I wouldn't be surprised if Lam hadn't already planned on naming Clarke match captain but he wanted him to get his feet under himself first. New country, new team, just getting over an injury, Lam might not have wanted to give him one more responsibility right off the bat. I imagine if Muldowney is given the start alongside Clarke against Treviso, he's probably earned it and Swifty picked-up a bit of a knock against the Ospreys, that Lam will name Clarke captain rather than going to Muldoon or Duffy.

rossie wrote: Clarke has presence also. Everyone knows who he is and what he's achieved including the refs. Someone made a comparison to POC and I think he can have a similar impact. Give him the armband surround him with our best young players and let him get on with it.

Agree completely, I see it as progression. We have a player of the calibre of Clarke in our ranks, lets utilise it to the full. He is a player that commands real respect, he showed commitment by just coming here. He is the stand out candidate, Lam knows it too and should not be afraid of upsetting anyone by naming him Captain.

Clarke has presence also. Everyone knows who he is and what he's achieved including the refs. Someone made a comparison to POC and I think he can have a similar impact. Give him the armband surround him with our best young players and let him get on with it.

difference between captains and leaders lads. The captain doesn't have to be the one doing the talking and geeing up of the players. That's down to whoever IMO. The captain is the one that is talking to the ref, have little talks here and there "watch them doing this sir", "can you tell me why that was given sir?", stuff like that. The captain is also the one that makes game time decisions of going for scrum/shot at goal etc. Swifty isn't that and never was. Mul can be, but like Swifty is better when just concentrating on his own game. While Mul, Swifty and Gav might be leaders, they are not captains. I've said it at the start of the season it is White or Clarke for me.

swift4prez wrote: First of all i thought you were talking about the tv show

It's an homage....no plagarism here I'm sure :blink:

dont be fooled by the (c) around someones name in the team sheet or by who runs out first onto the pitch, its Clarke and Parks making the decisions

This is the crux of the problem though, everyone down to their actual team mates looks to Clarke or Parks for leadership, but when its time to talk to the ref, Clarke would be shooed away in favour of swift, muldoon or duffy who for the reasons everyone has outlined just don't have the capacity to fulfill that role. I also think that its important for younger players to see that whoever is their captain is the one leading, rather than having a leader seemingly undermining the role of captain. When others make speeches or act in a way that shows leadership that's a bonus, as long as the captain is already fulfilling the role of captain.

I thought Browne, White or Harris-wright on the outside were all captain options, and Marmion too in a year or two. I was against Clarke becoming captain the moment he stepped off the plane, but if its already clear that the team see him as their leader then just make it official imo, it would take pressure off the three club captains and see Clarke increase his role on the pitch.

getting players to play in a particular position for their club in preference for their future Ireland position has not worked for other players, right now Henshaw is a fullback and should be played in that position for Connacht regardless. you only have to look at Earls and Fitzgerald to see that it does not work, touted as Ireland centres they both failed in that position for club and country.

as far as Captain I'd prefer either Clarke or White, i remember a game last year where White calmly talked to the Ref about a decision and a few plays later the Ref seemed to make up for his poor decision by giving us a soft penalty in our favour.

I'm not sure Kearney is nailed on though. His defence is very poor.

rossie wrote: Griffin is a 13 IMO and should play there. Henshaw offers so much more than gav at fb that he simply has to return there. Just because he played 13 in school doesn't mean he has to now. He has been excellent at fullback for Connacht and got into Ireland squad on back of those performances . Give him a chance to make the team!

No question on Griffin. But if the Ireland management view Henshaw as a possible replacement for BOD he won't be playing 15 much. Also if Rob Kearnashian is nailed on at 15 for the next 3 years then maybe Henshaw would rather play at 13... who knows?

Griffin is a 13 IMO and should play there. Henshaw offers so much more than gav at fb that he simply has to return there. Just because he played 13 in school doesn't mean he has to now. He has been excellent at fullback for Connacht and got into Ireland squad on back of those performances . Give him a chance to make the team!

Browne was back in the team and was excellent at 6. Henshaw is coming along at centre. Buckley will struggle to get back in the team. Wilkinson game Adam Jones a horrible time and was excellent round the park, though obviously not a ball carrier like Buckley.

If you added McSharry and McKeon at 12 and 8 you'd really improve the team. McSharry is supposedly back for Saracens, anyone hear any update on McKeon's injury?

The players who took the game to the opposition last season were Buckley, jhw, Browne and Fallon in the forwards and Marion, he Shaw and mcsharry at the back. Jhw and willie are now injured. We haven't seen Buckley yet and Browne is in and out of the team. He Shaw is out of position, mcshaz injured and Marmion struggling to reach last seasons levels
The players above are now the core of the team. Add in the experience of white, Clarke, george , parks etc but the young guys are the engine now.

First of all i thought you were talking about the tv show

agree. Pat said that they sat down and worked out what 'A Connacht Man' was a looked like and the 3 names that kept coming up was swift, muldoon duffy. there all true but that does make good captains. I dont mind where the captain is from, i expect Clarke to be captain. i know others here werent to happy to have a guy land here and be captain straight away.

swift doesnt seem to get refs to listen to him.
muldoon said he didnt want it.
duffy is not a starter at fullback apart from id guess, IRFU trying henshaw at 13. anyways full back is way to far from the action. if i remember correctly, duffy was the only Back as a captain last season apart from greg laidlaw, edinburghs outhalf!?

around the 60th min, when KM scored the try, before that we got a penalty 20metres out, clarke made it clear that they wanted to go for a lineout. we were 10points down and standing very close to eric elwood, he said, take 3 points for LBP. they didnt and scored a try.

another time in the second half, parks kicked from half way into the corner, walking down to the lineout, parks and clarke had a huge conversation, could only see parks face but i thought he'd explode, not sure if he wasnt happy with some thing or trying to get his point across.

dont be fooled by the (c) around someones name in the team sheet or by who runs out first onto the pitch, its Clarke and Parks making the decisions

When I initially heard it I did not read into it too much. I know in the original announcement it was said that they were the three club captains and game captains would also be chosen. This clearly has not happened. I thought at the time making them club captain was a thank you gesture to the three stalwarts and did not think they would actually be captain on game
day.

We all saw Clarke was the one people turned to. When he was out of action against Zebre it was White who was leading the team talks. I don't actually see the captains doing the talking. I think the three captains lead the team out and that is about it.

The problem is, the captain is the one who has to talk to the referee. Connacht have had a problem for years with referees. We have never been able to play them and find ourselves on the wrong side more often than not. I don't think Swifty is the person to talk to the refs. He is passionate and gives everything. But you need someone with a cool head, to talk at the right time and to say the right things. I remember Alain Roland saying John Smit was the best captain in the world at communicating and planting a seed in the refs brain that he would look out for.

Gavin running from fullback to talk has proven not to work. The referee does not want to wait around for him to come up to give out to a forward.

In short, I think it has failed. We have natural leaders in White and Clarke. I know Clarke has said he has to earn it, but in my opinion White is the man who should be our captain.

I realise the season is only young, but has the three captains experiment failed already? Many who attended the ospreys game said everyone turned to Clarke for leadership on the field. Duffy was average to poor especially in the failed tackle on Walker, Swift is not an 80 minute man any more and Muldoon has said he finds the captaincy a burden (not an exact quote). None of these three players have actually shown real consistent leadership on the field in terms of being assertive, making decisions and ordering their teammates to follow them, or being able to regroup the team after a score by the opponents and reassert the game plan.

In a few months time and as new signings or younger players continue to grow none of these three will be guaranteed a start.I get that as the three elder statesmen of connacht rugby Lam chose these guys as a connection with the past, but is that good enough?