Ah You starting in Italy certainly has me nervous. He's done ok coming on so far this season and perhaps the new scrum law is a help but I have visions of penalties mounting up and a yellow card shown inside the 1st quarter of the game. Otherwise 4-8 is strong, I think George will step things up with the quality of the others around him. Not much wiggle room with the backs I guess. Personally would have rotated Poolman, TOH and Duffy. If Duffy is going to be out there I'd just as soon have him at centre, Poolman on the wing and TOH at fullback. The So’oialo permit issue is something Connacht could ill afford. They're really not in a position to be carrying a player that can't play.

If Connacht can achieve near parity at scrum time, they just might sneak this one.

theCulk wrote: Clearly resting players for the H Cup. But keeping Griffin at 12 just fathoms me

Why? He hasn't done badly there at all imo and if he still has aspirations to play for Ireland - which I'm sure he does - then a bit of flexibility won't do him any harm?

Droptheclaw wrote: Cripes, his working permit is taking a while, isn't it? He has played for two French teams in the past, surely as he was already working within the EU it would not have taken as long?

His last French team he left halfway through last season after several disputes with them (The team was in financial meltdown and got relegated). The club statement concerning his return to NZ said solicitors were involved. So for all we know the problem may be down to an outstanding bureaucratic/legal issue in France for all we know, not the branch or civil service.

Rodney will entail the defeat with his scrumaging, otherwise I'm quite happy with this team, maybe a debate to invert TOH and Duff as fullback/winger..

Clearly resting players for the H Cup. But keeping Griffin at 12 just fathoms me

Cripes, his working permit is taking a while, isn't it? He has played for two French teams in the past, surely as he was already working within the EU it would not have taken as long?

I'd tend to agree with you there, Salmson, and whilst Duffy himself seems to be a sound man, he hasn't ever smacked me as a real leader type. Which then begs the question - why not just one captain, and why not just Clarke? The trio thing starts to feel a wee bit gimmicky.

salmson wrote:

Droptheclaw wrote: Not complaining or owt, as Clarke is clearly a fantastic captain, but why isn't Duffy, as one of the three nominated captains, the de facto leader on the day?

Past experience of Gav spending most of the match trotting up and back the field to talk to an obviously pissed-off ref who'd awarded the bloody penalty 2 minutes ago probably counted against him.

Nominating a back three player, who's most times as far from the breakdown/scrum/lineout as it's possible to be, as captain is just dumb.

Connacht have departed for their second away trip of the season and will face Benetton Treviso tomorrow night at Stadio Monigo (KO 8:30pm local time).Training Fionn_resized

Head Coach Pat Lam has made a number of changes to the starting XV from last week.

Up front, props Brett Wilkinson and Nathan White move to the replacements bench and make way for Rodney Ah You and Ronan Loughney. Lock Aly Muldowney, who made quite an impression from the bench last week, replaces the injured Michael Swift. Muldowney partners Craig Clarke who captains the side this week. George Naoupu starts at Number 8.

Training Tiernan_resizedIn the backs, Tiernan O’Halloran and Fionn Carr are named on the wings while Danie Poolman moves to outside centre to partner Eoin Griffin. Dan Parks starts at out-half and will be joined by Paul O’Donohoe, who makes his first start at scrum half this season.

From the replacements bench, Mata Fifita and Jack Carty are in line to make their first competitive appearance of the season tomorrow night.

Last season’s RaboDirect PRO12 clashes between the two sides ended in an 18 – 3 win for Connacht at home and a hard-earned 23 – 23 draw in the rescheduled fixture after Easter. Connacht are unbeaten in their last eight games against Italian opponents in all competitions while Treviso have lost just one of their last eight games at Stadio Monigo in all competitions. Both teams have one win a piece this season.

Speaking about the team selection and the upcoming fixture, Head Coach Pat Lam said:

“With back-to-back physical games against Ulster and Ospreys and a short turnaround this week we have made a number of changes. Robbie Henshaw is with the IRFU player welfare programme and is unavailable for Treviso. We were also hoping to play James So’oialo but unfortunately his work permit is still yet to come through so we continue to wait.

“We were unfortunate with injuries again this week but that challenge gives our young players, such as Academy out half Jack Carty, the chance to step up and make their mark. Jack has done extremely well in training and playing with the Eagles and he deserves his place in the squad this week.

“We face a tough challenge in playing Treviso and we know the level of physicality we can expect from them. For us, this week has been about improving the areas of our game which let us down last time out. It’s all about progress and improvement and we need to keep forging ahead.”



Unavailable / Injured: Denis Buckley, Willie Faloon, Conor Finn, Jason Harris-Wright, Robbie Henshaw, Eoin McKeon, Shane Layden, Tadhg Leader, Dave McSharry, Frank Murphy, Miah Nikora, Craig Ronaldson, James So’oialo, Michael Swift, Kyle Tonetti, and Marcus Walsh


Benetton Treviso v Connacht
At Stadio Monigo, 8.30pm local time (7.30pm Ireland & UK)
Live on MEDIASET & TG4
Referee: Neil Hennessy (WRU, 15th competition game)
Assistant Referees: Alan Falzone, Simone Boaretto (both FIR)
Citing Commissioner: Stefano Marrama (FIR)
TMO: Mauro Dordolo (FIR)

by the looks of it, james sooialo was going to play fullback, clarke named captain but due to work permit, james couldnt play, duffy in and left clarke as captain!?

Droptheclaw wrote: Not complaining or owt, as Clarke is clearly a fantastic captain, but why isn't Duffy, as one of the three nominated captains, the de facto leader on the day?

Past experience of Gav spending most of the match trotting up and back the field to talk to an obviously pissed-off ref who'd awarded the bloody penalty 2 minutes ago probably counted against him.

Nominating a back three player, who's most times as far from the breakdown/scrum/lineout as it's possible to be, as captain is just dumb.

Overall the changes are good, carty, pod, ah you and loughs all need to start getting game time. Loughney and white in particular should be able to rotate throughout the season without too much trouble. Agree with swift4prez about toh at fb, poolman is much more dangerous from the wing. I suppose if any of our other centres were available then poolman would be on the wing so I guess this is the best Lam can do with who's available. Perhaps Duffy is being given a chance to atone for last weeks poor defending.

Not complaining or owt, as Clarke is clearly a fantastic captain, but why isn't Duffy, as one of the three nominated captains, the de facto leader on the day?

Lam clearly prioritising the match against Sarries. Looking forward to seeing how Muldowney and Clarke go together for 80 minutes (hopefully, although lam will probably take Clarke off after 50/60)

a few players in the backline not avaialable so Lam was forced to re-adjust there however it seems to be more a team chosen looking ahead to next week's game in mind

OH another thing, great to see Craig Clarke as captain as it should be

when i seen this team, i thought it looked a bit weird.
1-8, weird how our 2 props are benched (or rested. is pat saving them for heineken cup?
2,4,5,6,7 all grand and 1st choice players. 8, well i hope george has some form back, even muldoon did a better job there last few games then george did when he came on.

9-15, not to happy with this, stop messing poolman around and leave him on the wing!
id have 15 TOH, 14 poolman, 13 duffy/murphy 12 griffin/mata (yes mata) 11 carr 10 parks 9 KM

bench
no 2nd row on bench but browne or george can move there so no worry
props should be starting
wonder is healy carrying a know/fully fit?
big game for jack carty, if he comes on, i hope he's up to the speed of the game.

i find it weird the IRFU pulled Henshaw out!!!
excited by this

Team announced:

Connacht line-up v Treviso
15. Gavin Duffy
14. Tiernan O'Halloran
13. Danie Poolman
12. Eoin Griffin
11. Fionn Carr
10. Dan Parks
9. Paul O'Donohoe
1. Rodney Ah You
2. Sean Henry
3. Ronan Loughney
4. Aly Muldowney
5. Craig Clarke (captain)
6. Andrew Browne
7. Jake Heenan
8. George Naoupu

Replacements:
16. James Rael
17. Brett Wilkinson
18. Nathan White
19. John Muldoon
20. Mata Fifita
21. Kieran Marmion
22. Jack Carty
23. Matt Healy

Would love to see a back 3 of Solialo Healy and Pooleman with Henshaw and Griffin centres Parks 10 9 Marmiom 8 George 7 Heenan 6 Muldoon 4 Clarke 5 Muldowney 1 Wilkinson 2 Henry 3 White