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

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.

I think I was comparing him to Fetu which was never a good barometer for class! I'll disagree with you on Wilks but maybe you know more about scrumaging than I do as I never played up front.

connachtexile wrote:

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.

I think I was comparing him to Fetu which was never a good barometer for class! I'll disagree with you on Wilks but maybe you know more about scrumaging than I do as I never played up front.

I have never played up front but I have spent all my time on the Wing and I would have Fetu every time over TOH, in fact I would go as far as saying if TOH was on the opposite wing on a team I was playing in I would hit him myself he is that lazy.
Wilko was owned in the first half easy to see for everyone, better in the second half.

All the negatives have already been stated so I will simply say that I thought we threw the game away but on the positive side McKeown performed well and should be given more game time

i think everything has been well and truly covered and quite accurately too. i saw on the rabo site that they have the attendance down as 4500. i have to say that it didnt feel any bigger than the blues game if anything there was more space around me in clan this time. i notice that the clan bar is very quiet also this season. Maybe a sign of the times.

rossie wrote: i think everything has been well and truly covered and quite accurately too. i saw on the rabo site that they have the attendance down as 4500. i have to say that it didnt feel any bigger than the blues game if anything there was more space around me in clan this time. i notice that the clan bar is very quiet also this season. Maybe a sign of the times.

Lack of free pints I'd imagine

lads lads lads, we threw this away, ANOTHER one that got away. were just like last season, being the better team but falling apart due to awaful players.

im going to put this out there but i think as the say, elwood has lost the dressing room, in other words, the players dont believe in him/respect.
mark mccrea or tj anderson havent got a look in since early last season, and NOC getting games when he couldnt hit a cows ass with a shovel. imagine how jarvis felt.
all the ulster supporters were very upset losing a young star in mccrea and cant even get a game here.
TOH is playng now how fionn carr played in his last 10 games here for us, couldnt be arsed, didnt want to get injured with which he couldnt find a contract elsewhere.

there will be at least 3 players yesterday in a test match squad for the lions, davis, north, rees, yesterday you wouldnt think so. all there trys could of been scored by an overweight, drunk, it wouldnt of matter cause he wouldnt of been tackled.
if anything re the lions you would think it would be browne faloon and mckeon. top class lads.

i thought our scrum was on top, a few times made the scarlets go backwards at a rate of knots.

as stated above, nikoras kicking is not that great, distance wise. either by hand, going dowwn the line, (which duffy took most of the time) or the time he went for the converstion from the touchline against a fairly weak wind, it dropped 15metres short.

i was standing not to far from eric elwood and when the 3rd crossed over, i looked up at eric, one guy shouted 'well done connacht'. eric turned around and gave him the most dirty stare ive ever seen, if he did more of that in the dressing room, they will be in training monday morning at 5am.

stand out players were browne, faloon, mckeon and swift, they really gave it there all and between browne and mckeon, they put in some serious big hits which knocked a few players down for awhile. they really did target scarlets lock.
also edit to add, mcsharry was great, well able to run at players, our only powerful back who is able to use his power. unlike mata mcsharry gets the ball at pace

rossie wrote: i think everything has been well and truly covered and quite accurately too. i saw on the rabo site that they have the attendance down as 4500. i have to say that it didnt feel any bigger than the blues game if anything there was more space around me in clan this time. i notice that the clan bar is very quiet also this season. Maybe a sign of the times.

no way was 4500 people there, this remind me of treviso and aironi last season when all there gate number we rounded off, 3200, 2800, 4000, 4300 etc.
re the clan bar, as i said to the connacht branch and in the connacht clan surrvey, if they were getting rid of the free pints then at least have €2 off vouchers or people wont but a pint they wont like, had one after the game, maybe 12 inside, it was a completly flat pint.

Porterbelly wrote:

rossie wrote: i think everything has been well and truly covered and quite accurately too. i saw on the rabo site that they have the attendance down as 4500. i have to say that it didnt feel any bigger than the blues game if anything there was more space around me in clan this time. i notice that the clan bar is very quiet also this season. Maybe a sign of the times.

Lack of free pints I'd imagine

Early start as well. Lots more people would have been driving/going home after the game than a 5 or 7 o'clock kick off

could anyone tell me what kind of meeting took place before and after the scarlets game in the marquee at the sportsground. seen pictures on the connacht rugby face book page. first i heard of it. guest speaker, before, john spillane singing and q and a with mul. wilko and duffy after.

id understand if this was for a heineken cup game or interpro or is there a market for it now compare the clan bar was empty.
was anyone there???

www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151079...53561&type=1&theater

www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151079...53561&type=1&theater

at 100 euro a ticket thats the least entertainment that you could expect.

jesus i didnt know there was a market there for that. as i said maybe big games etc.

from the picture there seemed to be only 50people there which is still a nice crowd for what was on offer.

connachtexile wrote:
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.

Recorded it and watched it back tonight, was surprised to see he wasn't as impressive as he looked at the game: his awful kick from the second half kickoff led to the first try, and he got caught in posession and spilled the ball in the run up to another.

connachtexile wrote:
Fetu Vainikolo or the Great White Elephant ... TOH was doing really well

This was one I didn't need a replay to argue against, but here goes:

Fetu - 2 bad kicks, 2 penalties conceded, one of which gave Scarlets field position in the run up to a try. Against that he made his tackles and covered well, and in addition to his "one run" he had a great crash ball in the run up to our try, and was home and hosed for 5 points but for Duffy's pass drifting forward a foot on the breeze.

TOH - ignoring his missed tackle on North in the lead up to the first try (it was George North etc.) he was consistently out of position, his kicking and handling were poor all afternoon and he butchered a try with a forward pass. Nightmare from start to early shepherd's crook for the poor lad, but in fairness he doesn't have many.

Would agree with the rest of your points, esp. Henshaw - 3 offloads in contact in the time he was on.

Fair enough Salmson but again like clan cover 'll have to agree to disagree. To be frank I'd have neither TOH or Fetu in my team for next week. As for Marmion yes he made mistakes but if you realise this was only his 3rd ever senior game it was a good performance.

Lads to defend Fets, can anyone remember the last time he was giving the ball when running onto it, I certainly can't we really have to use his pace and power. Yes he has some shocking knock ons and poor kicks, but in all fairness is it him that wants to kick or is it EE telling them before the game to kick and don't run it. I am sick of it now any team that comes knows exactly what to expect, all they have to do is practice there catching and there nearly guaranteed a win

Shelflife wrote: Lets call it as it is !

This constant garrtyowen tactic has to stop, thats what you play at u14 level,

Chris Keane was a devil for this (Well box kicks really) It didn't work then,doesn't work now.I have to wonder,does anyone (Conor McP)advise of the Pro's/Cons or chances of success of Garryowen's/Box Kicks.I would guess we get about 1 in 20 back.

The tactic often used a few years ago was to run a few phases ,when nothing happens,stick up a box kick.As a result ,you would often then find yourself defending on your own 10 metre line.

Am a big fan of the playing in their half ,but a better tactic is needed.