FT 16-6. Pity to come away with nothing after being competitive against the best team in the competition. Hopefully finish with a win next weekend against Newport.

16-6 now. Only a few minutes left. Looks like Newcastle have finally wrapped it up.

13-6 after 70 minutes.

10-6 after 68 minutes. Still some hope here.

10-3 about 60 gone. Newcastle starting to get on top it seems but this is a strong effort.

Trail 7-0 away to Newcastle at ht which is a good effort. Hopefully they can keep it going.

93-0 win for Newcastle at home to Newport!!!

Table after 4 rounds:
Newcastle 20
Newport 8
Connacht 6
Cross Keys 5

Well done to the lads. Significant to win at least one game in our first shot at this competition.

Looking through the Cross Keys twitter seems we got a couple of intercepts and won 3 tries to 1.

Hopefully we can add another win at home to Newport in January and make sure we don't finish bottom of the group anyway.

31-16 win for connacht. great 2nd half performance.

9-9 at halftime v cross keys. rodney sent off for a punch after 15min

From the Cross Keys site:


Cross Keys 17 Connacht Eagles 12

Cross Keys won an entertaining game at Pandy Park against a tough Connacht Eagles side.

Keys started brightly and took the lead in the 3rd minute with a penalty by Steffan Jones. Keys continued to put pressure on the visitors and once agains had Jones to thank for extending the lead with a penalty in the 16th minute and later in the 26th minute.

Connacht did have the odd moment where they threatened but Keys stood firm and were not prepared to let the Eagles through. Back came Keys with the pack firmly on top and a big drive led to a penalty which Keys kicked to the corner and from there a driving line-out caused chaos in the Eagles defence and Ollie Hodge was the man to get the opening try with a fine try, in similar fashion to how his younger brother Danny has scored so often in the past. Steffan unsuccessful with the extras. Connacht did get on the scoreboard just before the break when centre Tadgh Leader kicked a penalty.

Half time score Cross Keys 14 Connacht Eagles 3

Connacht certainly responded better in the second half with long periods of pressure piled on to Keys defence. The Eagles added their second and third penalty thanks to Leader's boot in the 58th and in the 65th minute.

As if Keys injury situation was not already bad enough there was yet further bad news with replacement Rhys Dyer being knocked out cold after making a tackle. Thankfully after a break in play of around 15 minutes and being stretchered off Dyer is fine and was up and about shortly after being treated. This together with the late withdrawals of both Luke Ford and Danny Hodge, although both were on the bench means Keys are currently, not for the first time this season stretched to the limit.

Connacht replacement Jack Carty pulled his side to within a score of Keys as the full timers superior fitness started to show in the 80th minute. Thankfully Keys got another penalty in the 8th minute of added time with Steffan Jones sealing the victory with his 4th successful penalty.

Overall a tough day on the park for Keys but an excellent win which was largely down to the superior performance of the pack.

Cross Keys Scorers:-
Try: Ollie Hodge
Penalties: Steffan Jones (x4)

Connacht Eagles Scorers:-
Penalties: Tadhg Leader (x3), Jack Carty (x1)

That's closer than I thought it would be to be honest we looked very shallow on paper. Anyone know of a match review?

17-14 defeat unfortunately. Cross Keys (2.00 next Saturday in Athlone) and Newport to come at home yet so hopefully we can pick up a couple of wins. Newcastle picked up the 5 points in Newport (26-10), bringing them to 15, they are cruising into the quarter finals and should probably win it out.

Not too sure on the table but something like:
Newcastle 15
Newport 8
Cross Keys 5
Connacht 2

We look a bit short-handed for this one. Hopefully the lads can deliver a strong performance and get a result to cap off a good weekend.

Nigel Carolan has announced the Connacht Eagles team that will face Cross Keys in Newport, Wales tomorrow (Pandy Park, Saturday 8th December, 2:00pm)

Speaking about the match the Head Coach said:

Having got to the final last season, Cross Keys are an effective team and are used to a physical brand of rugby. On the back of their 43-0 win over Swansea in the Welsh Principality Cup last week their confidence will be riding high.”

“However, after our strong performance against Newcastle Falcons in the previous round of the Cup I believe that if we can replicate those high standards we can put ourselves in a good position to come away with a win.”

“ We’re travelling with an energetic team who are keen to play an open brand of rugby and demonstrate their capabilities to the 1st team coaches, and put their hand up for selection for next week’s Heineken Cup trip to Biarritz.”

Connacht Eagles XV to face Cross Keys (Pandy Pk, Sat 2:00pm)

15 James Loxton

14 Mark McCrea

13 Tadhg Leader

12 Brian Murphy

11 Matt Healy

10 Jack Carty

09 Dave Moore

01 Rob Sweeney

02 Kevin O’Byrne

03 Peter Reilly

04 Jonathan Gardiner

05 Dave Gannon

06 Dave Heffernan

07 Eoghan Grace (C)

08 Aaron Conneely



16 Kurt Haupt

17 Paul Griffin

18 Conor Kindregan

19 TJ Anderson

20 Marcus Walsh

21 Finn Gormley

22 Steve Toal-Lennon

Rossie pretty much nailed it with his report. Was really impressed with Murphy, he looks the part, but the game was a total mismatch otherwise and Newcastle knew it. The only thing I'd disagree with was the attendance which looked closer to 200 to me.

The complimentary programs they were handing out have the 'A' interpro's scheduled for the sportsground interestingly.