F@ck that was inspirational Shelflife. You should give the team talk before the Grenoble game

Dead right Shelflife, Makes the blood boil but we'll keep on trucking.

No point letting it drag us down as a collective. As a long suffering Mayo fan (you know urself!) we gotta keep the faith keep ploughing on and support those in the squad.

We'll keep building this season and who knows how we will end up end of season. Delighted I've two trips more abroad to go to. Delighted I'm draggin' my wee one to home games 'cos the bottom line is its about the grassroots, the die hards, the ex pats, the blow ins, whoever, it's about us all who love Connacht and what it stands for and the lads that leave it all out on the pitch and the team built around them.

'Citius Altius Fortius Connacht'

Robbies made his choice as he's entitled to do. He has in effect turned his back on the club that help make him to go to in what is a beautiful ironic moment to go to a club , that had he started out with he would be nowhere near the level he is at the moment . Don't get me wrong he would have eventually broken through but I seriously doubt that he would be an international at this stage.

It all looks so bad though, Robble for turning his back on his native province, Connacht now have an international shaped hole in our midfield , a marketing dream of a homegrown lad brought up through the Connacht ranks and a potential Lion in the making has disappeared. The IRFU have effectively handed him to Leinster for free, that just looks terrible ( not entirely their fault but it gives such a bad picture). Leinster don't come out of this looking good either, and even BOD has shown his true colours with him more or less admitting on Twitter that he turned Henshaws head for the good of Leinster rather than for Robbies benefit.

All in all its paints a terrible picture with the big team getting the small teams jewels and those who are supposed to ensure a fair game basically rewarding the big team by paying his wages ! That's not exactly the way it was ment to go but that's the way it's ended up.

I'm a bit pissed off, a bit fed up, I thought that at last Connacht were going to get to get some decent loot from the central coffers at last, get Robbie on a central contract , free up a wage for another top player, market the bejasus out of Robbie and bring even more supporters into the sportsgrounds thus bringing in even more revenue more players etc etc. Then onto the Lions tour where Robbie has a storming tour and spreads the Connacht name down under which further opens up revenue streams and player streams.

As in all of the best breakups you never see it coming when when your dumped !! Leinster get their man for free and Connacht get nothing !!

And so we move on , we can sit around and mope and wail and go back to the Connacht of old and blame everybody else or we can use this to galvanise our efforts and get behind our team and make things happen ourselves! Personally I'm going to try harder to get to all the Home games and bring more people along as well and I'll be roaring my big heart out in the clan stand to help get the players over that finish line.

Connacht is more than one player, always was always will be, we regroup refocus dust ourselves down and prepare for the best season end ever !!

Front up ! Rise up !

salmson wrote:

menacethedenis wrote: I suppose all that's left to confirm now is how big of a kick in the balls this is. Provincial contract or have they gotten him for free on a central contract?

It's a central contract so they're not paying a cent. We have to backfill out of our own budget,so we're effectively penalised twice. From a playing point of view his loss isn't huge, given his nonavailability of late, but from a development and marketing standpoint it's bordering on disastrous.

Not only are they not paying a cent for him, they get to use the money they would have had to stump up for a provincial contract to strengthen elsewhere in their squad, This is why I'm pissed of he's gong just as a central contract is awarded. Can you imagine the impact of the quality of player we could recruit if we had been able to keep him and spend the equivalent of his salary on an additional player.

This is why provinces put hard graft and money into developing their best player, so there is some tangible reward after a player moves on.He clearly understands that staying even a year on a central contract would be a massive fillip for us and enable the strengthening of the squad even more for his eventual departure....

And if any of you get any guff from Leinster supporters, ask them how they felt back in 2005 when BO'D was swanning around BIarritz with Serge Blanco discussing a contract. ..

Fully understood Rossie. At this point I don't particularly care. Off with him to the Laydees.

Even though it was expected, I'm starting to get a bit more annoyed about this.
Leo Cullen's announcement on RTE kind of twists the knife a bit.......
"We are delighted to have secured Robbie's signature for the next three seasons. Robbie is a huge talent and we have all seen that over the last few weeks and months with Ireland in the RBS 6 Nations and during the World Cup"

He has seen the talent with Ireland but not with Connacht?
Also, the Leinster supporters are starting to get under my skin a bit. Now they seem to be gunning for Pat Lam.

Mary,
I just read that last comment and it sounds petty which wasn't intention.
It is clear to me that team robbie are now guns for hire and mercenaries. I don't believe robbie will say anything other than what he has already said and as one other contributer said he will be well rehearsed by BOD and his new cronies for interviews from now on.
Even though I'm a munster man I feel your pain. I felt it with earls a couple of weeks ago but it was a false alarm and at least it wasn't to leinster. Poor mccloskey will never get a look in now that Robbies a laydee.

Have to agree with all that's said about this. Personally I believe Henshaw has turned his back on Connacht, maybe to soon.

mary hinge wrote: According to this morning's Indo, Henshaw has been in negotiations with Munster as well as Leinster up to last week. This for the opportunity to improve his game playing outside the likes of Ian Keatley and Denis Hurley!!!!
Unbelievable.
Robbie is a good communicator so no doubt he will come out soon and actually tell the truth on why he's going.

Do u mean to say you can't work it out or at this stage even care?

There are a couple of things that annoy me about Robbie leaving. One, he has said basically nothing to the press to explain his reasons for the move. Its the least we deserve. Second, based on the announcement today from Lam and Leinster , I would believe that he is not on a central contract. There were very strong rumours not so long ago that the IRFU had offered him a central contract if he stayed with Connacht. This would tend to suggest, that apart from the extra sponsorship money that he might get at Leinster(which maybe we could have matched here somehow) the only reason he left us was to progress his won career. That is an awful refection on what he thinks of Connacht . He needs to speak out to explain his decision.
I wish I could be happy for him but despite mulling over the matter since Sunday , I just can't be happy about the whole affair. .

Careful folks. We don't want to let our views expressing dissatisfaction as being "petty or embarassing"

Interesting comments from Pat in Linleys Irish Times piece today:

Coach Pat Lam says everything was done to keep Connacht’s marquee player at the Sportsground, but ultimately Henshaw chose otherwise.
“Without a doubt, Willie [Ruane], our CEO, and the IRFU did a tremendous job,” says Lam. “There were three parties involved and throughout the whole process we did everything we could, but again it comes back to the player’s decision and you respect that.
“The IRFU were very supportive. David [Nucifora] and Willie Ruane worked very closely together, and we are really pleased with the support we had from the IRFU in the whole negotiation process.”


Sounds like there is still a good relationship there with Nucifora. The whole saga might end up strengthening our hand when it comes to more signings for next year.

greyingbeard wrote:

menacethedenis wrote:

eastcoastconnacht wrote: . Give me a team of 15 John Muldoons everyday.

"We all dream of a team of John Mul D's." New chant.

That would be an excellent way of expressing dissatisfaction with the situation while still supporting the team and not referring to players who don't want to be here

And a team of Bundee Akis; and a team of Tiernans; and a team of Dennis Buckleys: I could go on. Disappointed in Henshaw and his family for making this decision. There was clearly an understanding that it would be controversial with all the messing around and PR timing of the releases. Wonder if Tony Blair or his lot were advising. Remember the latter guys got it wrong also.

menacethedenis wrote:

eastcoastconnacht wrote: . Give me a team of 15 John Muldoons everyday.

"We all dream of a team of John Mul D's." New chant.

That would be an excellent way of expressing dissatisfaction with the situation while still supporting the team and not referring to players who don't want to be here

eastcoastconnacht wrote: . Give me a team of 15 John Muldoons everyday.

"We all dream of a team of John Mul D's." New chant.

I understand where people are coming from wishing Robbie all the best, career is short etc. but I have to say it still hurts.
I could take him leaving to go to France an awful lot easier than playing in blue (hand on heart the most ungracious fans in victory I have come across) . As a club we have had to deal with more than our fair share of hard luck and well done, pat on the head moments through the years. Pat has built something special over the last few years, we are playing as a team and reaping the rewards.
Money comes and money goes but the admiration and respect from fans is what will last the test of time. Look at all the icons of the Irish team over the last 10/15 years. All one team men by in large - O'Driscoll, O'Connell, O'Gara, Darcy when they could have all got more money if they wanted.
It seems nobody outside a few special think Connacht can be that one team for them. Give me a team of 15 John Muldoons everyday.