if dan parks is the sum of connacht recruiting ambition then i give up now.

he is an average merc that is over the hill in terms of quality.

to put it more politely, hes shite.

go and raid the french second division or something. find some young talents.....

On the NIQ issue. Nikora should be Irish qualified by next season. Fa'aili is out of contract in the summer and isn't worth a NIQ spot in the squad if we can hold on to Tonetti with McSharry and Griffin already signed on.

Definitely scope for a NIQ prop in place of Ah You. I agree that there won't be too many IQ options around this summer though. Munster will be on the look out with 2 1st choice foreign props, Marcus Horan nearing the end and Archer not looking up to it to date.

I'd have him definately No Question

i think that the one thing we all agree on is that we need leadership at halfback and someone who who is a competent goal kicker and that this isnt being provided by our current options. Everything else is speculation on our part. Some u will agree with and others not!

I find it funny, how only a little while ago, people were screaming that we should have been trying to sign Stringer, he has the experience we need. And now there's talk of Dan Parks, some people say that he's past it, and we should be developing the young players.

Cant please everyone I suppose

Ah You at LH? Hmmm might be worth a go would give him a shot anyway.

As for Parks I'd sign him. There's nothing stopping us using Jarvis for the first 60 mins and if its tight bringing on Parks to keep hold of a tight lead or to go for a drop goal. Its what we do all the time with Ireland in Sexton and O'Gara sure.

agree wit u on ah you, stephens and maguire. not sure about rodgers. He has done well at th off the bench. He like rodney and george doent appear to be fit enuf to start and finish a game tho and the physical conditioning program seriously needs to be reviewed.
Given than we prob can only afford to carry 6 props wit buckley and maguire as 3rd choice on each side. That wud leave wilko and loughney with two others. Take into account that we are only allowed 5 niq next season wit George, fetu, henry? and nikora signed already and there are no real suitable Irish qualified props available of calibre u are talking about out there we may have to settle for what we have here. Espec if we are going to use 5th niq for an experienced outhalf.
rodney is the variable in the equation as he is the project player. imo he will never be a decent option at tight head.this leaves us wit 2 choices. we either get rid or try to convert him to loose head. If we get rid we have option of keeping rodgers as project.
Its not going to be easy to solve our problems at 3,9 and 10 given the limitations of budget, profile and restrictions of rules. Compromise wil prob be required and it may happen at 3.
Ironically we may have produced the 2 back up tight heads to ross in the last two seasons !
IRFU take note.

Ronan Loughney has done very well coming in out of the blue at tight head after doing well at loose head for the past couple of years. He's become an important player for us and imo deserved more starts ahead of Wilkinson early in the season but if we're serious we need a long term solution there. Also Brett Wilkinson can't keep going the full 80 every week for the foreseeable future on the other side. Loughney now gives genuine options on both sides which you couldn't really have said a few years back but he's our only decent option at tight head these days which isn't a strong basis on which to build a team.

Ah You, Rodgers, Stephens. Sorry but I don't really think any of these lads is going to help the situation. Let these lads move on and use that money and whatever else is needed for someone like White.

We'll have Maguire for another season. He needs to start making a name for himself.

loughney doing a good job for us there atm. Deserves chance to make position his own. prob wont have the money to cover a nathan white with a scrum half and oh of stringer and parks profile.

Remember bj botha started as loose head before converting to th and becoming one of best scrummagers around.Loughney is a similar size and weight and has proven to be a battler in new role. cud save us a few bob yet.

Nathan white will probably end up being surplus due to the succession plan at Leinster and looks quality, former captain too and not a bad age for a prop.

Can't think of too many Irish options for th.

I think Dan parks would be a good addition, not the answer to all our woes but a valuable addition. Ditto stringer.

My wish list

2, 3x2, 8, 9, 10 and 14

Parks would be a good short term signing imo. Off the field he's a well known name, could help sway a few players who mightn't consider Conancht otherwise. We need a selling point to convince players this summer and a signing like Parks could open a few dooors for us. Good signing for a few fans who might be losing the faith.

On the field, he'd bring experience and leadership which is absent in our side, in particular at half back. He's a fairly reliable kicker and will be able to keep us on the front foot and wc game against Argentina aside where his pack took it a bit too left, he's a good man for a drop goal.

The younger players could benefit from his experience and you'd hope we'd have our own lads and Jarvis battling outright for the 10 slot in a couple of years. I don't think it'd help the situation at present bringing the likes of Carty and Leader into this team for another couple of seasons either physically or mentally. Let them get a season or two of A/underage/AIL games under their belt and develop and come through then.

You'd hate to see the potential in the backline wasted but he's still well up on NOC in this regard imo and in the middle of winter in Galway its usually a war of attrition and having someone like Parks might tip a few more tight games our way.

I think a serious signing at 3 is first priority and at 9 we need change but this would be a good start to our recruiting.

I've mixed feelings on this. On the one hand, Connacht have come up short in many games due to having inadequate goal kickers in the team. Parks would be a massive step up in that regard. On the other hand, is Parks the type of outhalf who'll get the most out of potential match winners and future stars like Dave McSharry, Eoin Griffin and Tiernan O'Halloran?

If Parks does arrive, we'll need to bring in another 2 or 3 forwards who can rotate in and out with our current pack. This can give him a platform to do what he does best. Unfortunately I think it'll lead to 10 man rugby but if it means Connacht rise up the table, I don't really care too much!

It's clear from the problems we're having at 10, that we need a front line outhalf who can help bring on our developing pivots. Ideally we want someone with about three seasons on the clock...

Parks kicking can be excellent or ropey (particualrly in clutch HEC games), but stats don't lie over the long term he's a decent kicker....

We need experience and a bit of quality and..............Dan's the man in my book!!

my understanding of the halfpenny kicking situation is that they have identified him as a front line kicker of the future(possibly in light of pending departure of parks)and are persisting with him in short term to develop him in that regard. commentaters(s4c or bbc wales) stated this during game v leinster. in fact after game he went further and said if parks had taken over kicking they would have won.
i agree that parks best days are prob behind him but he is still a good outhalf and a very accurate kicker. We can only attract this type of player or untried/unproven youth with our profile and resources available.we already have the latter in jarvis,carthy and leader.
if swift for prez is accurate(i hope he is)and parks is being targetted in both a playing and coaching capacity this can only help them in their development while delivering much needed points on scorboard and pro12 table at the same time.
stringer and parks at half back is not a step back but a leap forward from where we currently are. munster and even cardiff are in a different place to us atm and are looking for different things from their recruitment so judging players by their standards when assessing our needs is not realistic.
neither is talk of recruiting players like stanley. i hope this is.