clanman wrote:

the real problem for all the provicences in the next few years is there lack of big powerfull players coming through from the underage system, England and to a lesser extent Wales have a conveyor belt coming through their systems over the last 3 years. So we have to look abroad to sign big Saf and southern hemi-sphere players, in reality 3 or 4 big men would be enough, we have to be able to get matching the arm-wrestle type game and then we can show the skills of our backs

Agreed. We've all seen how blunted Leinster are without Healy and SOB making the hard yards for them. Ulster have the limited Nick Williams on there team to do this and Munster have Stander and Copeland.
Apart from genetic freaks like Stephen Ferris who come along once in a while we don't seem to create that many gainline players. Connacht's guys are Rodney, George and Bundee all New Zealanders of Polynesian descent. And apart from maybe Jack Conan at Leinster I don't see any other guys on the horizon at the moment except maybe Ian Henderson. Schmidt had to change his whole playing template as he didn't have any line breakers like SOB (not that it hurt us).

i know there is a cause to create our own but if you don't have the genetic base of a David Wallace or Denis Leamy then the only other alternative is to bring in guys who can do this for you. Connacht need a big 6/8 who can smash the gainline. Get some young buck from South Africa like Stander bring him in now and let him become an asset for both Connacht and Ireland.

RogueXV wrote: I'd fall in the camp of concentrating efforts on the Pro 12. Connacht's best hope of making any noise in the knockout stages was a home QF. With that now gone it would likely take a heroic effort to progress at a time in the league they really couldn't afford it. For the La Rochelle game I'd put out a side very much like the one fielded against Bayonne away and let the chips fall where they may. If they do enough to get Connacht into the quarterfinals grand but I won't shed any tears if they don't.

I think nobody disagrees with that, except that there's a week off just after, and players back from injury who need gametime. White and Kearney should start, and win it

I'd fall in the camp of concentrating efforts on the Pro 12. Connacht's best hope of making any noise in the knockout stages was a home QF. With that now gone it would likely take a heroic effort to progress at a time in the league they really couldn't afford it. For the La Rochelle game I'd put out a side very much like the one fielded against Bayonne away and let the chips fall where they may. If they do enough to get Connacht into the quarterfinals grand but I won't shed any tears if they don't.

pinky wrote:

salmson wrote:

rpocon99 wrote: If the best we can hope for is an away quarter final, I think it best to move on and concentrate on the league. Its going to take a massive effort to hold top six, and there look to be a lot of tired players out there.

I hear you, but the counter argument is that after losing 4 of the last 5 we badly need to regain some momentum. Perhaps the best result would be a win without a try bonus next weekend, which would close off this section of the season in a positive fashion but mightn't be enough to get us into the QFs.

Better to be in than out IMO. Come Easter weekend if we decide not to risk a lot of frontliners for a trip to Gloucester sandwiched between Munster away and Ulster at home, fair enough, but no harm having the fixture on the Calendar.

agree in principle, but we all know Lam won't send a B side in England to be hammered. If we qualify, some of the starting players will be on the pitch

salmson wrote:

rpocon99 wrote: If the best we can hope for is an away quarter final, I think it best to move on and concentrate on the league. Its going to take a massive effort to hold top six, and there look to be a lot of tired players out there.

I hear you, but the counter argument is that after losing 4 of the last 5 we badly need to regain some momentum. Perhaps the best result would be a win without a try bonus next weekend, which would close off this section of the season in a positive fashion but mightn't be enough to get us into the QFs.

Better to be in than out IMO. Come Easter weekend if we decide not to risk a lot of frontliners for a trip to Gloucester sandwiched between Munster away and Ulster at home, fair enough, but no harm having the fixture on the Calendar.

rpocon99 wrote: If the best we can hope for is an away quarter final, I think it best to move on and concentrate on the league. Its going to take a massive effort to hold top six, and there look to be a lot of tired players out there.

I hear you, but the counter argument is that after losing 4 of the last 5 we badly need to regain some momentum. Perhaps the best result would be a win without a try bonus next weekend, which would close off this section of the season in a positive fashion but mightn't be enough to get us into the QFs.

If the best we can hope for is an away quarter final, I think it best to move on and concentrate on the league. Its going to take a massive effort to hold top six, and there look to be a lot of tired players out there.

Watched this back last night, a lot of the stuff about big ball carriers and so on wasn't really relevant to the result at all - the best comtriubtions of Exeter's biggest units were intercepts.

Firstly, if it weren't for the scrum we'd have been home at half-time. The scrum and the penalties from it kept Exeter in a match where they were getting absolutely hosed. I'm a big fan of Rodney, but he has to carry the can for this as his greenhorn replacement rendered things significantly less awful in the second half.

After half time Exeter came out and redoubled their blitzing efforts in defence. Carty and Henshaw (who along with Healy were the best players on the pitch) tried some grubbers and switches but a lot of the players went into panic mode. The game turned on the two intercepts (from really dumb passes from Poolman and Muldoon) and a knockon from Leader (after Carty had blocked down a clearance) sandwiched between the two, the first intercept cost us the lead and the next 2 errors cost us great chances to retake it and gave all the momentum to Exeter.

Maddening stuff all told.

clanman wrote: the real problem for all the provicences in the next few years is there lack of big powerfull players coming through from the underage system, England and to a lesser extent Wales have a conveyor belt coming through their systems over the last 3 years. So we have to look abroad to sign big Saf and southern hemi-sphere players, in reality 3 or 4 big men would be enough, we have to be able to get matching the arm-wrestle type game and then we can show the skills of our backs

Agree with you a lot , but surely the idea is to develop our own? If you are thinking of the success of the irish team and the people who fund a lot of what goes on here, surely they will want more than ever to see the big men coming through the system? Unless we go down the route of project players all the time? Every province needs big forwards, Ulster are screaming out for back rows, Leinster and Munster need second rows and props, as do we ! What you say makes sense in a Connacht world, but the paymasters will see it differently.

If FCG had won yesterday, they would have struggled a lot to deny a LBP to Cardiff, and qualify. But they may still do it, the regular starter should be back, using this match to prepare for Brive the week after. On the other side, Gatland may ask to rest some international guys... DRagons away is the only winnable away Quarter final, and it would be ours.. Dreams, but not unrealistic

the real problem for all the provicences in the next few years is there lack of big powerfull players coming through from the underage system, England and to a lesser extent Wales have a conveyor belt coming through their systems over the last 3 years. So we have to look abroad to sign big Saf and southern hemi-sphere players, in reality 3 or 4 big men would be enough, we have to be able to get matching the arm-wrestle type game and then we can show the skills of our backs

columoc wrote: Ooh, where to begin. Power counts, superb as our backline were today, power and technique up front wins games and we do not have it sadly. With exception of Rodney, no one had a stinker, but we simply did not have the bulk up front. This is a problem for all Pro 12 imo; the bish bosh of France and England can win games unless you are super super good elsewhere. I thought Exeter were excellent in the front 5 and mediocre elsewhere. They got the rub of an interception, but their scrum was a killer, and they deserved their win.

Where to now. By my reckoning, the best we can hope for is the last Q final spot. This would probably mean an away tie to Gloucester. This is simply a match we do not need. We could lose heavily, losing momentum and confidence, not to mention injuries. Much as I agree with Lam in respecting the competition, I think the silverware is beyond us. I think we should give the squad a good run against La Rochelle, hopefully we will do well, but at this stage, maybe not qualifying would be better.

That may sound defeatist, but building a team is a marathon not a sprint, and for now, we need to concentrate on the league.

Long term, we need some heavyweights; there must be an attraction of a couple of North Americans. Argentineans or Georgians out there who would benefit us and themselves. Another tighthead, a few locks, and maybe another 8.

In some ways I'm inclined to agree as I think any chance we had in this competition was relying on getting a home quarter and semi but on the other hand I think its important to finish this series of games with a win and to get into the quarter final. Its been a demoralising couple of weeks and it'd be nice to sign off this batch of games in the right way.

Qualifying gives us something to pencil in for later in the season. What the last couple of weeks have shown us is that the wheels can come off quite quickly. I really hope we don't but if we were to struggle in the next few games we could find ourselves out of contention for 6th or 7th very quickly. At least that game would be there if that were the case. Its a game we could evaluate on its merits as to what our priorities are when the time came.

Gloucester away will be tough if we get through but really if we can't test ourselves against mid table-lower half of the table English teams what business have we playing the likes of Toulon, Northampton etc. and if we were (hopefully) to finish 6th that's the type of pool we would be in.

columoc wrote: Where to now. By my reckoning, the best we can hope for is the last Q final spot. This would probably mean an away tie to Gloucester. This is simply a match we do not need..

Exposure (and TV exposure) is always good to develop Connacht and make a name. The calculation and hypothesis have been a Haedache for me since Friday. But few minutes ago, I found out we've a very little and thin chance to escape from Gloucester. Grenoble is becoming a proud team, they showed it away to London, yesterd. If they can prevent Cardiff from taking any BP, and we're able to grab one, then we'll be away to Newport, which is winnable!

Ooh, where to begin. Power counts, superb as our backline were today, power and technique up front wins games and we do not have it sadly. With exception of Rodney, no one had a stinker, but we simply did not have the bulk up front. This is a problem for all Pro 12 imo; the bish bosh of France and England can win games unless you are super super good elsewhere. I thought Exeter were excellent in the front 5 and mediocre elsewhere. They got the rub of an interception, but their scrum was a killer, and they deserved their win.

Where to now. By my reckoning, the best we can hope for is the last Q final spot. This would probably mean an away tie to Gloucester. This is simply a match we do not need. We could lose heavily, losing momentum and confidence, not to mention injuries. Much as I agree with Lam in respecting the competition, I think the silverware is beyond us. I think we should give the squad a good run against La Rochelle, hopefully we will do well, but at this stage, maybe not qualifying would be better.

That may sound defeatist, but building a team is a marathon not a sprint, and for now, we need to concentrate on the league.

Long term, we need some heavyweights; there must be an attraction of a couple of North Americans. Argentineans or Georgians out there who would benefit us and themselves. Another tighthead, a few locks, and maybe another 8.

Craic Head wrote: Bit harsh on Mils there I think. The try for Pooleman in the corner was textbook pass after straightening the line by him, super pass, off his left hand as well. McSharry should have done it but it was Mils who did to create the run in. Class play.

McSharry didn't know where he was, he was hauled off because of concussion 20 seconds later. I agree with you, that it was a good pass but these are the aspects of the game that he still has, however he doesn't have the pace to make breaks and he knocked on so many times going into contact today. Also, his kicking from hand was poor.

Bit harsh on Mils there I think. The try for Pooleman in the corner was textbook pass after straightening the line by him, super pass, off his left hand as well. McSharry should have done it but it was Mils who did to create the run in. Class play.