Rolland is an arrogant prick who thinks he's too good to be reffing in the Sportsground. I hope he never graces our turf again

Personally I feel we're better off with foreign refs, however green.

I was at the RDS a few years ago when the ref (Fitzgibbon I think but will take correction) allowed Jennings and Fogarty (both later cited, banned, escaped on technicality) to repeatedly thump Flavin, who happily for them happened to be pinned in a collapsed scrum.

Before sending the innocent Stan Wright to the bin.

It's a sad state of affairs when I'd rather see James L (Jack and) Jones in town ahead of Alain Rolland.

Good research, Mr. U.

Referee for the match will be... Stefano Penne from Italy, who will take charge of his 6th competition game.  :'(

That's three Italian refs in the first 5 matches. I've been keeping a running total of the refs assigned to each match and with the list already out for next week it looks like this

Team	Average ref experience (games)
Ulster	22
Leinster	18
Blues	17
Munster	17
Dragons	16
Edinburgh	15
Ospreys	14
Scarlets	13
Aironi	11
Glasgow	9
Treviso	8
Connacht	6

Aironi get a bit of a bump after last weeks match was refereed by Peter (ahem) Allan, who has 44 games experience. (But he hides it well)

We've had one single game where the refs experience has reached double digits, contrast that to Munster who've had that pleasure 4 times out of 5.

I'm going to keep this going through the season to see if it balances out, but if it doesn't then I think the branch have grounds for making an unholy racket to ensure a level playing field for all involved.

can't see us getting anything from this game.

The lack of TV coverage for these away games is disheartening though.

Aye, but if you look at next weeks games only Ulster are being televised, so it's not just us. The RWC and highlights shows are saturating coverage and the broadcasters don't want complaints from the mouthbreathers who are addicted to reality TV.

TV coverage is based on what games are seen as attractive. But the schedule is only set as far as 1st Jan. If we can keep our good run going until Christmas we should see an increase in Connacht games being taken up in the new year because we'll be seen as a good draw.

I have been to Swansea on a couple of occasions and seen us beaten out the door by their 2nd/3rd string. A bonus point would be huge I reckon.

Losing bonus and out of dodge and keep the momentum going. Then have a cut at Leinster in the RDS the following week.

Realistically with the way we're playing we'd do very well to stand toe to toe for 80 with the Ospreys. Ulster got butchered at the breakdown today. We're alot more streetwise in the pack as we showed them in Ravenhill last year so lets hope we can get on top there v Ospreys and not be bullied about. Even with alot of internationals missing, the Ospreys are still a class outfit on their day

The lack of TV coverage for these away games is disheartening though.

Definitely.

What I really want to see here is a performance. The two home games haven't been overly impressive, a couple of good patches was enough to nick both games, by all accounts the performance in Edinburgh didn't exactly inspire either. I think most of us are happy with the points total to date but itd be good to see signs of a solid team starting to emerge.

Ospreys have been quick out of the traps but have only a 5 day turnaround and struggled to see off Edinburgh a few weeks back. Hopefully the team will produce a performance and we'll see from there.

The lack of TV coverage for these away games is disheartening though.

Will take a huge effort to get points here. But it's not beyond the boys, I think.

Indeed.  If they play like they did during the first half against the Dragons, it'll be ugly.  If they play like they did in the second half, we've got a good chance.  It'll be a tall order for sure on the road.

Will take a huge effort to get points here. But it's not beyond the boys, I think.

Just seen that the Ospreys thumped Ulster 32-14.  Rise up Front up. come on Connacht, we can do it.