I saw Lam out for a run this morning, looked in great shape I'd say he'll slot straight in at eight, no need for a club warm up game first, it'll be grand.

At least Gilsenan's doesn't seem that bad and he can cover across the backrow. A bit concerned with Mata's tbc knee injuries are tricky b*stards.

clanman wrote: it's been very quiet on the team\injury News, I thought we were back in action this weekend?

Updates from Furlo on Twitter (read bottom to top) - would imagine the squad update will be released tomorrow on the Connacht site.

Dave Finn ‏@Furlo 3h
#connachtrugby Pat on Europe: Would be better if it were top 7 finishers on merit who qualified

Dave Finn ‏@Furlo 3h
#connachtrugby Pat: We look at Saracens as something where we didn't do the process & we dont want that to ever happen again

Dave Finn ‏@Furlo 3h
#connachtrugby Pat: Dragons are completely different outfit at home.

Dave Finn ‏@Furlo 3h
#connachtrugby OUT: POD(back tbc); Brett(neck), CraigR(groin). Rael(ankle); Willie(club maybe next week); In: Loughs

Dave Finn ‏@Furlo 3h
#connachtrugby OUT: Aaron(Ham 4-5); Kindregan(ankle 4); Gilsenan(ankle club next week); George(rib cartilidge 2-3); Mata(knee tbc)

Dave Finn ‏@Furlo 3h
#connachtrugby Injury Update: DO NOT READ IF YOU LIKE BACK ROWS

CC.

As far as I think, next years (14/15) playoff will only involve the 7th place teams in the English and French leagues.(The 4 team play off will not come into force until 15/16) so unless we can finish in 6th this year we will have to look to elsewhere for our European Rugby.

it's been very quiet on the team\injury News, I thought we were back in action this weekend?

Given that everyone else is saying 7 from the Pro12 I'd say Thornley is probably wide of the mark - it's not like the Irish management brokered the deal, in which case he'd know. :evil:

As for the rest of the season, there is one game we should definitely win - home against a Cardiff team with nothing to play for; one we have a great chance in - away to Dragons where our setpiece dominance over them should be huge; one maybe in a month of Sundays - the last game away to Ospreys who most likely will be out of the playoff race but safely qualified for the HEC; and 3 cast iron no-hopers - away to Scarlets who will need to beat us to keep ahead in the HEC race, home to Munster who will at worst be gunning for 2nd place and a home semi, and away to Ulster who will be looking to secure 3rd place and a semi away to Munster rather than the away to Leinster.

I admire your optimism! Lol.

If the press reports are true then only way to be seeded in ERCC for next season is to win your league. IMO there is no way there will only 3 seeds. There will have to be 5 so the 3 league winners plus Heineken winner and runner up. If some team does the double then runner up from their league. In that scenario 5 pts are a must for both Munster and ulster against Connacht.
Hopefully thornley is right and union of winning team gets last spot going forward. Can't see the welsh being happy with how this has turned out! Lol.

If the season ended now, we'd have the following teams representing the Pro12 in the HC:

Leinster
Ospreys
Glasgow
Treviso
Munster
Ulster
Scarlets

We're 9 points behind the Scarlets at the moment, and we also have the Dragons and Edinburgh ahead us

Scarlets remaining fixtures:
Glasgow (A) - March 22nd 0
Connacht (H) - March 30th 0
Zebre (H) - May 12th 5
Cardiff (A) - April 20th 1
Dragons (H) - May 3rd 4
Cardiff (H) - May 10th 4

Dragons remaining fixtures:
Connacht (H) - March 23rd 0
Zebre (A) - March 29th 5
Treviso (A) - April 12th 4
Edinburgh (H) - Apr 3rd 4
Ospreys (H) - Apr 20th 0
Scarlets (A) - May 3rd 1
Treviso (H) - May 10th 4

Edinburgh remaining fixtures:
Ulster (H) - Mar 21st 0
Treviso (A) - Mar 29th 1
Dragons (A) - Apr 3rd 1
Cardiff (H) - Apr 11th 4
Zebre (A) - Apr 19th 4
Glasgow (A) - Apr 26th 0
Munster (H) - May 3rd 0
Leinster (A) - May 10th 0

Connacht remaining fixtures:
Dragons (A) - Mar 23rd 4
Scarlets (A) - Mar 30th 4
Ulster (A) - April 11th 5
Munster (H) - April 19 5
Cardiff (H) - May 3rd 5
Ospreys (A) - May 10th 4

I'm giving the Scarlets 14 more points, so we need 26 to pass them out
I'm giving the Dragons 18 more points, so we need 20 to pass them out
I'm giving Edinburgh 10 more points, so we need 12 to pass them out

Even if we won all out remaining games, we would also need two bonus points to qualify for the HC next season.

So....Where are we getting the 26 points from?
I'm presuming the IRFU will tell Ulster and Munster to roll over for us, and we'll get another bonus point against Cardiff, and then win the rest. Easy.
See ye all in Clermont