Lam out talk is farcical at this stage, when Elwood's team went on a 13/4 loss streak they still ended the season in their highest league position ever no? Teams in the bottom half of the league lose more than they win, that's pretty obvious - Lam can only be judged at the end of the season.

Can't agree with you Mary. Nothing to be gained by replacing Lam. He deserves a full season at the very least. It was disappointing to lose, but Scarlett's are a good side, even with the missing players, we also have injuries galore and can never seem to have a full squad to choose from. My main gripe is the way we continuously cough up the ball in contact, we are not competing at the breakdown enough, we need to secure that ball in contact. It's driving me mad.

I would add a note that I thought young Masterson did really well for a debut. Tough lad and well done to him.

Are we not still very early to be talking about repacing Lam? Sure, it's the exact opposite of the start of his tenure I'm sure he would've wanted (even less than what we would've wanted), but he deserves a chance.

Besides, even if he was to be giving his walking papers, it's not as if we have any money to pick up anyone else.

salmson wrote:

rossie wrote: I followed the game on twitter and it Dan turned down two pens and went to the corner. Did he bottle it or were the points not on?

The points weren't on and we scored off one of the lineouts.

Dispiriting performance we almost coughed up a try bonus to a team that didn't want to be there and coughed up penalties and cards any time we put a couple of phases together.

Sorry I meant the tap and go penalties at the very end.

We have to cut our losses here and replace Lam. His selections are making Bradley look like a fu@king genius.

It's not good enough to bench Carr for Leader. Just not good enough. We're a shambles in practically every phase of the game despite us having some excellent individuals such as Heenan and Marmion.

We all of us have to acknowledege it's not working with Lam, nice guy and all as he may be. He's had a dreadful start here. He had a dreadful last season with the Blues. This mess just isn't good enough.

55 minutes or so into the game and I was contemplating leaving. That's how bad it's gone on the pitch. We're an absolute shambles right now. Even in our 14 game skid from before we were still hard to beat. We're no longer that.

rossie wrote: I followed the game on twitter and it Dan turned down two pens and went to the corner. Did he bottle it or were the points not on?

The points weren't on and we scored off one of the lineouts.

Dispiriting performance we almost coughed up a try bonus to a team that didn't want to be there and coughed up penalties and cards any time we put a couple of phases together.

I followed the game on twitter and it Dan turned down two pens and went to the corner. Did he bottle it or were the points not on?

Its hard to know where we go from here really. If someone comes on here and says we battled hard or any of that sort of thing I'll throw up. :sick: Scarlets were much weakened and were there to be beaten but we contrived to make a balls of it.

Started off ok. McSharry and Griffin linking well and Heenan carrying well. Got a 6-0 lead, give away a stupid penalty to bring it back to 6-3. We earn a 5m scrum against a 7 man Scarlets pack and they drive us back and we are almost caught for an intercept. Give away a cheap try to Scarlets from a ball inside and suddenly we are behind. We lose three points before half time through incompetent officiating, something similar to Ireland v Wales in 2003 but in fairness he gave us all he could then in the 2nd half.

Two cheap tries later we are facing a hiding. We get lucky with an intercept which Healy finishes well and Fionn Carr coming on energised us but despite pulling another try back we left it too late despite a spell of the ball being in play for a number of minutes at the end where we tried to rescue the situation.

Really with the team low in confidence and looking a bit disjointed I didn't really see the need for the sort of selection Lam picked. Imo we have the individuals to be doing far better but its not coming together as a team. I feel particularly sorry for Heenan, he has been top class and looks far too good for us the way we are playing at the moment.

Defensively we are looking very poor. We conceded more penalties in Eric's time but in general it was hard work to get a try off us. Now even average teams are walking them in past us. The 1st and the 3rd tries were far too basic at this level. Ronaldson is a good player but similar to Parks two vital penalties to touch were missed and we had another 2 or 3 out on the full. Some awful Hail Mary passes being thrown which scupper any numbers we have wide, scrum was poor for most of the night and all in all we don't look like a cohesive outfit.

When Lam cam in I thought that he had to be given two years at a minimum to put his mark on the team but the way things are going I think we will need to have a serious review of where we are going before the season is out. Contrast us to the Dragons who have long been our benchmark. We comfortably finished above them last season. They made a couple of good signings during the summer and changed their coach, now they are 11 ahead of us and look like a tough side to play against any time I've seen them. We aren't tough to play against at present and I'm extremely worried by this downward spiral. We will probably get a couple of good performances against Toulouse but that shouldn't mask the reality of where we find ourselves.

Borders no.2 wrote: Bit of a Bradley like selection this one.

Was going to make a reference to Bradley's lucky dip selections of previous years in the preview but I thought it would be too harsh!

rossie wrote: Just seen the Scarlets team on BBC Wales site and only know about 5 of their team. That said it doesn't mean they will be a pushover.

Missing quite a few of their ideal backline but 12 of their starting XV tomorrow started in the recent win over Ulster.

Bit of a Bradley like selection this one. Lots of strange calls. It'll be interesting to see how the back row functions. Masterson has been making a name for himself but its a big step up. I think he is from Colm Rigney country who was a fine 8 in his two stints at Connacht so hopefully it goes well for him. Muldowney at 6? I know he played there a bit for Exeter and with Browne, Muldoon and Fa'fita out was next in line. What is obvious is that the management aren't sold on Mick Kearney which is disappointing as imo he has a lot to offer but Muldowney may offer more bulk at this stage.

Darragh Leader on the wing for this one? He's only started 3 or 4 games for Connacht and he's been played at full back, at 13 and on the wing. While there are questions about where this leaves Fionn Carr, you'd have to wonder what Tiernan O'Halloran is thinking at this stage when he can't get in the 23 even with Poolman and Henshaw out and So'oialo gone.

I'm happy enough to see Ronaldson given a go. Frank Murphy back on the bench is a strange one? I think Paul O'Donohue has performed well this season to date and don't really see the justification for this change.

I'm getting worried about Dennis Buckley also. He's too good a player for Connacht to cast aside. Lets hope he battles his way back into the 23.

It really is a game we must win but that team doesn't look right to me. You have to trust Pat Lam's judgement on this one and he's picking a team that he sees as on form but he'll be left with some big questions to answer if this goes pear shaped tomorrow evening.

The Factfile is up on the front page. I also put up a story that Borders PMed me for this fixture last year, which I didn't spot until a few weeks afterwards, it's well worth a read:

www.connachtclan.com/news/272-down-memor...-connacht-v-scarlets

Im beginning to get a feeling that Buckley isnt wanted at the province, that he may be more trouble than hes worth.

No main sources on this just a hunch on the way the seson has gone for him.

My three cents are:

1. The Connacht Rugby site is f*cking useless I couldn't scroll down and see who our subs were.
2. Big day for Masterson hopefully he comes through.
3. Agree with people questioning why Leader had being picked in front of Carr he scores tries so use him.

Really hope we win this.

Just seen the Scarlets team on BBC Wales site and only know about 5 of their team. That said it doesn't mean they will be a pushover.