc has missed some easy ones again so i wont be missing that!

not a happy bunny!!!

Absolutely gutted, didn't see the game, only back in the door to check the result and when I saw that the last comment was from Seanin, I knew that we got beat (before reading the comment I may add). Such a shame really, and too be honest I don't know a whole lot about that Cardiff team, but this is disappointing, really disappointing.

On a positive note, good to hear that young Marmion had a stand out performance (apparently anyways).

where are all the comments. did they get deleted as they were so bad.
if you dont no what happened, read the thread here about the game vs aironi but it was 10 times worse. i dont know how honest i can be here. ill take it easy.

only player who wanted to try his best was denis buckley who played like a world class player. only player who ran all night, even won a penalty after chasing after the ball,
young scrum half played good, wont be surprised if he is no1 when everyone is fit. played 80 so dave moore was on the bench.
george was ok and so was duffy. new centre had a decent first half, got plenty of ball and is strong as a ox. all the other players were as poor as piss.

first half nikora took a kick from 22metre out against a strong wind, just before half time they deside to tell nikora to try a kick from 40 metre. go and try figure that. we were piss poor.

griffin was on the ground for awhile, jarvis on the line ready to come in, griffin hopped on one foot around the pitch for at least 5mins before jarvis came in.
we must of knocked on about 20 times. no less.
this was a mickey mouse cardiff team, sorry any blues fans but well done.
we kicked the ball away all through the first half aimless. same as last season when we blamed NOC but now we cant blame him.