Zebre are going to beat someone in the next 6 games, and at the start of the season I would have expected Zebre to win one of the 4 games against us. Connacht need to be tuned in or the good work last week will be undone.

Squad Update ahead of Zebre clash

The Connacht Rugby squad trained today ahead of their Round 17 RaboDirect PRO12 clash with Italian side Zebre.

George Naoupu, who yesterday saw a specialist for the neck injury he picked up in January, has been given the all clear. The big forward returned to full contact training today and will be available to Head Coach Eric Elwood when he names his team later in the week.

Robbie Henshaw, who was with the Irish squad last week, also returned to training today and will be available for his province this Friday night.


Following back-to-back wins against Welsh sides Ospreys and Cardiff Blues, there are a few knocks picked up and some injuries sustained within the squad.

Dave McSharry (groin), Johnny O’Connor (ankle), Dan Parks (hamstring) and Kyle Tonetti (shoulder) all missed out on last Friday’s game against Cardiff due to injury. They will continue to be monitored and have not yet been ruled out of team selection

Winger Tiernan O’Halloran remains unavailable due to the knee injury (cruciate ligament) he picked up against Ospreys. The 22-year-old still has a number of weeks on the sidelines.

Mike McCarthy is unavailable for Connacht this Friday night. His medial knee ligament injury has progressed well to the point that he is also running and he will be retested at the end of the week to assess his availability for the France game.

Connacht Head Coach Eric Elwood will assess his options and name his side to face Zebre this Thursday at 12pm.

Connacht v Zebre
The Sportsground
Kick off: 7.45pm.

Tickets available from ticketmaster.ie and the Connacht Rugby offices. click here for our amazing ticket offer.

Referee: Neil Hennessy (WRU, 14th competition game)
Assistant Referees: Michael Black, Ed Kenny (both IRFU)
Citing Commissioner: Tom McCormack (IRFU)
TMO: Kevin Beggs (IRFU)

This game must get the full concentration of the Connacht squad if the last two victories are to mean anything. Its also up to the crowd to get behind the team and not just expect everything will fall into place.

Between Aironi and Zebre we have always had tricky games against the supposed whipping boys. 2 very poor performances away from home against Aironi without even collecting a bonus point. Aironi actually won the head to head both years. I remember a very scrappy 11-6 game a couple of years back at the sportsground against Aironi and only a late rally and that miraculous Jarvis kick dug us out of a hole last season. In both games our attitude was sloppy from the off and we almost paid the price.

This year we were almost caught at the death in the Rabo game. In the HC away game they came at us strongly in the first half and we were fortunate to lead 9-3 at the break. An opportunistic John Muldoon try finally put us in control. As for the home game again we were poor, the penalty try and 13 point lead should have given us a cushion to lift ourselves but they had a go and were ahead at one point. We were very glad to hear the final whistle.

They have picked up a good handful of bonus points this year and could have had 3 or 4 wins at this stage. However, as it is they are 0 from 22 and they lost at home to a very weak Dragons side last Sunday. Also they have two less days recovery time and will be missing a handful of players on Italian duty so they will be stretched.

I'd like to think we should get a bonus point but we need to be wary of them and be 100% professional in our outlook on this game. Lets take the game by the scruff of the neck from the off and not provide them with any encouragement. They showed in the HC game in January that if we are waiting for things to happen they can cause us problems. 5 points would be fantastic and would really send out a statement of intent but we have yet to earn the right to think 4 try bonus point going by our previous Aironi / Zebre games. Apart from the away Rabo game in September where we got the 3rd try at the death I think one try is the most we've scored in any of the other 6 games against either Aironi or Zebre.

Therefore the main objective has to be that we have the game out of their reach going into the closing stages and not put ourselves in for a nervy finish yet again.

ConnachtCows wrote:

RogueXV wrote: Those games are a lot tighter than you'd like with the HEC game at the Sportsground the tightest of the bunch. Let's hope they can build on prior two wins and win this one comfortably with a bonus point.

The Heineken Cup match at home was a disaster. From where I was standing, it had the worst atmosphere of any game I've been too this season.
Fans didnt seem interested at all. Perhaps everyone just expected a win, and find it hard to cheer on Connacht when we're winning so easily. It was only when Zebre got back into the game, was there any noise in the Clan Stand.
Really hope to not see a repeat this Friday

Having done the job over the comfortably enough away from home in the Rabo & HEC I think there was an element of arrogance about the expected result on the pitch and in the terraces which transformed into unease once the errors started racking up and Zebre refused to go silently into the night.

The squad must go into the game with the right attitude this time. A bonus point is achievable but the target for the first 60 minutes must be to close off the game and secure the four points. If Parks is fit (hell even if he's not) we need to rack up any kick-able points, take any cheeky drop goal opportunities and basically drain Zebre of any fighting spirit by not offering them any free points by needles penalties in return...

RogueXV wrote: Those games are a lot tighter than you'd like with the HEC game at the Sportsground the tightest of the bunch. Let's hope they can build on prior two wins and win this one comfortably with a bonus point.

The Heineken Cup match at home was a disaster. From where I was standing, it had the worst atmosphere of any game I've been too this season.
Fans didnt seem interested at all. Perhaps everyone just expected a win, and find it hard to cheer on Connacht when we're winning so easily. It was only when Zebre got back into the game, was there any noise in the Clan Stand.
Really hope to not see a repeat this Friday

Those games are a lot tighter than you'd like with the HEC game at the Sportsground the tightest of the bunch. Let's hope they can build on prior two wins and win this one comfortably with a bonus point.

important to get bp if possible out of this with treviso playing in ravenhill. also our 2 remaining home games are against the top 2 so this and away games v treviso and edinburgh may decide our season.

Connacht return to action in the Sportsground on the back of a hard fought victory in the Welsh capital against Cardiff.
This is the third last home game of the season for Connacht, and they take on Pro 12 newcomers Zebre. Connacht are very familiar with their Italian opponents after completing the double over them in the Heineken Cup Group Stages, and winning in Italy in round 2 of the Rabo Pro 12.

In terms off team news, training has been ramped up a notch in recent weeks and the team have picked up a few niggles. “Mike McCarthy is being given a week off, while we are welcoming Robbie Henshaw back into the side”.

Tiernan O’Halloran is still out with the PCL in his knee and with Dave McSharry, Kyle Tonetti and Gavin Duffy also out, there weren’t too many backs training today. Gav will be back before Friday, however”.

Previous Meetings:

Zebre 17-30 Connacht (Sept 7th - Rabo Pro 12)
Zebre 10-19 Connacht (Oct 13th - Heineken Cup)
Connacht 25-20 Zebre (Jan 18th - Heineken Cup)

Average score:

Connacht 24.66 - 15.66 (Get betting on over 40 points in the game)

Hopefully no one who was at the Heineken Cup game in Galway will forget how poor a match it was, and how poor the crowd were all game, so lets get behind the side from the very start and hopefully cheer Connacht on to a Bonus Point victory