rossie wrote: after munsters very comfortable win last night the gap between 6th and 7 th is now 13 points!
anyone think this is a blip/ 1 off or is this the way things are likely to ve going forward. i fear the latter may be the case. would a split halfway through season ala fai premier and afaik spl did where you only play teams in your half of lge in final rds be beneficial to the competition going forward?

I think Cardiff should be able to rise again but it may take a couple of painful seasons first. They looked a team on the rise not too long ago but have lost a lot of key players. Edinburgh will improve if they get a new coaching setup in but they are very short in many key areas.

Apart from we have stagnated (at best) this season, Dragons are the worst I ever remember them, Treviso are doing ok and will give a game to anyone but won't bridge the gap anytime soon and Zebre are 0 from 20 now.

The bottom half of the table is extremely weak this year imo.

The rise of Glasgow after a few awful seasons gives hope to the bottom half teams and I'd really hate to see the league divided in two. What is needed is to give the teams in the bottom half more to play for. What in real terms has anyone in the bottom half to play for in the remaining 8 rounds bar Cardiff who need the odd win to stay ahead of the Dragons? Every point is vital to the teams in the top half, it has to be important to the teams in the bottom half too or what's already a significant gap will become wider and wider.

true

rossie wrote: anyone think this is a blip?

No

rossie wrote: or is this the way things are likely to ve going forward?

Yuup with you on this one.

rossie wrote: would a split halfway through season ala fai premier and afaik spl did where you only play teams in your half of lge in final rds be beneficial to the competition?

Doubtful beneficial for the competition - not like the spl where you play each other 3/4 times a season, but defo disatrous for us - missing out on interpros, are you mad?

after munsters very comfortable win last night the gap between 6th and 7 th is now 13 points!
anyone think this is a blip/ 1 off or is this the way things are likely to ve going forward. i fear the latter may be the case. would a split halfway through season ala fai premier and afaik spl did where you only play teams in your half of lge in final rds be beneficial to the competition going forward?

Borders no.2 wrote: From the Scarlet Fever website, seemed to be agreed with by most on there.

greypower1 wrote:

It was a win but the Scarlets struggled for tempo and rhythm. Connacht played a far more entertaining brand of rugby and we only won because of good set pieces and a beligerent defence. The backs were, for the most part, like strangers playing together for the first time. A tough night at the office but 4 points earned. Not pretty at all.

so in other words we f-ed up

From the Scarlet Fever website, seemed to be agreed with by most on there.

greypower1 wrote:

It was a win but the Scarlets struggled for tempo and rhythm. Connacht played a far more entertaining brand of rugby and we only won because of good set pieces and a beligerent defence. The backs were, for the most part, like strangers playing together for the first time. A tough night at the office but 4 points earned. Not pretty at all.

Don't think anyone realistically expected a win here but still dissapointing to get nothing out of the game. There has been a lot said about us conceding less tries and so forth but once again this evening we have conceded a shedload of kickable penalties. Didn't see it so can't comment on the nature of the penalties but it has been an achilles heel for Connacht in so many games this season. In a lot of games I've seen many of the penalties have been stupid niggly lazy kind of penalties that have cost us. You will be punished severely at this level if you give up opportunities.

Only positive of the night was that Dragons were the only team to gain any ground on us. The gap between top half and the bottom half is huge at this stage. A win next week would be huge but looking at how well Ospreys played up in Ravenhill I wouldn't be hopeful.

This season is in danger of petering out very poorly which isn't helpful. We want to kickstart Pat Lams time in charge with a bit of momentum rather than scratching around trying to find form.

Cardiff Blues 14 28
Benetton Treviso 14 27
Edinburgh 13 22
Connacht 14 20
Dragons 14 18
Zebre 13 6

Late Connacht try puts a bit of a gloss on the scoreline, 25-15. It's what I expected but not what I hoped for. For all the talk of improvement, this season is really turning out to be a big disappointment.

over...............................

try 25-15 a break from Swift who passes to Loughney to touch down. Nikora converts. #CRlive Scarlets 25 - 15 Connacht

Thought this would be a game to get the returning players some game time. That's about all that will come from this, now down 25-8. Awful second half.

Spoke too soon, looks like they'll be working hard just for a losing BP.

19-8

Seems all to play for, will likely need all the points they can muster as looks set to go down to the wire. Perhaps Connacht's bench will sway it their way.

both long near the half way i think, which means maybe he shouldnt of tried them!
converstion was from the side line

What's with Parks tonight? Is he missing sitters or are they difficult kicks? Saw on twitter at least the first penalty was on half way so can't fault him there really.