its_phil wrote: I think your looking at it just from our attacking today, you have to consider we only had 32% of the ball and 35% terriotry. You have to give massive credit to the defence today, especially when we were in our own 22. But having a look at the stats earlier, we had four handling errors. Can anyone ever recall us having less than four handling errors in a game! It just shows Lam's emphasis on skills (albeit rather annoyingly without our skills coach) is paying off.

I think our backrow should be kept the same. Having Browne as an extra jumper is a massive advantage and gives us extra options. 14 tackles and 4 lineouts is a good return. I fancy Browne to be in the Wolfhounds team again, one of the most underrated players around.

I think the way forward for us is to start building a platform surrounding our lineout.

Remiss of me not to mention defence, which was excellent tbf

But should we be condeding that much territory to teams like Zebre? I think we should be the ones on the offensive and we need to have more composure and patience to build phases rather than hand bakc the initiative

Porterbelly wrote:

So'oialo bar that one kick to the corner looked a bit all over the shop. Rustiness probably.

He really was. Considering he was handed a starting spot at the first opportunity, I expected more. Fingers crossed he improves.

I too was baffled by the decisions to go for the posts when the game was well in control after 60 minutes. But overall I'm delighted with a good win. I just hope when we wrap up the double against Toulouse and get an away victory to Saracens, that the missed bonus point away to Zebre doesn't cost us a home quarter final.

Porterbelly wrote:

sea_point wrote:

Porterbelly wrote: Thought Browne was pretty non existent today

Needs to up his game and get stuck in

Pure nonsense PB, suggest you watch a replay...

Thats my opinion

Once again I thought Heenan carried the back row, he is a bloody super player

Not a great performance, but we got the job done

Loads to work on. Too many Parks crosskicks. We didn't put a decent backs move together. We showed against Sarries that by putting the ball thru the phases can create opportunities.

So'oialo bar that one kick to the corner looked a bit all over the shop. Rustiness probably. Subs all showed up well, and I'd start Loughs, Aly and JHW next week v Leinster

I think your looking at it just from our attacking today, you have to consider we only had 32% of the ball and 35% terriotry. You have to give massive credit to the defence today, especially when we were in our own 22. But having a look at the stats earlier, we had four handling errors. Can anyone ever recall us having less than four handling errors in a game! It just shows Lam's emphasis on skills (albeit rather annoyingly without our skills coach) is paying off.

I think our backrow should be kept the same. Having Browne as an extra jumper is a massive advantage and gives us extra options. 14 tackles and 4 lineouts is a good return. I fancy Browne to be in the Wolfhounds team again, one of the most underrated players around.

I think the way forward for us is to start building a platform surrounding our lineout.

Little debate guys. Did you also notice that Marmion NEVER picked any balls at the base of the scrum? I'm disturbed by this
1) Naoupu is not in his greatest form especially with pressure
2) Connaht lack of speed is a constance criticism, and this worsens it
3) 8-9 combination is too predictable and will be a godsend for Leinster and Toulouse

sea_point wrote:

Porterbelly wrote: Thought Browne was pretty non existent today

Needs to up his game and get stuck in

Pure nonsense PB, suggest you watch a replay...

Thats my opinion

Once again I thought Heenan carried the back row, he is a bloody super player

Not a great performance, but we got the job done

Loads to work on. Too many Parks crosskicks. We didn't put a decent backs move together. We showed against Sarries that by putting the ball thru the phases can create opportunities.

So'oialo bar that one kick to the corner looked a bit all over the shop. Rustiness probably. Subs all showed up well, and I'd start Loughs, Aly and JHW next week v Leinster

sea_point wrote:
I dunno, it's a bit glass half full to be quibbling about the bonus point when prior to kick off most of us would have been just hoping for the win in any form.

You're 100% right but realistically zebre are so so poor that we need to extract as many points from them as possible.

Thought Browne was quite good, went through a lot of work as is evident by the tackle numbers, however got pinged a few times which added pressure, maybe that was rustiness from lack of gametime.

I would have been happy with any win prior to the kick off but as the game evolved it was clear we were in control and could have pushed it home a bit more. We went for the corner at 6-3 in the first half when the percentage call would be to kick at goal and keep the scoreboard ticking over and it paid off. By 50-55 minutes we had weathered anything Zebre had thrown at us, they were never going to come back from 22-6. As I said its a minor quibble.

A good weekend all round for Irish rugby a Munster win later this evening will complete a clean sweep in both the Heineken Cup and B&I Cup.

sea_point wrote:

Porterbelly wrote: Thought Browne was pretty non existent today

Needs to up his game and get stuck in

Pure nonsense PB, suggest you watch a replay...

He was excellent, as was Heenan. George was up-and-down.

Porterbelly wrote: Thought Browne was pretty non existent today

Needs to up his game and get stuck in

Pure nonsense PB, suggest you watch a replay...

Borders no.2 wrote: 33-6 ft. Plenty of positives to take from that. Pack did well, Parks back on form, some good tactical kicking, Poolman, So'oialo, McSharry getting a few minutes at the end.

However, I can't help agreeing with Frankie Sheahan that we should have pushed for the bonus point earlier but its a minor quibble. Its a game we were expected to win and we've won comfortably. We were under pressure at stages in the first half but unlike last year I never felt we were in any serious trouble. However, defensively I still have some concerns at how easily Zebre made line breaks which would certainly be finished off by a team like Leinster but overall though job done.

Toulouse 9
Saracens 5
Connacht 5
Zebre 0

Back to the bread and butter in the weeks ahead, we need to get some positive results and climb the table before the HC restarts in December.

I dunno, it's a bit glass half full to be quibbling about the bonus point when prior to kick off most of us would have been just hoping for the win in any form.

There was an opportunity when we pushed 19 point ahead with 60 mins on the clock to push for the win, but we need to remember that the lads were working very hard defensively and we were specifically playing a very structured game to secure the win. Very hard to up the momentum and switch to a looser style especially as Lam will have wanted to call ashore our best players to protect them for the Leinster game next week...

I'd say it was a very successful trip to Parma for Connacht, a great confidence boost for the squad with the trip to Dublin coming next Saturday, and especially with the Eagles winning too against Rotherham (an excellent result for them)...

According to game/player stats. on ERC website, Browne was our top tackler with 14 followed by Clarke and Heenan with 10 and Wilkinson with 9.

Missed the game completely, stupid night shift

Woke up to see the score line and presumed we got a try bonus point. No such luck, so that is disappointing. But a good win none the less. I'll have to seek out highlights

Thought Browne was pretty non existent today

Needs to up his game and get stuck in

Borders no.2 wrote: Two tries through inventive line out moves. The influence of Clarke perhaps.

Got to give a lot of credit to Sean Henry, he's been excellent in the last two games, Having Browner in for Mul makes our lineout a lot stronger too. Means we can use Swifty properly, i.e. primarily as a lifter rather than jumper.

Excellent result, superb defensive display, intelligent rugby throughout. We looked a little toothless with ball in hand, but with Parks and Ronaldson kicking so well, not to mention So'oialo, I can live with that.

2 big performances in 2 weeks, not something we have been able to say for a while. Clarke is a HUGE influence.

Having a number of guys used to winning, Clarke, Heenan, So'oialo, Ronaldson, is giving us a different edge to what we normally have. There is a calmness about how we do everything now as well as much more precision.

Looking forward to the next few weeks, especially if we can get some of the injured crew back up and running.

33-6 ft. Plenty of positives to take from that. Pack did well, Parks back on form, some good tactical kicking, Poolman, So'oialo, McSharry getting a few minutes at the end.

However, I can't help agreeing with Frankie Sheahan that we should have pushed for the bonus point earlier but its a minor quibble. Its a game we were expected to win and we've won comfortably. We were under pressure at stages in the first half but unlike last year I never felt we were in any serious trouble. However, defensively I still have some concerns at how easily Zebre made line breaks which would certainly be finished off by a team like Leinster but overall though job done.

Toulouse 9
Saracens 5
Connacht 5
Zebre 0

Back to the bread and butter in the weeks ahead, we need to get some positive results and climb the table before the HC restarts in December.