half time losing 12-8, parks missed 2 penalties and a converstion

30 mins gone 8-6 to us. poolman try after 34 seconds. then parks drop kick

sounds like were having a great game

rossie wrote:
great to see tonetti back. did well for us last season. hope mcshaz isnt injured and is just finally being rested now that kyle is fit. .

McSharry is not injured or rested, but he has been away in the Irish camp for the past 3 weeks and is still training with them now, so wouldn't really be ideal to slot him straight back into the Connacht side. Tonetti is a good player and it will be good for him to get some Rabo gametime to get back up to the speed of professional rugby.

Yeah, Connacht should be looking to make up for the game they let get away against the Scarlets earlier in the season, but I'm not confident they will though. Connacht have had a layoff while the Scarlets played in the LV Cup. Connacht have a few changes to the squad with a handful playing their first game at Rabo level in weeks or even months. And their form away from home is dreadful which is perfectly illustrated by the stat salmson shared regarding their record at Llanelli.

I am holding out hope to be pleasantly surprised as Connacht have a decent squad there and the bench, aside from not having 2nd row cover, has the potential to make an impact. If nothing else it will be a good game to get all the returnees game time.

Given the two teams there's no reason we shouldn't be pushing for a win in this fixture.

HOWEVER, given we have lost 7 years on the trot in Llanelli, by an average of 23 points, we've yet to win 2 games on the trot this year, and our only away wins are against Aironi, keeping within 2 scores is the best we can hope for, and I'd bite yer arm off for a losing bonus point.

Scarlets:

15 Gareth Owen, 14 Andy Fenby, 13 Nick Reynolds, 12 Adam Warren, 11 Kristian Phillips, 10 Owen Williams, 9 Aled Davies,

1 Phil John, 2 Emyr Phillips, 3 Samson Lee, 4 George Earle, 5 Johan Synman, 6 Rob McCusker (capt), 7 Josh Turnbull, 8 Kieran Murphy

Replacements: 16 Kirby Myhill, 17 Shaun Hopkins, 18 Deacon Manu, 19 Jake Ball, 20 Lewis Rawlins, 21 Gareth Davies, 22 Aled Thomas, 23 Gareth Maule

i think the bench for this game shows the areas of the squad where we are both strong and weak.

rodney as LH replacement. is cooney injured or just not rated. i think the only people who rate rodney as a scrummager are dan and eric. id bow to their superior knowledge if his shortcomings in this area wwerent so obvious.

theres no 2nd row cover on bench. while browne can play there imo hes too light and should be considered as a 6 going forward. by contrast the bench cover for the backs is as good as can be expected. not donohues biggest fan but we have him for one more season unless strings comes in as a player/ defence coach type role(wishful thinking).

great to see tonetti back. did well for us last season. hope mcshaz isnt injured and is just finally being rested now that kyle is fit. great also to see faloon and mul back. afair that just leaves george and buckley with murphy out for season.

all in all a decent team with a few concerns re bench but with away form the way it is a lbp would be great.

Connacht Rugby team to face Scarlets announced

Connacht Rugby has announced their team to face Scarlets tomorrow in Round 14 of the RaboDirect PRO12 league.

Eric Elwood’s side travel to Parc y Scarlets for the Friday night fixture (kick off 7:30pm) and there are a number of changes to the team that played Zebre three weeks ago in the Heineken Cup.

Brett Wilkinson, Jason Harris Wright and skipper Nathan White make up the front row trio. Replacing Ireland international Mike McCarthy, Mick Kearney starts in the second row alongside Connacht’s highest capped player Michael Swift (234 caps).

December’s Player of the Month, Eoin McKeon, returned from injury last week and starts at number 8, joining flankers Andrew Browne and Johnny O’Connor in the back row.

In the backline, Tiernan O’Halloran is named at full back, replacing Robbie Henshaw who is on international duty this week. Danie Poolman, this season’s joint lead try scorer (3), and Fetu’u Vainikolo are named on the wings.

Kyle Tonetti will earn his first start for Connacht this season following a lengthy battle with injury. The 25-year-old has recovered fully and has been playing with his club Lansdowne RFC over the last number of weeks. Tonetti joined Connacht last season from Sale Sharks and was ever-present in the squad. He showed his versatility and ability to adapt featuring at inside and outside centre as well as a few games on the wing. Tomorrow night in Wales, he will start at Inside Centre, in a partnership with Eoin Griffin.

The half back pairing of Dan Parks and Kieran Marmion remains. Scrum-half Marmion earns his 20th cap for Connacht tomorrow night and holds the record of the only player to have started every game this season.

On the bench there are some welcome returnees with Willie Faloon and John Muldoon named amongst the forward replacements. Gavin Duffy also returns to the fray and could feature in tomorrow’s clash with Simon Easterby’s side.

Scarlets ended a five game losing run with their 40-19 victory over Leicester Tigers at Parc y Scarlets in the Anglo-Welsh Cup last Sunday. The Llanelli men have a won 3, lost 2 record at home in the RaboDirect PRO12 this season. They won 24-11 when they visited Connacht in round three of the league.

Connacht have won two of their last three matches in all competitions, and will be looking to lodge their first win on the road since beating Zebre 19-10 in Parma in October’s Heineken Cup game.

Connacht XV

15. Tiernan O’Halloran

14. Danie Poolman

13. Eoin Griffin

12. Kyle Tonetti

11. Fetu’u Vainikolo

10. Dan Parks

9. Kieran Marmion

1. Brett Wilkinson

2. Jason Harris-Wright

3. Nathan White (captain)

4. Michael Swift

5. Mick Kearney

6. Andrew Browne

7. Johnny O’Connor

8. Eoin McKeon

Replacements: Ethienne Reynecke, Rodney Ah You, Ronan Loughney, Willie Faloon, John Muldoon, Paul O’Donohoe, Miah Nikora, Gavin Duffy

Scarlets v Connacht Rugby
At: Parc y Scarlets, 7.30pm.
Referee: Matteo Liperini (FIR, 3rd competition game)
Assistant Referees: James Jones, Alan Jenkins (both WRU)
Citing Commissioner: Denis Jones (WRU)

overstrander wrote: Imagine Gavin Duffy will be starting this one since I think I saw that Robbie Henshaw has been released for the u20s game in Athlone.

Ya, saw that alright, fair play to Elwood for backing him to be released for it, it's great to see Henshaw being given chance to play for the Irish U20's when most of us thought that he would be kept for provincial duties. Does anyone know whether he will have another year at U20's after this year at all?

With the next JWC on in New Zealand, it will be a great experience for the younger players. I do recall Ulster not releasing Paddy Jackson for the JWC last year (even though he was captain up until then) due to his inclusion in the Ulster setup, which paved the way for JJ Hanrahan to shine. I always wondered whether Henshaw would still be included in the U20's, but guess I got my answer now, fair play to him, fully deserved.

EDIT: Apologies for going completely off topic of the thread, I'm not getting my hopes up about coming away with much from Llanelli. Used to prefer it when S4C used to pick up this fixture as well, funnily enough the Dragons, Cardiff and Scarlets are all at home this Friday evening and none of the games are being televised.

yea henshaw is with u20s.
another chance for kearney too id imagine to show that he has what it takes to replace macca next season.

id have to agree with borders about chances here even though it will most likely be their LV team we are up against. our away form is just too poor to predict anything else. its a pity we didnt have them at home.

Ulster have been very lucky with the timing of their fixtures againsy the better welsh teams. they had scarlets the wkend of 4th welsh AI aswell but thats how these things can go.

Imagine Gavin Duffy will be starting this one since I think I saw that Robbie Henshaw has been released for the u20s game in Athlone.

Ok despite the excitement of the 6 nations on the weekend ahead, there's still plenty of important games going on in the Rabo. Friday night we visit Llanelli Scarlets. Scarlets were Ulster's main pursuers at the top of the table for the first half of the season but a couple of bad results over the new year period set them back slightly. They are just outside the top 4 and will be looking for a win here.

They looked impressive against Leicester in the LV Cup last weekend (even if it was a meaningless game)

Really any point(s) out of this game would be welcome but its hard to see on present form. Would be good to welcome back some of the injured players if possible.

Of the other games Dragons v Treviso looks the most significant from a Connacht viewpoint, a Treviso win there would see them realistically moving out of our reach but you'd have to fancy Dragons with all Treviso's big players playing 6 nations. Munster should account for Edinburgh with little fuss and hopefully Leinster can beat Cardiff and enable us to just about hang on to their coattails.

Another win for Ulster at home to Ospreys would do them major goood in consolidating their top position.

Round 14 Rabo Direct Pro 12

Ulster v Ospreys
Blues v Leinster
Dragons v Treviso
Scarlets v Connacht
Munster v Edinburgh
Zebre v Glasgow