swift4prez wrote: (15-9):
J Payne,
A Trimble,
D Cave,
S Olding,
T Bowe,
P Jackson,
R Pienaar;

(1-8 ):
T Court,
R Best (c),
R Lutton,
L Stevenson,
D Tuohy,
R Diack,
C Henry,
N Williams;


Replacements (16-23): R Herring, C Black, J Afoa, J Muller, I Henderson, P Marshall, M Allen, P Nelson.

Honnestly, I cant see how on earth we could beat that team... probably the best for Ulster since the 90's, ALL the back-line is international, + Court Tuohy Henry and Williams are massive beasts, and Afoa Handerson and Marshall as luxurious jokers....

without half of our regular team it will be difficult, the 16th man will be crucial.

If fans of rugby unions opinion of its refs were taken into account there would be no rugby games because none of the refs would be deemed good enought. Fitzgibbon falls somewhere middle of tbe road in that there are a lot of refs out there both better and worse than him. He suffers from the same problem most middle of the road refs do which is indecisiveness at scrumtime. Thats as much irb ref commitees fault as individual refs themselves. And for record im not his biggest fan either but sympathise with mess they have been handed at scrum and ruck time.

Decadence wrote: I didn't write that article Donal, but yeah, I got caught before with McKeon. I had assumed he was 22/23 until I checked the 'official' source...

Not to derail the thread, but we are still planning on inducting JOC after the Glasgow game. We were told Eric wouldn't be available that night due to media commitments.

Wonder if RTE will look to snaffle this game being Eric's last in charge, can see them wanting to do a big build up and interviews pre and post game...

salmson wrote:

Referee: Peter Fitzgibbon (IRFU, 47th competition game)

Oh dear. :sick:

could be worse, we could have dudley phillips. here is a clip from last weekend, between himself and the tmo, they gave ospreys a try even tho 2 things was wrong with it.
1) treviso werent aloud take a lineout behind the try line.
2) ospreys player had his foot in touch when he caught the ball

The Village i****(
I cant understand how we always end up with these spanners.
His inept and bad for both sides. Not the man you want when your weak in the scrums.

Referee: Peter Fitzgibbon (IRFU, 47th competition game)

Oh dear. :sick:

(15-9):
J Payne,
A Trimble,
D Cave,
S Olding,
T Bowe,
P Jackson,
R Pienaar;

(1-:
T Court,
R Best (c),
R Lutton,
L Stevenson,
D Tuohy,
R Diack,
C Henry,
N Williams;


Replacements (16-23): R Herring, C Black, J Afoa, J Muller, I Henderson, P Marshall, M Allen, P Nelson.

Connacht team to face Ulster

Connacht Rugby welcomes league leaders Ulster to the Sportsground tomorrow night (KO 7:45pm) and Head Coach Eric Elwood has named his side.

There are no changes to the team that defeated Edinburgh 32-24 at Murrayfield last week.

Brett Wilkinson, Adrian Flavin and Ronan Loughney make up the front row trio with a total tally of 429 Connacht caps between them.

21-year-old Kieran Marmion, who has started every game this season, remains in the half back pairing with Dan Parks.

March ‘Player of the Month’ Brian Murphy is named at first centre for his fifth Connacht start this year.

Earlier in the week, Head Coach Eric Elwood spoke about the upcoming game:

“We were obviously happy with last week’s win. It was a very good victory for us but we’re not getting carried as it means nothing if we can’t back it up and have consistency now in this derby match against Ulster.

“We have a point to prove in that were nilled up in Belfast and that’s a big incentive. We were disappointed with our away performances in the derby fixtures so we have another opportunity for four points here.

“We’re looking forward to a physical contest. You can’t shy away from the physicality. You have to be able to go toe-to-toe, up front with Ulster and you have to be able to control the break down area. And that’s key this weekend. And we’ll have the extra spice of the derby game at home. They’re looking for top four and we still believe we have a lot to play for with three to go. So it should be ding dong.”

Connacht XV

15. Robbie Henshaw
14. Danie Poolman
13. Eoin Griffin
12. Brian Murphy
11. Gavin Duffy (captain)
10. Dan Parks
9. Kieran Marmion

1. Brett Wilkinson
2. Adrian Flavin
3. Ronan Loughney
4. Michael Swift
5. Mike McCarthy
6. Mick Kearney
7. John Muldoon
8. George Naoupu

Replacements: Ethienne Reynecke, Rodney Ah You, JP Cooney, Andrew Browne, Mata Fifita, Paul O’Donohoe, Miah Nikora, Fetu’u Vainikolo

Unavailable due to injury: Denis Buckley, Willie Faloon, Eoghan Grace, Jason Harris-Wright, Johnny O’Connor, Eoin McKeon, Dave McSharry, Frank Murphy, Dave Nolan, Kyle Tonetti, Nathan White.

At Sportsground , 7.45pm.
Live on TG4 and BBC Sport Northern Ireland
Referee: Peter Fitzgibbon (IRFU, 47th competition game)
Assistant Referees: Leo Colgan, B O’Connell (both IRFU)
Citing Commissioner: Eugene Ryan (IRFU)
TMO: Seamus Flannery (IRFU)

I really think/hope that the players will be up for this game on tomorrow night.
The Munster result will have hurt.
We need a quick, hungry start. We need to be very disciplined as well. Cant get away with giving away loads of penalties, unless of course Paddy Jackson plays like he did last year in the Sportsground

Two great men Joc and Elwood.
Lets hope the Lads can pull a performance out of the bag to mark the occasion.

I didn't write that article Donal, but yeah, I got caught before with McKeon. I had assumed he was 22/23 until I checked the 'official' source...

Not to derail the thread, but we are still planning on inducting JOC after the Glasgow game. We were told Eric wouldn't be available that night due to media commitments.

swift4prez wrote: i was thinking 318 was small. less then 2 points a match!

293 in the celtic league in 50 games. plus sea points 491 thats,, 784 points in 103 games.

declan was it you who thought eoin mckeoin was 25/26 where you getting your stats from
**same stats as wikipedia. haha you got stung there

same as the Connacht site Swifty. www.connachtrugby.ie/2012081482933/eoin-mckeon-201213

It's just a mix up because his 2011/2012 profile has him at 22 this year www.connachtrugby.ie/2011071882541/eoin-mckeon-201112

sea_point wrote:

its_phil wrote:

sea_point wrote:

its_phil wrote:

connachtexile wrote:
<strong>That said Griffin and Tonetti are a worry and you'd imagine one of them might be on the way out if they can't stay fit.</strong> I think it's also a good idea to try and rotate here more with Murphy showing he can handle this level and maybe bringing through the likes of Jarvis, Leader and Roche faster than previously thought.

What ridiculous claims to make. Griffin's only major injury has been his hamstring but he has been flying since the surgery in Germany. No problems since then, he is only going to be out for the game this week with a concussion. A hamstring problem can cause major difficulties and decrease your quality over the years like Michael Owen but that is only if it has been mismanaged. It clearly hasn't done that to Griffin, seen as has been a regular fixture in our 23 since Christmas. He is clearly staying fit.

Tonetti is the same, he got over his hamstring problem after going to the same surgeon. He came back and played brilliantly against the Ospreys. But unfortunately he picked up a knock to his ankle. It happens. No need to throw the toys out the pram. Tonetti was an excellent acquisition last year, unfortunately injuries happen and he has been dreadfully unlucky that he only had two injuries this season but both required a lot of time for recovery.

If he was injury plagued again and only made one appearance again next year that would be fair enough but one season is not enough to say give him the boot. Comparing to Tuohy who broke his leg badly is nonsense.

Nothing ridiculous in the comment at all IMO, of course the coaching team will review players on longer term injuries, they would be remiss not too. Of the two Tonetti has spent a large part of this season on the physio table (all but 141 minutes this season) and in liaison with the medical care I'm sure the coaching team and the administration review where money is being tied up and could be better utilised...

There have been plenty of good players in the past who have worn our jersey but never shone due to injuries and been let go, Downey and Ofisa Treverianus just two examples...

Professional sports people need to be lucky as well as talented..

And like I said fair enough if he was injured again next year in the final year of his contract and played one game. But it is one season.

Season ending injuries unfortunately happen all the time. If you chucked a player out everytime that happened there would be very few professional rugby players left. It doesn't mean you hold it against the player next year if he has fully fit year.

Speculating on whether a player deserves a new contract in one years time, based on one good season and one injury plagued year is OTT. Give him the benefit of a year's time and the Griffin is 'crocked' too worries can't be used because he is well over his hamstring injury which was the only thing keeping him out.

CE didn't specify a time frame, and Tonetti is contracted to 2014 but could be with us much longer if he can get and stay fit. No players are indispensable, they have to be an asset for the outlay and that means being fit and available for most of the period of their contract. Personally I don't particularly care how nice someone is or where they're from if they're using up our hard earned wedge for salary and rehab costs longer term with little or no return.

It's business, pure and simple I'm afraid. If we had a first class ground and were generating a surplus every season my view my be different. But we don't on either count, not even close..

But surely the time frame CE is talking about is the end of their contracts, which is not this year. I don't think you can start thinking about giving people the boot midway through a two year contract . If Tonetti had been on a one year deal fair enough, but seen as he's contracted until next year it is unnecessary speculation.

I'm not sure if the stuff about players being indispensible, nice guys etc. is aimed at me because I said above that if, God forbid, Tonetti made one appearance again of course you would have to let him go. I never said anything to the contrary and if anything I actually agree with everything you said. I just don't think it is fair to judge a player's injury record and hold it against him on the basis of one year and two injuries compared to one year of good contribution and one more to go.

I'm leaving it there, the teams will be announced tomorrow and the forum doesn't need to be cluttered up with this argument.

i was thinking 318 was small. less then 2 points a match!

293 in the celtic league in 50 games. plus sea points 491 thats,, 784 points in 103 games.

declan was it you who thought eoin mckeoin was 25/26 where you getting your stats from
**same stats as wikipedia. haha you got stung there

Decadence wrote: Folks, we will be inducting Eric Elwood into the Hall of Fame in the Clan Bar after the Ulster game on Friday, details here:

www.connachtclan.com/news/218-eric-elwoo...cted-to-hall-of-fame

It's a no brainer really with the season that's in it, but point of order - the stats in the piece are wrong. Eric scored more points in ERC competition alone (491) for Connacht than are indicated in he article...

www.ercrugby.com/eng/matchcentre/players...1&includeref=dynamic

Well done Declan - right choice, right man , right time , rightful place!!!

Great work this year and hope ye can keep the show going next year.

Can't make it myself due to work / college committments that evening but will make it for the last home game............