swift4prez wrote: i seen on the connacht website that alex saul is saying, this will be connacht second biggest attendence, behind toulouse.
frankly i cant see this happening. at the moment, the clan and the enclossed area upstairs is sold out and the main terrace is filling up.
little over 5,800 was at the leinster game with only a man and his dog behind the posts.

we need to start selling fast if we want to over take, 6000, heineken cup games is count by whoever walks in the gate with a ticket, rather then pro12 which is count as how many tickets are sold.

as it stands
1) toulouse 9120 (november 2011)
2) munster 7022 (march 2012)
3) toulon 7000 (april 2010)
4) leinster 6582 (january 2012)
5) leinster 5813 (september 2012)

how wrong i was. ill have high hopes in december for biarritz and munster to have high number at both games if we get result between now and then, updated table

1) toulouse 9120 (november 2011)
2) harlequins 8199 (october 2012)
3) munster 7022 (march 2012)
4) toulon 7000 (april 2010)
5) leinster 6582 (january 2012)
6) leinster 5813 (september 2012)

Taken on the whole it was a good game from a Connacht perspective. In regards to missing out on the losing bonus point, they probably got what they deserved. I felt like they really didn't go hunting for it until the last 3-5 minutes. Clearly the Quins deserved their victory, but for a 10 minute period though Connacht could have quite easily won the game. If the ref had any deficiencies it was equal to both sides. I was amazed he missed Turner-Hall's early knock on in the move that resulted in their first points.

Care's first try was just frustrating all around. First I'm not even sure Vainikolo knocked on in the prior play and if he did it was because the Quins player's arms got short when he saw Fetu'u charging up on him. So for them to have a scrum there after what was a good defensive play was just cruel. Thought Connacht got the alignment wrong given the amount of space there was on the short side, but hindsight is 20/20 and hopefully it is something they will work on for the future. I was disappointed with Muls though. He had his head up the whole time so he seemed to see this coming, but he was nowhere near Care. Perhaps that's harsh on him and with Care's quickness he scores from that position no matter what, but I thought the effort was a little lacking. Muldoon didn't do much better, maybe worse, for Care's second. I thought he gave him too much room to squeeze in.

There were, however, plenty of very good performances. George and Vainikolo had some great runs that probably should have resulted in a try or two, but at least netted some points via Parks' boot. Thought Faloon was prominent as Connacht were required to put in a ton of tackles. McCarthy as well. It may though be time to admit that the team is better served with Swifty coming off the bench. Marmion is a revelation at scrum half. My one quibble was a box kick he made around the 70th minute. At that point Connacht desperately needed possession and someone had won turnover ball, but the kick went 5, maybe 10, yards and right back to the Quins. He is just 20 though and has been impressive so far this season. Parks is doing everything I'd hoped he would since he's got on the pitch. Long may it continue. It can't be a coincidence that the backs have looked more threatening with him in the side.

They must take all the good points from this game and build on it for the game against the Ospreys.

Post match interviews:

Nathan White
www.mixcloud.com/CountFurlo/nathan-white-after-game-v-harequins

Eric
www.mixcloud.com/CountFurlo/eric-elwood-...fter-harlequins-game

Chris Robshaw & Conor O'Shea
www.mixcloud.com/CountFurlo/quins-robshaw-oshea-post-connacht

Creedence wrote:

sea_point wrote:

Creedence wrote:

RonanL wrote: Just heard a piece on Galway Bay FM about the Quins players getting in a bit of trouble at the Carlton hotel on Saturday night/Sunday morning. Nothing serious, just noise, and it was all sorted yesterday between the hotel management and the team management. Perhaps it shows how much they wanted to beat us, that they celebrating so hard afterwards

What do people expect when they allow Danny Care to score twice? (and hopefully only twice...)

All the laydeez like a bad boy eh... :ohmy:

It's a nothing story, boozing and a bit loud on a Saturday night in the team hotel.
Oh my, what a carry on...

I'm just surprised some ex-player from the 70's hasn't come on and lamented the drop in standards of behaviour since the game went pro. 'In our day we would have burnt the hotel to the ground and slept in a ditch'.

Pretty sure "rent a quote" Gaillaimh was in Limerick... :lol:

sea_point wrote:

Creedence wrote:

RonanL wrote: Just heard a piece on Galway Bay FM about the Quins players getting in a bit of trouble at the Carlton hotel on Saturday night/Sunday morning. Nothing serious, just noise, and it was all sorted yesterday between the hotel management and the team management. Perhaps it shows how much they wanted to beat us, that they celebrating so hard afterwards

What do people expect when they allow Danny Care to score twice? (and hopefully only twice...)

All the laydeez like a bad boy eh... :ohmy:

It's a nothing story, boozing and a bit loud on a Saturday night in the team hotel.
Oh my, what a carry on...

I'm just surprised some ex-player from the 70's hasn't come on and lamented the drop in standards of behaviour since the game went pro. 'In our day we would have burnt the hotel to the ground and slept in a ditch'.

Creedence wrote:

RonanL wrote: Just heard a piece on Galway Bay FM about the Quins players getting in a bit of trouble at the Carlton hotel on Saturday night/Sunday morning. Nothing serious, just noise, and it was all sorted yesterday between the hotel management and the team management. Perhaps it shows how much they wanted to beat us, that they celebrating so hard afterwards

What do people expect when they allow Danny Care to score twice? (and hopefully only twice...)

All the laydeez like a bad boy eh... :ohmy:

It's a nothing story, boozing and a bit loud on a Saturday night in the team hotel.
Oh my, what a carry on...

RonanL wrote: Just heard a piece on Galway Bay FM about the Quins players getting in a bit of trouble at the Carlton hotel on Saturday night/Sunday morning. Nothing serious, just noise, and it was all sorted yesterday between the hotel management and the team management. Perhaps it shows how much they wanted to beat us, that they celebrating so hard afterwards

What do people expect when they allow Danny Care to score twice? (and hopefully only twice...)

^^^

..Danny Care..

Just heard a piece on Galway Bay FM about the Quins players getting in a bit of trouble at the Carlton hotel on Saturday night/Sunday morning. Nothing serious, just noise, and it was all sorted yesterday between the hotel management and the team management. Perhaps it shows how much they wanted to beat us, that they celebrating so hard afterwards

That's not so bad, maybe he'll learn a thing or two

sea_point wrote: Couple of knock on's apart (which should have been picked up by his assistants) Garces was alright, certainly a country mile better than the sh*fting we got at Ravers from Clancy...

Actually did anyone read the article in the program about Fitzgibbon supervising refereeing in Connacht now? Astonishing.....

Couple of knock on's apart (which should have been picked up by his assistants) Garces was alright, certainly a country mile better than the sh*fting we got at Ravers from Clancy...

ummm, wrote: That's funny, I was just looking at the quins fans forum and they had plenty of moans about the ref missing Connacht offside and going in from the side frequently.

Just goes to show, when you watch a ref, you only ever notice the other team infringing.

This is true I suppose. One department I've always felt we were lacking is in playing the ref. Not just in this game but in general. 'quins took maximum advantage of his 'lenient' offside interpretation. I might be wrong but it didn't look like we did.

Kidney has been to the Sportsground a reasonable number of times now. You'd hope it's not just for show and some players have a chance of some recognition.

menacethedenis wrote: Garces had a terrible game.

I'll hold fire until I watch the match on TV, but he got the call wrong for the scrum that led to the first try - Quins knocked that on, should have been our put-in.

menacethedenis wrote: it was disappointing that we didn't really contest the lineouts or the restarts

They had a brand new outhalf kicking off the other foot to the regular one. Zero video analysis possible. And Botica mixed up his kickoffs brilliantly.

menacethedenis wrote: was Kidney at the game?

We got a close up of Yoda on the big screen, so yes, he was.

That's funny, I was just looking at the quins fans forum and they had plenty of moans about the ref missing Connacht offside and going in from the side frequently.

Just goes to show, when you watch a ref, you only ever notice the other team infringing.