Wilkinson has, after marmion and Heenan, been vying with Clarke as our 3rd best player. Thankfully he's not going anywhere. As to George, he's signed for another year and since this isn't soccer he can't just be "moved on". Agree with you re: 9s, and think you're being kind to muldowney btw.

in the pack Wilkinson is a guy I wouldn't mind seeing moving on at Hooker we are weak infairness to Henry and Harris-Wright they have put in decent shifts this season but I would love to see Cronin back with us. Loughney I don't think is at the level required, Buckely and JP Cooney will only get better.in the 2nd row the jury is still out on Muldowney Dave Nolan and Danile Qualter,Mick Kearney has been impressive with Clarke in the 2nd row and Swifty is still putting in big performances when called upon, in the Back row we could off load George and get a top class no8 in on the money George is on to battle it out with McKeown,Jake Heebab and Willie Faloon should have some battle for the no 7 jersey with Muldoon at 6 with Browne as a replacement.

Looks like we need two brand new scrum half's for next season or even three,Frank Murphy is finished offers nothing Paul O'Donoghue isn't at this level average player at best and Marcus Walsh the academy scrum half is too smaill. At Outhalf Dan parks is finished we all know that,Carty and Ronaldson look good and Nikora now needs to move on,at Centre Tonetti wont be kept on we need to keep hold of Griffin McSharry and Henshaw and perhaps get a high standard centre few younger guys in Leinster look good,in the back 3 I would like to see Tiernan Convert to playing full back with Duffy retiring,

sparking wrote: The players were on the lock after the Dragons game which meant they were probably hungover 5 days before they had to play Munster, in Thomond.

And deservedly so. Lam has been strict on drinking rules all season and this was their xmas party (although for some reason players rehabbing from injury weren't given permission to drink).
I'd be suprised if Munster players didn't has an xmas night on the raz.

rossie wrote: Connacht are in their current league position because they score marginally over 1 try per game while conceding 2. They also only score 59% of their place kicks and are -21 behind zebre in score difference behind zebre who incidentally average 1.5 tries per game and concede 2.

There is another few interesting stats up on erc website for Heineken cup this season so far which may help explain why connaxhr are bottom of the pro12.
Dan Parks leads the comp in two categories this season.he has kicked the ball from the hands 66 times in 4 games or 16.5 times a game and scored 3 drop goals.
Connacht lead the competition stats in missed tackles. They have missed 95 tackles in 4 games or marginally under 24 per game.
When you kick the ball away more than anyone and then miss more tackles than anyone else you are going to be in trouble and explains why only 1 try per game scored and 2 are conceded.

The players were on the lock after the Dragons game which meant they were probably hungover 5 days before they had to play Munster, in Thomond.

Here is how I would rank the players this season. I have ordered the list in the order of the impact of the player on the standard of rugby they bring to the team. The silver players lay the base, the gold players raise the team to another level. The bronze players have a negative impact compared to the standard of a player in the silver category.

The GOLD STANDARD
Kieran Marmion - Irreplacable in the team.
Jake Heenan - Stepped into Faloon's spot and will be hard to budge.
Eoin Griffin - Totally under-rated. At the heart of most of Connacht's best attacking play. Not at all under-sized I think.
Robbie Henshaw - What a prospect. Has not fulfilled his promise at centre yet, as he needs to be able to take advantage of less space and to work on his distribution (what a pass to Carr though!).

Silver Standard
Dave McSharry - Injured a lot but our only real power-runner. Prone to some lack of awareness.
Craig Clarke - Runs the lineout very well and has a great work rate. Without him though we can manage (just about).
Willie Faloon - When he got injured I thought we were fecked. Luckily Heenan is class. Still need him back though.
Nathan White - Solid scrum and field work.
Brett Wilkinson - Solid scrum but could do more in the field
Jason Harris-Wright - Consistent lineout and scrum work, and does a lot around the park.
Denis Buckley - Solid scrum and very good field work. Temperament is an issue for me.
Danie Poolman - These three have been great for us on the wings with Poolman slightly higher due to strength his and positional flexibility.
Matt Healy -
Fionn Carr -
John Muldoon - Hardest working BR on the pitch. He is a step up from the other options at 6/8 IMO, but I would prefer him at 6. His carrying is not great but his tackling is bang-on.
Rodney Ah'You - Rodney a step below because of his poor work rate in defense at times, and his propensity to knock on.
Sean Henry - Good to have a solid backup but not as consistent as JHW just yet. Definite potential to be though.
Mick Kearney - His move to the 2nd row has worked out brilliantly.
Andrew Browne - A 6 IMO and not as good at it as Mul.
Ronan Loughney - Solid enough. Remember was POTS only 2 seasons ago. I think he is in a slump but can pull out of it.

Bronze Standard
Gavin Duffy - Good vision but his kicking has turned for the worse. He still is steady under the high ball and gets himself into good positions, but on attack is a bit of a damp squib at this stage.
Michael Swift - Put the head down out there and gets through as much work as he can. A decent option to lend himself to a scrum but does not offer much.
TOH - Have not seen a lot from TOH. I still think he could be better if he applies himself more but not sure where that application can suddenly appear from.
George Naupou - Takes the wind out of the sails of our scrum. I cannot believe how poor he has been. Often goes back when carrying.
Dan Parks - Takes the wind out of the sails of our back line. Cannot trust him in defense. Place-kicking and stratigic kicking has been poor. Doesn't threaten the line seriously.

I think at the start of the season the changes in style of Lam's play and him finding his strongest XV all contributed to a bad start. This was not helped by injuries (and still isn't). We are lacking an 8 is can punch the line but I think that McKeon can get there... George has really underwhelmed this season and he was persisted with for too long. Recently we have not been helped by not having an openside flanker.
In defense the mixing of Poolman, Griffin, Henshaw, McSharry, Ronaldson etc... all helped to create confusion from 10-13. This is made worse by having Parks at 10 where his defense is a liability at times. There have been big brain-farts in that area of the pitch which have cost us a lot of points.
In attack Parks is taking WAY too much out of the ball. We have snappy ball from Marmion but Parks doesn't let that quality out often enough. We need a ten who, when provided with ball like that from the pack and Marmion, can threaten the opposition line. We won't see the benefits of Griffin and Henshaw in the centre until we can get them more room. Having a line-punching 8 would help there too, and George was persisted with far too long. We need McKeon to try stepping into that role.

As others have said we leave a lot of penalty points behind us as well. I personally see no point in having Parks on the pitch if his tactical and place-kicking continues as poorly as it has been. No room even on the bench with that kind of form.

Connacht are in their current league position because they score marginally over 1 try per game while conceding 2. They also only score 59% of their place kicks and are -21 behind zebre in score difference behind zebre who incidentally average 1.5 tries per game and concede 2.

A lot of that I'd put on Parks's head he isn't kicking well this season and he was never a passing 10. We probably have our best backline ever but don't have anyone at 10 to distribute it. Our defence at the start of the season too was diabolical but has gotten better.

Connacht are in their current league position because they score marginally over 1 try per game while conceding 2. They also only score 59% of their place kicks and are -21 behind zebre in score difference behind zebre who incidentally average 1.5 tries per game and concede 2.

RonanL wrote: So, I agree ruthless compassion is required. But at the same time, we need to be confident we can replace a player with someone better, and that's where money comes in.

And that's the rub. It's fine talking about cutting deadwood, but unless someone of better quality can be brought in we're just shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic.

It was Billy Millard, former backs coach.

RonanL wrote: I can't remember which one it was, but in the wests awake documentary one of the coaches at the time said it was very simple, Connacht need better players.

[strike]
I'm fairly sure that was Dan McPartland. Course, since I had to give up my UPC box I have no copy of the documentary anymore. Sad.[/strike]

Decadence get's it right below, I assume.

theCulk wrote: At last years roadshow they mentioned "ruthless compassion" and I couldn't agree more. If we are to progress we bring in better players and let the deadwood go. Thanks, you were mighty, but seeya.

Identifying these players os the tough part for most, but it's clearly obvious with others

I can't remember which one it was, but in the wests awake documentary one of the coaches at the time said it was very simple, Connacht need better players. He wasn't criticising anyone, but said it's impossible for a team to compete week in, week out with such a large gap in budget/player quality. Sure, we'll get the odd win against higher profile teams, but over the course of a season the cream rises to the top.

So, I agree ruthless compassion is required. But at the same time, we need to be confident we can replace a player with someone better, and that's where money comes in.

At last years roadshow they mentioned "ruthless compassion" and I couldn't agree more. If we are to progress we bring in better players and let the deadwood go. Thanks, you were mighty, but seeya.

Identifying these players os the tough part for most, but it's clearly obvious with others

personally i think we need to improve 6, 8, 10 most.

A craig clarke type of signing at 6,8 would really help.

Im really encouraged by our young 10's, but can't help but feel we need a serious operator here to make the best use of the young backline.

needs to be a kicking machine too. we cant afford to miss as many kicks as we do.