Podge57 wrote: apologies if i missed it - but is Marmion injured or rested?

A little bit from column A, a little bit from column B. He took a horrible knock against Edinburgh but wasn't mentioned in the injury update this week.

apologies if i missed it - but is Marmion injured or rested?

No Pienaar, Piutua and VDM are massive as well as McClosky, Marshall and Olding. After seeing their injury list we cant really complain or use it as an excuse.
Think we can do it

Ulster team named.

twitter.com/UlsterRugby?lang=en

No Pienaar

One would expect that Ronaldson is tactical and there for his kicking . As mentioned to me before that pat sees heffernans ability to cover back row off the bench as a plus hence why he normally benches ahead of delahunt

Pietau and van den nerve both out for ulster which is good news, delaHunt has been strangEly absent but now gets an opportunity off the bench, every time I saw him play I thought that hd had that exrta potential

Is it weird that they tweeted the team an hour early?

Callow enough bench but excited to see what Delahunt, Kerins and Illi bring to the table.

I fear we are a bit too weak against a very strong Ulster side with a lot of depth. But it's a big game and at home.

Will be fun!

Team named. twitter.com/connachtrugby?lan

He could be rested alright. He did some amount of hard yards in the game.

RogueXV wrote: With the start the team have had I was hoping this game was one they could pick up some points on over last year. Injuries now appear to be making that less likely. Just feel the interpros in general and the Ulster games in particular will go a long way in deciding where Connacht finish this year, they need to get something out of this one.

Given the disparity in form from season start and our woejus record against the White Knights overall, Connacht can actually come in under the radar on Friday night without to much weight of expectation.
If we can improve maybe 5-10% from the Edinburgh game, and actually get our game going right from the start we have every chance of beating them.

I'm not going to keep banging on where I feel our primary weakness is, it's an area all our opponents have been targeting successfully from week one.
But we need to be more aggressive, accurate and relentless from minute one to 80+, because Ulster will arrive here confident, ready and looking to get off to a flyer in the game as they have done in every fixture in Galway.

With the start the team have had I was hoping this game was one they could pick up some points on over last year. Injuries now appear to be making that less likely. Just feel the interpros in general and the Ulster games in particular will go a long way in deciding where Connacht finish this year, they need to get something out of this one.

salmson wrote: I wonder with the minutes he's played could we see Dillane benched or rested (hope not)?

I'd prefer resting him for Zebre away, even if it's CCup. Because Browne/SOB/Cannon will be fully fit and prepared then

We really need to be competitive in this fixture. First home inter-pro.

Sadly, I fear we don't have the quality available. I would take a losing bonus point and a positive performance, but would love to win it.

Appears Cooney is doing some Garyowen competition at HT with fans so he won't be involved unfortunately

Would agree with most of that. If John Cooney is fit he has to start at 9 to get game time and give Marmion time to recover. I'd expect Kelleher to start ahead of Poolman, he did very well last weekend & I just get the feeling Pat doesn't hugely rate Poolman, likewise I expect JP Cooney to be on the bench.
I see your thinking regarding SOB at lock - Dillane had a bit of a mare in the Aly role last weekend and I think Sean played there against Montpellier - but I'd expect them to line out and scrummage wearing their usual numbers with SOB at six. No reason SOB can't play in the middle pod of forwards and have Roux and Dillane one on each wing. I wonder with the minutes he's played could we see Dillane benched or rested (hope not)?