Lost 42-31. A good work-out by the sounds of things (Twitter!)

Losing 42-31 with a few mins left!

Following this on twitter, seems like some game 17-17 at half time. Now for the second half team to keep it up!

galway_gas wrote: Castres Olympique v Connacht

1st Half

15 Gavin Duffy (captain)

14 Steve Macauley*

13 Eoin Griffin

12 Conor Finn*

11 Matt Healy

10 Dan Parks

9 Paul O’Donohoe

1 Peter Reilly*

2 Jason Harris-Wright

3 Nathan White

4 Aly Muldowney*

5 Danny Qualter

6 Mata Fifita

7 Willie Faloon

8 George Naoupu

2nd Half

15 Shane Layden

14 Tiernan O’Halloran

13 Danie Poolman

12 Brian Murphy

11 Fionn Carr

10 Miah Nikora

9 Marcus Walsh*

1 Brett Wilkinson

2 Sean Henry*

3 Rodney Ah You

4 Mick Kearney

5 Conor Kindregran*

6 Andrew Browne

7 Jake Heenan*

8 John Muldoon (captain)

Replacements (second half): Ronan Loughney, JP Cooney, James Rael*, Craig Ronaldson*
- See more at: www.connachtrugby.ie/2013080983388/lam-n...sthash.sn38uuYX.dpuf

Wow we can put out two quality teams on same day

And there's still about six or seven more potential first choicers unavailable for this...... :pinch:

Unavailable/Injury/ College exams

Denis Buckley

Craig Clarke

Dave Nolan

Dave Heffernan

Eoin Mckeon

Aaron Conneely

Jack Carty

Dave McSharry

Kyle Tonetti

Darragh Leader

James So’oialo

Robbie Henshaw

- See more at: www.connachtrugby.ie/2013080283379/37-ma...sthash.qGLUNbEK.dpuf

Castres team (15 - 1)

Le XV castrais : Teulet - Martial, Evans, Cabannes, Garvey - (o) Kirkpatrick, (m) Kockott - Wannenburg, Diarra, Caballero - Capo Ortgega, Samson - Coetzee, Mach, Forestier.

Remplaçants : Rallier, Wihongi, Faasalele, Bornman, Tomas, Tales, Bonnefond, Lazar, Gray, Babillot, Claassen, Desroche, Baï

www.sports.fr/rugby/top-14/scans/castres...-au-connacht-677111/

Surprised they managed to keep Kockott.

Castres Olympique v Connacht

1st Half

15 Gavin Duffy (captain)

14 Steve Macauley*

13 Eoin Griffin

12 Conor Finn*

11 Matt Healy

10 Dan Parks

9 Paul O’Donohoe

1 Peter Reilly*

2 Jason Harris-Wright

3 Nathan White

4 Aly Muldowney*

5 Danny Qualter

6 Mata Fifita

7 Willie Faloon

8 George Naoupu

2nd Half

15 Shane Layden

14 Tiernan O’Halloran

13 Danie Poolman

12 Brian Murphy

11 Fionn Carr

10 Miah Nikora

9 Marcus Walsh*

1 Brett Wilkinson

2 Sean Henry*

3 Rodney Ah You

4 Mick Kearney

5 Conor Kindregran*

6 Andrew Browne

7 Jake Heenan*

8 John Muldoon (captain)

Replacements (second half): Ronan Loughney, JP Cooney, James Rael*, Craig Ronaldson*
- See more at: www.connachtrugby.ie/2013080983388/lam-n...sthash.sn38uuYX.dpuf

Wow we can put out two quality teams on same day

From Pat Lam

this fixture is not about the result, more about how we perform

So let's not get all upset when we lose :whistle:

From the connacht press release yesterday the game this evening will be played at the Connacht Training base in Stadium Lacaune - 45KM from Castres - rather than at Stade Pierre Antoine

Borders no.2 wrote: <strong>Castres Olympique v Connacht</strong>

Ok with the pre-season games due to start next weekend, here's some of the low down on our opponents Castres Olympique. If there is interest in this I am happy to put together a lowdown on some of our other opponents during the season. (A lot of this is shamelessly stolen from Wikipedia!)

Good work throwing this together Borders, just saw it now. Even it is, as you say yourself, pulled from other sources, it's good to have this all in one place and easy to access and would be great to have similar background for the competitive games.
This is the type of content I think we should have out front on the website homepage not just in the forums.
Happy to work with you on this if you need a hand.

Presuming there's no chance of this being on French TV and thus somewhere online?

www.advertiser.ie/galway/article/62899/c...rench-champs-castres

Bit more information on tomorrow's friendly in the Advertiser, I've picked out a few points below:

Among those making their debut for the senior side will be Lansdowne outhalf Craig Ronaldson, former Junior All Black captain and flanker Jake Heenan, former Exeter lock Aly Muldowney, former Connacht u-20 and Munster hooker Sean Henry, and Development/Academy players, utility back Steve Macauley, scrumhalf Marcus Walsh, former Munster academy hooker James Rael, and lock Conor Kindregan. Fionn Carr, after a two year absence in Leinster, will return to the wing.

Although the starting XV will be named tomorrow, Lam says all players will be given from 20 minutes to 40 minutes playing time over the 80 minute game. Missing, however, will be both Michael Swift and Frank Murphy who are still recovering from injury, but are key leaders in this week’s bonding camp.

Lam has yet to unveil his captain of the season, but says several players will take on that role over the course of the game.

“We have several players in the leadership group who can share the captaincy for this fixture - it is a strong group and I will not be deciding on the captain until after these pre-season games.”

Clarke is unlikely to feature in the Wasps’ fixture and Lam says he will give the 30-years-old lock time to get himself and his family settled and also time to get used to the Connacht structures.

swift4prez wrote: guys in academy i understand they need to study due to have a back up plan but when they get a full pro contract, i think they should be 100% ready to play rugby.

<strong>im not having a go or picking on anyone, just using examples!</strong>

denis buckley is a pro, and will be until he retires 32+, he is a prop and could learn a thing or two vs castre with toulouse coming up before xmas, and also sarecans. props need games to get going.

eoin mckeon, also a full time pro for example missed captains run (nearly sure) vs biarritz due to exams.

during the year, fair play for them for fitting both in but in the summer, its there own fault there missing pre season which there paid for

100% understand where you're coming from but to the unis all students are or should be the same, plenty of students out there doing part time or even full time jobs, maybe not as many as in the past. There are evening courses and other means of catching up if you want to maintain a full time sports career and stay in college.

Personally I feel like it will soon come to the stage where young fellas decide whether to go to college first or play rugby first and go back after their sports career. Obviously there are traditions around this kind of thing and rugby as a sport is stickler for tradition. But its definitely no longer essential that a person go to college at 18 to ensure a career later in life.

swift4prez wrote:
denis buckley is a pro, and will be until he retires 32+

...or he could get injured next week. We're not going to see eye-to-eye on this I fear...

guys in academy i understand they need to study due to have a back up plan but when they get a full pro contract, i think they should be 100% ready to play rugby.

im not having a go or picking on anyone, just using examples!

denis buckley is a pro, and will be until he retires 32+, he is a prop and could learn a thing or two vs castre with toulouse coming up before xmas, and also sarecans. props need games to get going.

eoin mckeon, also a full time pro for example missed captains run (nearly sure) vs biarritz due to exams.

during the year, fair play for them for fitting both in but in the summer, its there own fault there missing pre season which there paid for

rossie wrote: I think it would be grossly unfair swifty. The guys in the academy are on very little money and the demands on them are huge. Don't get me wrong. Its a wonderful opportunity but far from easy. If a student fails an exam he has an opportunity to repeat. Why should it be any different for a student who also plays pro rugby.

Good point Rossie. Might I add to that that these guys are already handicapped by holding down what amounts to a full time job while studying?

And some of them are front rows to boot...

I think it would be grossly unfair swifty. The guys in the academy are on very little money and the demands on them are huge. Don't get me wrong. Its a wonderful opportunity but far from easy. If a student fails an exam he has an opportunity to repeat. Why should it be any different for a student who also plays pro rugby.