Let's hope for the second half improvement that we have had in all our other games so far.

HT 17-10 them

three points back another penalty NOC 17-10

that sounded very soft, Elwood will be fuming at that. Big scrum now

ahhhhhhh shi-t-e

Come on Connacht, sounds like an exciting game.

TOH is lively.

Converted by NOC!

7-7

Yes.. try. Duffy!

7-0 down so far. Bad news coming from Edinburgh and Newport too. Ulster well off the pace at Dragons and Munster 9-0 down away to Edinburgh.

PlanetRugby wrote: [size=10pt]Preview: Ospreys v Connacht

Coverage: Galway Bay FM - vista.streamguys.com/galwaybayfm

Connacht coach Eric Elwood has made three changes to the side that beat Dragons for Friday's RaboDirect PRO12 clash with Ospreys. The Irish outfit have made a promising start to the season, winning three of their first four games.

As a result, Elwood has kept faith in the back-line that downed the Dragons. Elwood has, however, juggled his pack.

Dylan Rogers replaces Rodney Ah You at tighthead prop while Michael Swift returns from illness to take the place of Dave Gannon who drops to the bench. TJ Anderson comes in on the flank in what will be the backrower's first start for the province.

Meanwhile, Ospreys Head Coach Sean Holley said his unbeaten team still had room for improvement.

"We are getting the outcome on the scoreboard but there is still plenty for us to work on. We are tweaking a few things and ever trying to improve the players we've got," said Holley. "We're quite a young group, mixed with some experienced fellas, and it's important that we keep pushing the standards and getting things right. Even though the scoreboard has been taking care of itself, aspects of our game haven't been spot on.

"The most promising thing for us is we are fielding 22 guys who are Welsh and Hanno who will soon qualify for Wales. There's a good mix in terms of age and experience in the group.

"Connacht are a really tenacious side, well coached and well drilled. They lose very few at these sort of periods and it makes them a tough proposition. They've got a good start so they're on the bounce."

Form: Ospreys have made their best start to a season since they won their first seven matches of the 2004/05 campaign. Ospreys have lost just once at Liberty Stadium since last October: 20-22 to Munster on 23 April. Connacht have won three of their four RaboDirect PRO12 games this season to reside in 3rd place in the standings. Connacht's only victory in Wales since 2004 was 13-11 at the Dragons on 18 April 2008. Ospreys have won their last six matches against Connacht, whilst the Irishmen's last victory on Ospreys soil came at the Gnoll on 21 November 2004.

The teams:
Ospreys: 15 Barry Davies, 14 Richard Fussell, 13 Tom Isaacs, 12 Andrew Bishop, 11 Hanno Dirksen, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Rhys Webb, 8 Jonathan Thomas, 7 Justin Tipuric (C), 6 Tom Smith, 5 Ian Evans, 4 Ian Gough, 3 Aaron Jarvis, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Duncan Jones.
Replacements: 16 Mefin Davies, 17 Cai Griffiths, 18 Joe Rees, 19 James King, 20 Joe Bearman, 21 Matthew Morgan, 22 Sonny Parker, 23 Kristian Phillips.

Connacht:15 Gavin Duffy (C), 14 Brian Tuohy, 13 Eoin Griffin, 12 Henry Fa'afili, 11 Tiernan O'Halloran, 10 Niall O'Connor, 9 Frank Murphy, 8 John Muldoon, 7 Johnny O'Connor, 6 TJ Anderson, 5 Mike McCarthy, 4 Michael Swift, 3 Dylan Rogers, 2 Ethienne Reynecke, 1 Brett Wilkinson.
Replacements: 16 Adrian Flavin, 17 Ronan Loughney, 18 Stewart Maguire, 19 Dave Gannon, 20 Ray Ofisa, 21 Paul O'Donohoe, 22 Matthew Jarvis, 23 James Loxton.

Date: Friday, September 30
Venue: Liberty Stadium
Kick-off: 19:30 (18:30 GMT)
Referee: Stefano Penne
Assistant Referees: James Jones, Wayne Davies[/size]

It's surprising, but in a good way. There's real competition for places now. And with Nikora, Vainikolo and Matthews still to come into contention, in the backs alone, it's great to see.

We need this, we need it to raise performance levels and we need it to give guys a break now and then without dropping a notch talent-wise. The lads were great last year, but they were dead on their feet by the end of the season. Eric rewarded consistency with consistent selections, but we weren't able to give guys a break when they needed it.

And I liked Andrew Trimbles quote about competition for places, you either get bitter, or you get better.

This brings up the Conancht A side discussion again, we don't really want players of McCrea's calbre playing AIL and getting lazy or into bad habits if they are not in main matchday squads..

Newsletter say's its live on s4c. Anyone know how to get this channel. Sky or upc?

Just been thinking about this. The game was originally supposed to be on Sunday, so it might have been scheduled for broadcast, but the re-arranged fixture scuppered it.

It's surprising, but in a good way. There's real competition for places now. And with Nikora, Vainikolo and Matthews still to come into contention, in the backs alone, it's great to see.

We need this, we need it to raise performance levels and we need it to give guys a break now and then without dropping a notch talent-wise. The lads were great last year, but they were dead on their feet by the end of the season. Eric rewarded consistency with consistent selections, but we weren't able to give guys a break when they needed it.

And I liked Andrew Trimbles quote about competition for places, you either get bitter, or you get better.

Something a miss there. He was flying against Scarlets, he should be straight back on the wing for Tuohy. He had big personal problems in Ulster, I just hope they haven't crept back down here. That's the only reason I can think of, or else eric doesn't want to change a winning team, and has seen enough of Loxton on the training pitch to give him a place on the bench.

I've been very impressed with what I've seen of McCrea this year. Very surprised to not see him in squad last 2 weeks.

Interesting to see an irish ref since we are quick to point out when its the other way. Ospreys still strong in areas but hopefully we'll give it a go anyway. Out Half and Hooker need to produce more this week!

Standard practice for a season or two, Ref from visting Union. Problem is though that the home union sends two pillars of salt to run the lines...