connachta wrote:

Oranmoron wrote: Almost a shame there's a break coming up

Oh no, the team is definitely looking blunt since December. The guys won in that way with mental strenght today. Rest week takes place in the right timing. Aki Muldoon Muldowney TOH Healy will benefit a lot from it.

100% agree. We destroyed them at the set piece, but when we got into the scoring zone we looked a little listless. Perhaps the heavy pitch and the heavy workload on a core group of players has left them a tad tired. We were in a bit of trouble a the start of the second half, but their indiscipline saved us. Saying that, they could/should have had a yellow in the 1st half for scrum shenanigans.

The crowd were magnificent today, the got on that ref early and did not give him a minutes peace.

Any word on Healy? Hope he is ok

Oranmoron wrote: Almost a shame there's a break coming up

Oh no, the team is definitely looking blunt since December. The guys won in that way with mental strenght today. Rest week takes place in the right timing. Aki Muldoon Muldowney TOH Healy will benefit a lot from it.

Well, that was fun. Solid performance from everyone, full house, great atmosphere, beat the league leaders, got the bonus, kept them out at the end and for once didn't get crucified by dodgy officiating - what's not to enjoy? Thought the pack were great to a man, particularly the front row. Even George rolled back the years. Blade thoroughly justified his selection which was great to see. Hope Mat is back soon. Almost a shame there's a break coming up

19 turnovers conceeded and 23 tackles missed are the points to work on. We didn't achieve the 80% tackling success rate once again, whereas Dragons and Zebre had 90%+ for ex. As for rucks, I think Roux will be a huge boost starting March. Muldoon (10 tack, no miss) did a crucial unseen job

All in all very good day. To me one or two brain farts aside that was the best performance of the season and gives us the springboard to pick things up on Thursday week in a positive mindset for the run ahead.

Set-piece dominance laid the platform in the first half. 13-0 could have been more. So frustrating to let them back to 13-10 but we got the couple of yellow card decisions correctly in my view and we pushed home the advantage. Really it shouldn't have come down to hanging on to deny them the bonus at the end but crucially unlike against Dragons, Cardiff (2 bps) and Edinburgh we made sure they went home empty handed.

Last season Scarlets outscored us 6-4 over the two games. We have flipped that around this season. Ok it should probably have been 2 wins but still an important win on the head to head.

Good performance from pretty much everyone. If we can keep Jake Heenan fit for the rest of the season he's a huge asset to us and makes it a very strong backrow. Robbie Henshaw put in a big shift and has shown us what we missed in the last couple of games.
Scarlets weren't at full strength but are still top for a reason so this is a big statement. We can see how the rest of the weekend goes now.

Very good crowd today, hopefully they'll be back for the big Ospreys game in a few weeks.

It is a full-house today !!! BP for us, not for the Welsh, everyone put a good shift and we kept composure in the end!! Bealham is our future for TH I don't worry much anymore. Heenan was missed, he's now back. Blade and Masterson are talents in the making. Aki/Henshaw will destroy any big-fish European midfield next year. TOH and Poolman are sure bet. Hope Healy is ok but Parata did well.
And a rest week
Perfect!

What is the weather like in Galway today? The BBC forecast now suggests there will not be rain this pm.

Happy enough with the team. George in the 2nd row is something I've never really been a fan of but hopefully he can put in a big 50/55 minute shift. He should have a point to prove.

Big game for Caolin Blade. Great to see him get his chance. Think he deserves the nod over Ian Porter at this stage. The forwards will need to protect him tomorrow around the breakdown. If he gets the platform he will give us a chance to cause them problems.

All in all its a strong side. We can hopefully get the edge up front and the backline is strong. We need to meet this challenge tomorrow regardless of whether we are favourites or not. Losing away to Scarlets was gut wrenching but not fatal. However, anything but a win tomorrow and I really find it hard to see us keeping a serious interest in the increasingly competitive race for Top 6.

Leinster's result makes tomorrow an even bigger must win than it already was :woohoo:

clanman wrote: the bookies have us as overwhelming favorites

I hope no one told the team because it never sits well. Imo they even played better down to 14 men against Brive, in general once they're not the ones who have to do something they force things much less and actually seem to settle into a game more. Imo of course.

I think ConnachtCows is probably right about Joe requesting Ultan being placed on the bench, he might only be being released because Connacht are so thin in the second row. Maybe he even had a say in Bealham getting the nod. Though as S_P said he's playing better than Rodney and even if it were 50/50 Pat would probably go with Finlay with Rodney heading north next season.

Would have liked to seen Marmion released, but confident in Blade to do the job. Kieran probably can use the rest, but I hope later on if he isn't named in the Ireland game day squad they release him for some of the other league games.

wp_rathead wrote:

ConnachtCows wrote: Good news for Marmion from an International perspective.
Dillane must be starting on the bench on orders from Uncle Joe

Not overly excited about George in the second row, but who else is there available?

Qualter only other option I can think off unless look to lads in the academy (guessing SOB2.0 is now exclusively a backrow)

Reddan and Van der Flier aren't involved for Leinster tonight so wouldn't read too much into Marmion being kept back. Van der Flier is unlikely to be in matchday squad vs Wales for example

Delighted that Blade is starting though
And Henshaw bein back is massive for us
Bealham over Rodney Ah You is interesting selection by Pat

Henshaw + Blade make me impatient
Dillane on the bench must play at least 30 min, to have an impact. I think it will be close, but we should get these 4 or 5 points, we HAVE TO, anyway, for top 6 hopes
By the way, do you think Bealham was responsible for the last pen against Brive? I watched it again and can't make a clear opinion...

Yup we are available at Connacht -4 on Paddy Power

sea_point wrote:

Not really, Finlay's in the Ireland training squad and Rodney's been bang average for a couple of months. It's just the new order...

I getcha and agree, often though players coming back from camp tend to be benched so I didn't expect to see Bealham in the XV
I mean we need Dillane starting more than we need Bealham starting..

the bookies have us as overwhelming favorites

wp_rathead wrote:

ConnachtCows wrote: Good news for Marmion from an International perspective.
Dillane must be starting on the bench on orders from Uncle Joe

Not overly excited about George in the second row, but who else is there available?

Qualter only other option I can think off unless look to lads in the academy (guessing SOB2.0 is now exclusively a backrow)

Reddan and Van der Flier aren't involved for Leinster tonight so wouldn't read too much into Marmion being kept back. Van der Flier is unlikely to be in matchday squad vs Wales for example

Delighted that Blade is starting though
And Henshaw bein back is massive for us
Bealham over Rodney Ah You is interesting selection by Pat

Not really, Finlay's in the Ireland training squad and Rodney's been bang average for a couple of months. It's just the new order...