great to see everyone cheerful!!

i am so happy for the squad and pat......i feel he needed this.

it really was a game we should have won though. their first try in particular was very soft and i think henshaws mistske in the line which created the space. all the signs of nerves at the start.

after that though what a game.

i think tonight showed for me, we should look to our academy and sqaud more at times, particularly with the level of attrition this game now has.

jp cooney did fine when he came on for example. and we have all talked about rodney.

i think the pack is thereabouts......poolman was a class act also i thought.


so we have the mix dont we.

i'd love to see us take toulouse at home and one of the irish provinces to shut a few people up...

im a little drunk now so will write proper tomorrow.

* rodney was a whisker away from being man of the match
* friday night games, way forward. END OFF!
* Any thing less then tonight and were underplaying
* ronaldson at 12 was a masterstroke!
* book flights, we'll beat saracens away
* crowd top class well done all
* were fucking moving forward, great mix, kick and pass

Really proud of all our boys tonight. Our error/penalty/turnover count was way down and matched Sarries in most areas. More importantly Pat Lam shows he is willing to change game plan to one which suits us better. Marmion getting MOM from sky says a lot but I would have given it to Rodders or Heenan if I has a choice. Also impressed with Ronaldson - although out of position he defended well and got 1 if not 2 turnovers. Saw Mul leaving in crutches. Sounds like a calf injury. Pat Lam fuming in dressing room afterwards re refs decisions. Finally great to hear Clan Terrace in full voice again. Didnt hear attendance stats but am guessing around 6000.

Borders no.2 wrote:

Porterbelly wrote: We;re going in the right direction

As you rightly said after last weeks game we were a shambles. There are positives from tonight but one swallow and all that. We've seen it so many times in the past, a good performance against a top team not backed up in the weeks to follow.

Well 2 main things pleased me tonight which makes me believe perhaps we're turning a corner.

1. It would appear Pat Lam has accepted that we need to mix things up. To bring the best out of Parks, he needs to be allowed use his boot to influence proceedings. There was a clear structure and gameplan for everyone to see tonight.

2. We went though phases and retained the ball without giving away penos or making silly errors. Particularly in the forwards. This was a major gripe for me also during the Elwood era. Our willingness to take it thru the guts instead of flinging slow ball out to the backs was great to see. Clear that this has been worked on

The real evidence lies in Zebre next week. We just have to win.

If we do then we're back on the horse. And with lads coming back from injury we can only get stronger. We're not finished with Sarries yet. Not by a long way

Muldoon did his calf, not sure how badly, but it didn't look good

Did anyone else notice James so'oialo at the end of the game, he was absolutly gutted, great to see his passion after only 20 mins for the province. Also loved the way he passed da ball to the kids at the barrier for a few mins while going through his warm up and had the bants with the crowd

Droptheclaw wrote: One last post before I crash dive into bed - Heenan strikes me as one of the ones we need to keep, forever. The boy has so much potential; in the loose, carrying, tackling and his rate at the breakdown is phenomenal. Given the academy/U 20s performances, and leaders like Clarke, Muldoon et al, it gives me a warm glow inside.

Been impressive in every game hes featured in, was very good when he first came on against Wasps in the preseason and has stepped it up ever since.

How is Muldoon does anyone know?

One last post before I crash dive into bed - Heenan strikes me as one of the ones we need to keep, forever. The boy has so much potential; in the loose, carrying, tackling and his rate at the breakdown is phenomenal. Given the academy/U 20s performances, and leaders like Clarke, Muldoon et al, it gives me a warm glow inside.

Lam having a right go at the ref in his post match interview saying we'll probably get an apology during the week etc. Thought he wasn't the worst for most of the game but at the crunch stages in the final 15 or so we got little off him. The lineout Saracens spent about 90 seconds getting together while one of their players walked across from the far side of the pitch was laughable. After an age we got the free kick.

Looking at TG4 there, was too far away to see it fully at the time but Saracens got away with murder on numerous counts for the final play. If the shoe was on the other foot I wonder what the outcome would have been. Still I think we could have shown more patience at the end and it may have reaped its rewards.

Anyway we move on and lets bring a big performance to the table in Italy next week.

Brilliant performance tonight.
Craig Clarke was immense, his leadership shone through for me.
Heenan is the best openside in Ireland at the moment.
Rodney was superb in all aspects, dealt with both loosehead well.
Wilko was back to the form he showed 2 years ago.
Henry showed he is capable of playing at this level.
Parks mixed his game brilliantly, recognised that Ashton abhors a high ball early and pounded him all night.
Ronaldson showed he has the temperament for this level.
Poolman was outstanding.
Gav, Swifty, George and Mul were back to something like their best.
Marmion was excellent as usual.
Henshaw played like a loose foward and maybe got too involved at times.
The bench didn't let us down either.
Everyone raised their game - as is typical of Irish teams in the H Cup, it is like the GAA teams who go through the motions in the League but play at a different level for the championship matches.
Had we got the score we deserved at the end, and we didn't get a single bounce of the ball all night, I don't think I would be alive tomorrow for celebrating.

Now lets follow that up with a win in Zebre.

Awesome atmosphere tonight, the Sarries fans were even tweeting about how good it was, it was a pleasure to share the Clan Terrace with them.

Massively proud of the effort tonight, but I thought in the last phase, we should just have Munstered the shite out of it and kept pushing them. We had them! They had little response to the forward ferocity at the end. Coulda shoulda woulda etc, but I have pride and left my corner of London with my held head high.

One other observation, before I slide completely into drunken bliss - we got our tactics right today and the use of boot, bollock and pass was what it was all about. This was the first match that I started believing in Lam's tactics: the right mix will yield dividends. And we will come good. I have no doubt now.

Message to Mark McCafferty: You can suck my Connemara balls if that's the greatest you have to offer, take your Anglo-French league and stick it up your thóin!

Porterbelly wrote: We;re going in the right direction

As you rightly said after last weeks game we were a shambles. There are positives from tonight but one swallow and all that. We've seen it so many times in the past, a good performance against a top team not backed up in the weeks to follow.

Really gutted leaving this evening. That should have been a massive result for Connacht. After the 2nd Saracens try I'd have given you my right hand for a bonus point but it feels scant consolation at the moment.

Well done to the lads no-one can say anything against any player, they left it out there. I have heavily criticised Rodney in the past but 95% of what he did tonight was excellent. He has taken a big step in the right direction tonight but as with the rest of the team one big performance can't silence the doubters. We definitely mixed it up better tonight which helped and Dan looked much more comfortable than recent weeks as a result.

We've seen this so many times in the past where we get a reactionary performance and then go back to the usual the following weeks. No-one expects Heineken Cup intensity from our team every week but these lads have shown in large parts tonight they are capable of performing at a much higher level than the dross we have witnessed in the first 5 games. They were gutted at the end but they need to demand higher standards of themselves week in week out.

Saracens really didn't impress me. They will be delighted with the result but I'd be shocked if they are in Cardiff next May going by tonight's performance.

The performance I hoped for and knew the lads had in them, but never thought they'd put in based on recent form. A solid performance all around. Hope they can build on it next week.

They'll get little traction saying the likes of Connacht don't belong in the HEC based on this game.

I think there's a balance to be had with the gameplan

We wouldn't be able to roll out that gameplan every week, because there are teams with better counter attacks than Sarries, Toulouse for one. They will murder us if we kick the ball back to them. The cross kicks were a good idea, maybe overdid it slightly and we could have put the ball through the hands more in the 2nd half.

What I will say is that the retention of the ball by the forwards was outstanding. And that's in no small part to Lam's focus that we upped skill skill levels across the board. We also hit rucks hard and in numbers. Less pens given away in attack.

We;re going in the right direction

connachtexile wrote: You could tell from the way the saracens players were cheering at the final whistle that they knew they had being in a game. Great going lads!

And Farrell kicking the drop goal