jesus lads where has the pre season optimism gone? One win one loss and we're already headed for bottom? Where will Ulster finish after losing two in a row??

I have to agree there has been no break through with rodney, someone obviously made a call and moved him to loosehead at the end of last season and while it lessened his (negative) impact its not good enough. The worst thing is with the power he has shown to make breaks there's no excuse for a lack of power in the scrum. Maybe there's no hope but if the coaches feel there is any chance he can improve they should be taking him aside and drilling the shit out of him until he breaks or learns to scrummage.

Henshaw was good defensively and made a few half breaks, one of which was quickly recycled by marmion and created the try. When he ran at the opposition he sucked in defenders, that opens up space and provides opportunities. To dismiss him after only one full game at 13 is reactionary.

I did feel muldoon should or could have come off rather than faloon. (sidenote, the rabo pro12 site has faloon listed as 6'6'' but only 97kg, someone's taking the mickey no???)

I have a feeling we're seeing more of Swift atm while Clarke is out than we will in future. I'm not sure I understand why Muldowney is being used off the bench though, impact sub to make line outs easier as lifters tire/less capable hookers come on?

Would like to see more of Ronaldson from now on, Parks like Swift has to be managed, even in tonights cameo Ronaldson showed he could offer something different and break the line especially against tiring teams, needs to be on the field earlier though. Think he was on 8 minutes and made a half break but if he had been on with 20 or 30 to go he might have made a difference. Plus at the very least he needs to start learning what rabo level is like.

Also thought TOH was very good apart from one poor pass, which doesn't negate the good work he did throughout the game.

What I saw tonight was totally unacceptable. It seems to me that Lam has done very little to improve our team, its very obvious that a high kick ahead for OH to hopefully gather is the only change. In summary we were awful tonight, defense OK but giving away multiple penalties is just not good enough.

Rodney should not even be considered, replace with Cooney.

Robbie is not a centre, sorry for Duff but Robbie is best at fullback

Mul is not what he used to be, how about Heehan at 6.

Swifty is not a good captain, excellent work rate but he does not manage the "ref"

Based on what I saw tonight we will finish bottom of the league this year.

The only bright spark was Matt Healy, the rest should be looking over their shoulder.

I thought that this year we might progress, fight for a mid table position, but now, and I know its just the start of the season , we will be lucky to avoid being bottom.

connachtexile wrote: It's reached a stage now were he pretty much guarantees that we're going to lose the game.

Whatever about the game, his performance at scrum was what cost us the BP in this game. Depressing stuff.

There were some slight positives, I thought Matt Healy, Henshaw, Griffin etc. had solid games. Lots to build on there. Defence was better than I was hoping.

Dan had an absolute howler, I thought.

connachtexile wrote:

Rodney was a joke at scrum time and the ref got it dead right in giving him a yellow. He made one or two good carries but how much longer can this continue. The primary function of a prop is scrummaging and its clear to all and sundry that he isn't up to it. I don't know what Dennis Buckley has done but get him back into the squad. I could go on, decision making was awful. I couldn't agree more with Connachta wtf was that at the end, we can get it down within 7 or 8 metres of the line and instead we got for some awful tap and go which barely got us over the gain line. Clueless stuff.

Agreed but forget Buckley what about J.P. Cooney? At least he can scrummage and wouldn't give away as many silly penalties. I have to say I winced when I saw Wilkinson go off and Ah You on. It's reached a stage now were he pretty much guarantees that we're going to lose the game.

Not sure about Cooney

Was worried about him v Wasps, was hinging at every scrum

Rodney was a joke at scrum time and the ref got it dead right in giving him a yellow. He made one or two good carries but how much longer can this continue. The primary function of a prop is scrummaging and its clear to all and sundry that he isn't up to it. I don't know what Dennis Buckley has done but get him back into the squad. I could go on, decision making was awful. I couldn't agree more with Connachta wtf was that at the end, we can get it down within 7 or 8 metres of the line and instead we got for some awful tap and go which barely got us over the gain line. Clueless stuff.

Agreed but forget Buckley what about J.P. Cooney? At least he can scrummage and wouldn't give away as many silly penalties. I have to say I winced when I saw Wilkinson go off and Ah You on. It's reached a stage now were he pretty much guarantees that we're going to lose the game.

Nights like tonight are why I hate being a Connacht supporter. Cardiff are a great club but that was not a good Cardiff team no matter how you dress it up.

You could have a go at the ref in one or two instances but in all honesty we were the authors of our own downfall. I really thought that the new management team would bring a much greater focus on discipline and not giving away cheap penalties but we've scored 1 try to nil and lost by 11 points which tells it all really. I'd say the penalty count was something ridiculous but most of those decisions there is little arguing with.

We were comfortable enough for first 17 or 18 minutes then we shoot ourselves in the foot with some awful errors, somehow we turned a dominant scrum on the half way line into a penalty for Cardiff. Silly push from O'Halloran for the 2nd penalty after a woeful kick from Parks who is looking more and more like he's coming towards the end. We then blow a 5 metre scrum with a pack that is on top and are easily turned over. Parks missed a crucial kick at 12-10 which would have given us a boost at a key stage.

I thought George was awful, Swifty shouldn't be playing 80 minutes at this stage of his career, how Tiernan O'Halloran was left on ahead of Matt Healy I don't know.

Rodney was a joke at scrum time and the ref got it dead right in giving him a yellow. He made one or two good carries but how much longer can this continue. The primary function of a prop is scrummaging and its clear to all and sundry that he isn't up to it. I don't know what Dennis Buckley has done but get him back into the squad. I could go on, decision making was awful. I couldn't agree more with Connachta wtf was that at the end, we can get it down within 7 or 8 metres of the line and instead we got for some awful tap and go which barely got us over the gain line. Clueless stuff.

For all the talk of togetherness and three captains and all this, Connacht heads went down with the game still there for the taking and with it went the discipline, Cardiff looked much fresher coming towards the finish.

There is a hell of an amount of work to do. Its one defeat and its a long season but this looked like more of the same old rubbish. Until we start putting away these sort of games or at least returning home with something we will remain down the bottom scrapping it out for 9th or 10th. Craig Clarke can't come in soon enough to give us some real on-field leadership.

We need Buckley to get his act together soon, we can't afford to have Rodney coming on in ANY game...

Poor kicking and poor handling did for us, not helped by the penalty count obviously. On the positive side, we held them tryless and our defence was fairly solid throughout, something I have been worried about.

Firstly some Pros:
* Matt Healy finally showing his potential after an injury blighted first season.
* Henshaw at 13 had a great first half didn't see him at all in the second but don't think it was his fault.
* Griffin and Henshaw as a centre partnership worked well together.
* We had parity in the scrum until Ah You came in.

As for the bad stuff well the second half was bad and can someone explain why Ah You is still playing? He can't hack it at this level and is just a penalty machine. 3 penalties and a yellow card? I don't care how many breaks he makes that's no good. Either try him at Hooker or some other position or release him as he can't play prop at this level.

Rodney is a catastrophie at scrumtime, but advanced in open play..

we messed up for sure, very few positive but still

1)Marmion and POD (despite of the high tacle) were ok
2) lineout (and JHW) worked well
3) Draw under high balls

The rest was awful

phatguerilla wrote: ..........., but with that many penalties...ugh. At least I won money on the glasgow game.

At least some good came out of the evening for you then but not sure even the most ardent optimist in the Clan will be able to put a positive spin on this performance.

That second half was horrible, Excuses about penalties can only go so far, even half that number would have been high. Also thought naopu was poor enough tbh. Overall the game plan seemed reasonable, keep it within the forwards, but with that many penalties...ugh. At least I won money on the glasgow game.

our best player was on stand-by, fionn carr, he's fit and in cardiff!! healy yes our best player on the pitch. george had a shocker! rodney, wtf

illplaybymyself wrote: In fairness defence was emence, hands were appalling but you have to consider the weather.

We don't have a leg to stand on after that

That's a shocking Cardiff team. They didnt even have to come out to play. We handed them everything

Taking off our best player Matt Healy? What the fuck

Some lads need to sharpen up lively

Why on earth we didn't go to touch on the last pen?????

In fairness defence was emence, hands were appalling but you have to consider the weather.

Porterbelly wrote: Painful.

Backwards the only way we're going

Painfull watching it on TV.