Conn Not 65 wrote: After reading Pinky v Devils own with a healthy sprinkling of dobby (no offence! ) I nearly forgot that we had just pulled off the coup of the season. !! People today is a good day ....

What might be better, I think, is if Jake, Niyi and Tiernan make the plane to Chicago. With SOB just on the way back and Jake in the form of his life (and now qualified?), with Earls potentially unavailable and Trimble being not exactly inspirational last weekend, and RK on a downward spiral, will Joe really ignore Niyi and Tiernan. I would not be a happy bunny, Bundee and Ultan news aside. It would make you wonder what they need to do?

*mod hat on*
Not getting involved in the rights or wrong of this, the existing comments on the 'we' situation etc. are fine to stay, but anything further should have a new comment thread under the suggestions' section.

Bear the rules in mind, all. This is a great day for Connacht Rugby, and not going to let it be dragged down by squabbling. Any further posts on this thread to revive the above discussionwill be deleted.
*mod hat off*

After reading Pinky v Devils own with a healthy sprinkling of dobby (no offence! ) I nearly forgot that we had just pulled off the coup of the season. !! People today is a good day ....

dobby wrote:

Devils own wrote:

pinky wrote:

Devils own wrote: We perhaps should also have some sort of identification system on here requiring members to identify which club they support when joining maybe followed by a question if it's Connacht

Eh, who are this "we" to whom you refer?
Plenty of opposition fans post on here and they are very welcome to. I don't think any of them are members, they post on here as guests like yourself.
And maybe lay off the abuse for the folk on opposition forums.

It was a general suggestion, I never said anything about people being unwelcome that's rubbish you simply read into it yourself. I said an option to show what team you support in your avatar box for example many other forums employ it already. It's a simple way for forum contributers to know where others are coming from otherwise some wouldn't start off statements with "wasps supporter here" etc etc. Perhaps it's too forward thinking for you. The "We" refers to all Connacht clan posters as it would benefit everyone you don't get to define "we", I didn't try too . I have no clue what you are talking about regarding abuse that's a ridiculous statement.

While a Connacht supporter myself, many don't agree with my opinion. I don't refer to myself to as a 'we' person because my opinion doesn't necessarily reflect a group of people. I post an opinion as an individual. While 'we' may or may not be Connacht supporters 'we' post as individuals and as such are responsible for our posts and the content of such posts. It is not a 'we' against 'them' thing. Its just 'my' opinion. I do not wish to be referred to as 'we' as I am not we I am 'I'. Now I/we have myself/ourselves confused

Very succinctly put , however it was merely a suggestion on my part that would add a new information option to the operation of the site therefore it would affect all members/guests etc if it was ever implemented. Ergo the use of the term "we". It was a site addition suggestion that would affect everyone on it but it was only my personal opinion (which everyone is clearly free to hate on and disagree with) that it would be a useful information tool to see when having conversations with all posters. Like I said other forums use it and it was a suggestion which I presume "we" are all free to give (I hope saying that some people don't feel I am forcing those freedoms on them by using the term we)

Devils own wrote:

pinky wrote:

Devils own wrote: We perhaps should also have some sort of identification system on here requiring members to identify which club they support when joining maybe followed by a question if it's Connacht

Eh, who are this "we" to whom you refer?
Plenty of opposition fans post on here and they are very welcome to. I don't think any of them are members, they post on here as guests like yourself.
And maybe lay off the abuse for the folk on opposition forums.

It was a general suggestion, I never said anything about people being unwelcome that's rubbish you simply read into it yourself. I said an option to show what team you support in your avatar box for example many other forums employ it already. It's a simple way for forum contributers to know where others are coming from otherwise some wouldn't start off statements with "wasps supporter here" etc etc. Perhaps it's too forward thinking for you. The "We" refers to all Connacht clan posters as it would benefit everyone you don't get to define "we", I didn't try too . I have no clue what you are talking about regarding abuse that's a ridiculous statement.

While a Connacht supporter myself, many don't agree with my opinion. I don't refer to myself to as a 'we' person because my opinion doesn't necessarily reflect a group of people. I post an opinion as an individual. While 'we' may or may not be Connacht supporters 'we' post as individuals and as such are responsible for our posts and the content of such posts. It is not a 'we' against 'them' thing. Its just 'my' opinion. I do not wish to be referred to as 'we' as I am not we I am 'I'. Now I/we have myself/ourselves confused

pinky wrote:

Devils own wrote: We perhaps should also have some sort of identification system on here requiring members to identify which club they support when joining maybe followed by a question if it's Connacht

Eh, who are this "we" to whom you refer?
Plenty of opposition fans post on here and they are very welcome to. I don't think any of them are members, they post on here as guests like yourself.
And maybe lay off the abuse for the folk on opposition forums.

It was a general suggestion, I never said anything about people being unwelcome that's rubbish you simply read into it yourself. I said an option to show what team you support in your avatar box for example many other forums employ it already. It's a simple way for forum contributers to know where others are coming from otherwise some wouldn't start off statements with "wasps supporter here" etc etc. Perhaps it's too forward thinking for you. The "We" refers to all Connacht clan posters as it would benefit everyone you don't get to define "we", I didn't try too . I have no clue what you are talking about regarding abuse that's a ridiculous statement.

The news brought a tear to my eye. I was hopeful we would keep one of them but never dreamed that both would stay. The business with Bundee's tweets really had me thinking he was on his way especially when he didn't feature in the Zebre game. I figured Lam was taking the hard line even with him, saying fine you want to play somewhere else then you don't play for us, only on the bench in case of emergency.

If the timing of the announcement changed, think it works out better since this kind of news will give the squad a real lift ahead of the trip to the RDS.

Devils own wrote: We perhaps should also have some sort of identification system on here requiring members to identify which club they support when joining maybe followed by a question if it's Connacht

Eh, who are this "we" to whom you refer?
Plenty of opposition fans post on here and they are very welcome to. I don't think any of them are members, they post on here as guests like yourself.
And maybe lay off the abuse for the folk on opposition forums.

Great news for Connacht rugby. the roster for next season must be pretty strong already.

We are in a great position for the next 2 seasons

Now, I don't want to sound too positive, but Ili and Kelleher last weekend were pretty good, And then we have Boshoff arrived and Dawai looks like a serious prospect and Bundee and Ultan sign-up to the cause. I'm bordering on getting excited

I think we were lucky to keep Marmion, if Connacht were asking Marmion to play the Schmidt way, i.e box kick infinitum then he would have played for Ireland as a starter for a lot more games than he has and would have had the same pressure put on him to move to one of the other provinces i.e Ulster.

phatguerilla wrote: Is this the first time that two players in their prime (or coming into their prime) have voluntarily stayed with Connacht when they could have had their pick of clubs?

I know its not quite the same but I think Marmion electing to stay last year was a very significant vote of confidence in both the club and the management team's vision

I'm so happy about this news. And a whopping 3 year deal for Bundee is just amazing. Fair play to all concerned. A few weeks ago we were in a bit of a lull period but now the sun is shining on/for Connacht. I am now 100% he will also play for Ireland !

Fantastic news and a massive statement of intent. This was a fist-pump at work moment on a Tuesday morning. I think some of the summer recruitment or lack thereof left us wondering if we were seriously committed to building on what we achieved last season but the last few weeks have settled my nerves about the direction we are heading.

Here is two top players saying that yes we can achieve our career goals at Connacht and backing it up with two and three year deals. I think the ripple effect of this is extremely significant.
1. This lays down a statement in terms of future big name signings.
2. The effect it'll have on any undecided players about renewing for Connacht,
3. The belief this will give academy players that they can be successful at Connacht
4. We'll undoubtedly see more players who're on the fringes elsewhere that'll see the success the likes of Dillane, Kearney, Robb, Kelleher, Adeolokun, Healy, Ronaldson etc. have had at Connacht
5. Off the field in terms of expanding the Sportsground, keeping the best players and therefore hopefully growing crowds and revenue streams etc. makes a strong business case for there being a need for better facilities.

First time poster here. Huge news on Aki - could be akin to O'Driscoll turning down Toulouse/Biarritz many years ago and what his province went on to achieve after that.

Fantastic news, almost like having two new players given how worried we were. I tried to downplay the possibility of both moving on but Bundee could easily walk into almost any NH team and Ultan is my lions bolter pick, so it would be foolish to think they weren't in high demand. As others have said, this shows the value of being able to work with rather than against the IRFU system. Is this the first time that two players in their prime (or coming into their prime) have voluntarily stayed with Connacht when they could have had their pick of clubs? What a difference from a few weeks ago when the media were gleefully predicting a difficult second season and a return to normalcy. The old order is being overturned and those that don't acknowledge it will be lost in the wake of the new.