Connacht vs Llanelli Scarlets - 15/09/12 15:00

If you're talking about the ruck penalty Macca was lucky not to get a yellow, he just charged in with no attempt to bind. Bakkies Botha got suspended for the same thing in the Lions tour 4 years ago.

Awful end, absolutely awful. But for the first 10 mins of the second half we were the equals of a very powerful Scarlets team. I have mixed feelings about that intercept, proud we went for it and didn't settle for the LBP, but face palming at the lack of composure that allowed them to get the TBP.

For all the abuse he gets I thought Paterson didn't have the worst game today. Not 100% but no ref ever is.

I think there should be a law against George North. Not sure on what grounds, but there should be a law.

Like an u12 side again

We go in 8 points up at half time with the wind behind us and give away 3 shitty tries. I don't care if they have George North or John Davies or whoever, basic errors, missed tackles, system failures in the face of pressure. Simply not good enough anymore. It's the same story every 2nd week.

Our basic skills are so so poor. Our passing is a disaster. When do you ever see one of our players take a ball without having to check his stride or jump or stop to collect a ball. Just not good enough. We fell off key tackles today, Duffy, Griffin and TOH being predominantly guilty. I wonder will they be pulled up on it. Or I wonder will management and senior players bury their heads in the sand and convince themselves we were unlucky and we have it a good go. Bollocks. It's time for some home truths in that dressing room. We were bloody shocking in Zebre, shocking against Cardiff and piss poor again in that 2nd half.

Well that was a kick in the teeth we deserved a losing bonus point anyway. My thoughts after seeing that game are this:

Positives:

1. The Pack was fantastic really solid scrum and our backrow who never played together before did a great job. Kudos go to Wilks he had the Scarlets no. 3 in his pocket all game.

2. Marmion: If I was Frank Murphy I'd be ringing my agent and telling him I was gonna need a new club next year. Very Impressive.

3. New signings: Faloon made a nuisance of himself all afternoon and White did his bit in the scrum.

4. Young guns: Hemshaw and McKeown had good games.

Negatives:

1. Fetu Vainikolo or the Great White Elephant: Did sweet bugger all in the game apart from one run. This is a guy who looks like the real deal but flatters to deceive. Someone should sit him down and tell him that you can tackle with your arms in this game.

2. One on one tackling was diabolical: Griffin and Duffy cost us two trys by horrendous tackling at least Duffy has the excuse he was tackling George North.

3. Substitutions: TOH was doing really well so why take him off and bring on Jarvis when Fetu on the other wing is doing sweet F all? It's a head scratcher. At least he took off ER and brought on Flavin when the line-outs were going astray.

4. Mental sharpness: We strove against a tough wind for 40 minutes got ourselves in front and then p*ssed that lead away with an easy try in the first minute of the second.

Lack of cop on in the team nikora isnt up to playing 10 we badly need a few intelligent heads on the pitch to make the most of the effort, two young scrum halves showed well, duffy wasnt good terrbile tackle on north some new attacking flair is needed at fullback. flavin is a nightmare hooker crumbles when the pressure comes on. Rodney would want to concentrate on rugby rather than his facial hair. work in progress and we are going in the right direction but we cant keep making the same mistakes at the end of matches its dishearting stuff for palyers and fans alike

For the record, Frank Murphy is out for probably the rest of the season with knee cartilage problem

Where was the danger going to come from in the Scarlets team ???? their back three have been superb for the first two games of the season !! so why oh why do we insist on kicking the bloody ball away ?? especally when it's George North!!! if that's the game we wish to play then surely the follow up chase must be good and as it turned out it wasn't.
Some players need some extra time on the tackle bags, Duffy being one of them also TOH and Griff.No need to mention Fetu as I have yet to see him tackle anything !! he was targeted again with the high ball, it was a good job Duffy was there to take the ball as he was not even making an attemp to get near it !!! will things change for the next game ??? I doubt it !!! seems to me that it is harder to out of the team, than to get into it !!!!!
Plus points, the pack !! a great effort against a good Scarlets pack. Andrew Brown showed up well as did Falloon, Rodney needs more game time in the AIL as he is coming up well short at this level. Macca and Swifty were really good again as were both starting Props. We do have problems at hooker but how to solve them is up to Eric !!!!

All that was needed in the second half was simple rugby and we couldnt even do that. We do not know how to win or hold onto a lead. There is something wrong with our mentality where we seem to find a win in the little victories of gaining a losing bonus point. I'm sick of it now. 5 years a season ticket holder and it's still he same old same. We had griff and Tiernan walking on 1 leg at the start of the second half but no change. We had how many line outs go astray? We have an out half who can only kick as far as a 15 year old. Things need a radical shake up from top to bottom. I know I'm saying this after saying previously we were gonna lose, but that Scarlets team was there on a plate for the taking

Very dissapointed. First half was a big improvement defensively on anything to date but still we invited a lot of pressure on ourselves through poor/aimless kicking. Priestland showed in the first half how to use a wind in your favour, we withstood the pressure well but you can't keep handing the initiative back against a quality side without paying the price.

2nd half, unbelievable incompetence, you'd say something if Scarlets had dragged us through the phases and created overlaps or mismatches but first up tackling was awful, stemming from not observing the basic rule in a game against a side with a good back 3. If you are playing a kicking game it needs to be structured and any kicking to touch needs to find touch so they can't get on with it quickly. Poor poor defensive errors. The final try capped it but was coming, Nikora had got caught in possession from the Scarlets no.7 at the previous lineout and really its all so predictable.

Also we really need to spend some time in training practicing the basic act of passing the ball to players inside our own 22 before the clearance kick. All of the back 3 were guilty of poor passing to their compatriots which makes the kick difficult and puts us back under pressure. If we can't master this what hope have we.

Even at 11-17 with about 20 to go we were still actually well in the game but god we look clueless Henshaw showed some spark even if he has difficulty getting the ball away.

Was happy with many aspects, two props did wellm, Swifty gave a good first performance, Back row all had their moments, McKeown and Browne have shown with any chance they have got that they are up to it at this level. Faloon showed well too. Much better from Marmion, apart from one poor kick he was the only one who engaged in sensible kicking all day long.

McSharry did fairly well.

Its the structure of our game as much as personnel thats the issue. Needs to be sorted out. Whether Parks is fit or not we need a change at 10 for next Friday, its been proven conclusively that Nikora is not able to game manage at this level. Time to work on Jarvis if Parks is not fit and cut our losses on Nikora (at least as a starting 10).

Connachtexile no offence but am not sure what game you were watching but TOH was useless again, very interested in going forward could not bothered the rest of the time, and he should have been taken off in the first minute hurry up and bring on Poolman or McRae TOH and his poor performance was well noted and vocalised by the main stand.
Wilko had no body in his pocket and was well lucky not to give away two penalties by collasping the scrum.

Faloon was awesome, McSharry still has not learnt how to pass the ball and why oh why was Griffen left on the pitch when he could not even walk, Elwood will come out with some more shite like how good we played like he did after last weeks poor performance .

We have a long way to go an many more days like today coming our way.

That's a major aspect of what I take from today, how bad our passing really is

One of the most basic skills in the game. You hear how the Leinster players talk about how Schmidt came in and was intent on improving passing and basic skills. One wonders do we ever do any passing drills or focus on skills development. Nigel Carolan is officially the skills coach but he's full time academy manager so really we should be looking at employing a full times skills coach.

I think the little phase in the 1st half with 3 or 4 forwards linking together with good hands was the first time I've seen anything of the sort since we played a bit of champagne stuff towards the end of Bradley's era, particularly at home to Leinster.

What breaks my heart is to see quick ball being butchered by a poor pass as we transfer the ball wide when the receiving player has to check his run and the chance is gone. TOH's pass to Duffy in the corner with the line at our mercy was so unsympathetic, he threw it at him like you'd throw a loaf of bread.

I don't mean to be completely negative, as there are certain positives from today. The back row was excellent, and all 3 should retain their place next week. Browne is a super player, Mckeon has great potential and Faloon showed so much fire today. Concrete off the bench was his usual self as well.

But the problems still remain. Lineout meltdown, basic mistakes, missed tackles, stupid kicking, mentally frail. Unless they are addressed we are going nowhere

Just one more thing, I think I know why Moore doesn't start. He won't put in work. After the game when all the subs were out doing their usual workout after the game, he did 1 sprint and strolled in. If you don't show it in Training what you're capable of you're never gonna get game time