Well,

was this the masterplan that Pat alluded to or did he have a sneak peek at some of the previous comments here and decide to listen to the fans?

Certainly Ashton said at the end that Sarries had been practicing playing against a running game all week, and McCall seemed to echo those comments that Sarries were surprised to see us kick so much.

If it was a calculated gamble by Pat to dupe Sarries and get another big scalp, then he almost pulled it off. If he just finally saw sense, at least he's willing to change a losing formula.

Either way, well done Pat and the lads, a performance to be proud of and very nearly a result too. Keep doing the same for the rest of the season, and we'll soon be getting a few wins and climbing off the foot of the table

Barry

It was an awkward comment and I would think Pat Lam did not intend it the way it came across in any way. He is not stupid and I think it was a crack at media more than anyone else.

I think he needs more time and the whole operation need more time. There has been one hell of a transition this year in players and in back room staff.

We have seen

Director of Rugby
CEO
Back coach
Defence coach?

Seasoned pack leaders like Mike McCarthy and Johnny O Connor move on.

Imagine that happening to Munster or Ulster for example?

So i say this squad needs time and we have also been extremely unlucky with injuries and more perhaps yesterday.

One thing that also seems to be happening in parallel is the quality of the league is improving.

I still think in time, a think tank of Pat Lam and Craig Clarke can do some good here. They have been winners. They can not be miracle workers though and we need to understand that also. This is not the Harlem Globetrotters or the All Blacks.

My own personal feeling in the stuff I have seen so far is a lot of the players must assume responsibility directly. it is not Pat Lam that misses umpteen tackles in a game, or kicks at goal we have to get, or throws an intercept try, etc.

These players are given every opportunity in the world to be all they can be. I fear more than we want to admit to are just not up to the standard that is now required.

How many would start in another province for example?

We were perhaps deluding ourselves if we expected a sea parting.

So I think we don't blame the coach here. He will find his way...

Got to agree with tomsauce, I have seen nothing to make me think we are going to go anywhere under Lam other than backwards. He's got a better squad (and before anyone says it we always seem to have a load of injuries every year so that's no different) good players look lost playing under him - Gav, George, Parks, and we are playing headless rugby that is getting us nowhere.

Someone mentioned on another thread about worrying about us facing a perfect storm with losing big money, H Cup on the way out etc., I have to agree. I think I'm right in saying the Mazda deal ends this season, how the hell are we going to get a new sponsor for the big money we need when we are serving up the current shite and no H Cup next year? I for one am worried and I don't think its too early to start panicking with everything that's going on. They'll be trying to get sponsors on board now and the lads out of contract will be starting to look at their options, Griff, TOH, Willie and a few others. Its not looking good however you want to look at it

I see nothing to make me believe we are going in the right direction. Our performances have been woeful this season and a blind man can see our tactics don't suit us.

I agree a balance needs to be found in our style of play. I was very critical of the tactic last season of Parks hoofing it high with our centres chasing. It was completely ineffective and rubbish to watch.

I do believe though that when Duffy gets the ball at full back he should either look for touch or counter-attack with a garryowen.

Generally though, it doesn't matter what we think here. Lam wants to run from everywhere and it's not going to work for us. We have no defensive structure whatsoever. His management so far has been embarrassing.

Welcome on board Barry.

Agree with a lot of what you say there.

I think a balance between both games would make a lot of sense. I, for one, don't want to go back to the hoofing of the ball at every given opportunity which characterized much of last year's play. Equally this running from everywhere isn't the answer either. I think we'll need a while to get a proper balance between the two.

Haven't lost hope yet though!

First post on this forum, hello all.

I couldn't agree more with most of what has been said already. Last night's performance is the worst I have seen in years of following Connacht.

Constantly trying to play the ball from our own try line is suicidal. Even the best teams in the world know how to play the percentages, play for territory, get the ball to hell out of danger when required. Frankly, we are far from being one of the best teams in the world, and need to be getting the ball to areas where the opposition can't hurt us.

I can only recall 2 kicks from deep last night. Every other time we got the ball we tried to run through Treviso. And all that does is cost us cheap points, especially on a night where I thought the ref was a little bit whistle-happy. The first try was farcical, especially when we had already conceded a 5 meter scrum in the first half when Gavin played an inexplicable pass into the corner on his own try line with the blindside of the ruck well covered. In previous seasons, that ball would have been sent well clear of danger, so it's clearly coming from the coaches that we have to run at all costs - it's NOT working.

Salmson said earlier that our scrum and lineout is working better than before. All the more reason that we should be playing for territory and playing the game in the opposition's half. In Dan Parks we have a reliable kicker who will pick up points given opportunities. He won't get those opportunities if all the penalties we are awarded are in our own half. Especially if we persist with the tap penalties and running straight at the opposition.

Last night was a shambles. Like most Connacht fans, I am realistic, I don't expect us to go out and get bonus point wins week on week, but even I can see that the way we are playing this season is suicidal rugby. Sort it out Lam........

Barry

Today it's unaaceptable to lose 2 tries to nil away to a Treviso side who win most of their home games. Not much more than three years ago it was acceptable to get ridden ten tries to nil by Scarlets.

There are more bad than good nights with Connacht, and last night was one of the worst. But even if at times it seems glacial, we are going the right direction.

Agreed. Need I remind people that last year we lost something like 13 games in a row? We went into this year with heightened expectations and it hasn't panned out so far. It's taking Lam a while to get into the rhythm of N.H. Rugby and it is a learning curve for him with a new team as well. While he deserves criticism for the article I'm not giving up on him at this stage.

First of all, I'm not going to try to defend Lam's interview during the week. I thought it was cack-handed and his first (admittedly major) PR mis-step.

But let's look at it from the coach's and players' point-of-view. The attendances thus far have been (in terms of how punters through the gate rather than tickets sold) have been 2000-2500 for Zebre, about 3000 for Ulster, and under 2000 for Ospreys. Apart from Ospreys the atmosphere has been funereal.

So we supporters haven't covered ourselves in glory either.

In addition, while there is no question that the team is disjointed, and at times a shambles, there are bright spots: the scrum and lineout are functioning far better than last year, and we look like we have some attacking threat.

Lastly, I saw someone posting that we'd be better going back to up-and-unders for Gav like last year. Ignoring the fact that Gav was injured or off form for much of last year and the garryowens were aimed at Henshaw, I recall an Elwood out thread of several million posts centred round that very tactic.

Today it's unaaceptable to lose 2 tries to nil away to a Treviso side who win most of their home games. Not much more than three years ago it was acceptable to get ridden ten tries to nil by Scarlets.

There are more bad than good nights with Connacht, and last night was one of the worst. But even if at times it seems glacial, we are going the right direction.

When I read your post I thought you might be being harsh then I read what he said and when he said it - before last nights f***in shambles.

I agree totally with the comments on here and Lam would do well to remember that the team are nothing without the supporters. Saying the people who matter know we are ok, the players and us is an insult - what about the people who pay out each week to watch the shite that we are being served up?! We have gone backwards and in a big way so far under Lam and he needs to do something abut it quick before he loses any support he still has.

The tactics are shite, running the ball from under the posts every time when you have got a strong line out, for fecks sake we had Clarke, Muldowney, Browne and George all starting last night, how about playing to your strengths?! Selection has been a revolving door, so has the captaincy shambles. It aint good enough, maybe this is what we get when we get out 3rd or 4th choice?

Lam has got a better squad then we had last year and has been here plenty long enough to get the lads playing better than the shite we are seeing now, sort it out and stop pissing off the people who really matter!

I agree 100% with this thread. As _nobody_ said, it's the stupidity that criminal. I can accept we will play against teams that are superior to us but Treviso weren't good tonight either. In a game full of errors territory is everything. We didn't look to play for territory at all.

As Borders said, Eric had his ups and downs but I always knew we were capable of beating anyone (or losing to anyone). I always had hope. I was never as pessimistic as I am now and I believe Eric never had a squad this strong. Lam can talk shite all he wants but the team is a shambles and he's in charge.

That was awful shite tonight. Not good enough Mr Lam. Not good enough.

Agree with you. That article really annoyed me. We will all stick by Connacht but playing stupid rugby, like trying to run from their own 22, is criminal!

I think it is time for some reality and it does hurt. We are not a good team anymore. We signed a lot of good players this year but on the pitch it is a step backwards. I would support Connacht to the end of the earth but it is getting harder. We are playing bad rugby and losing bad games.

It does not give us much of a leg to stand on in irfu negotiations!!

I may be a bit too pessimistic but it has been too long where we have accepted silly losses as being acceptable because we are Connacht. We are turning into a laughing stock.

Although lam may hold a lot of it the players also need to look at themselves, interest seems to be minimal especially from our big name players.

Independent.ie wrote: Pat Lam: The people who matter know we're on right track
AFTER all of the early-season optimism, there is something sadly familiar about Connacht as they head for Italy tonight.

The Westerners strengthened their squad in the summer, brought in Pat Lam as coach and talked big about building on the progress of the Eric Elwood era. Things were looking bright.

Now, as the evenings shorten, the season moves up a gear and Europe approaches, Connacht find themselves second from bottom of the Pro12 table with one win from four.

They are not alone – four other teams share their record, including tonight's opponents Treviso. It is early enough in the season not to panic; given all the changes there was always going to be a bedding-in period.

What makes the stuttering start worrying is the backdrop it is set against. The province's chief executive Tom Sears is departing after just over a year in the job, while they have had to go public on a budget over-run of €400,000.

While a few disappointing results don't make a crisis, the club could do with some good news from northern Italy tonight.

In seven days' time, Saracens become the latest big team from abroad to visit Galway on what have become trademark Heineken Cup nights out west.

Excitement

While the buzz and excitement levels will be high among the fans, Connacht will need to perform against a side who lead the English Premiership and are unbeaten after four games. The last thing Lam needs is to face Mark McCall's men on the back of four successive defeats.

Treviso may be one-from-four too, but while Connacht's sole win came over Zebre in round one, the Italians' win over Munster at home two weeks ago will fill them with confidence at a venue where they have lost just once – against Ospreys on opening day – in their last eight games.

Lam insists that he does not feel any pressure from fans to deliver a result after three losses in a row.

"My job is not to monitor the patience of the supporters. I know the true supporters out there know what we are trying to do and they are behind us," he said.

"I wouldn't be doing my job if I was worrying about what people's opinions are. My most important thing is to ensure that we are building each game.


"We see them all the time. I ran into lots after Ospreys and they said, 'keep your head up' and, 'you are on the right track'. The people that count know that. The players and us, we know where we are going."

The coach is deprived of one of his prime attacking assets as Robbie Henshaw is held back by the IRFU player management system.

Last season, when he was fresh out of school and relatively unknown, the Athlone native played 30 senior games, but now that he is an international and within the system, Connacht won't be able to call on him as often as they'd like.

James So'oialo's work permit has yet to come through and he is unavailable, and Lam must be frustrated by a growing list of inactive players that currently runs to 16.

South African Danie Poolman moves into the centre to replace Henshaw, with Tiernan O'Halloran joining Gavin Duffy and Fionn Carr in the back three.

Dan Parks returns alongside Paul O'Donohoe, who keeps Kieran Marmion on the bench.

Up front, Nathan White is kept in reserve as Ronan Loughney gets a chance at tighthead in a front-row that also includes Rodney Ah You and Sean Henry. They are sure to be targeted by Treviso's front-row.

While they may not be the most grizzled trio the Italian club have produced, Michele Rizzon, Enrico Ceccato and Alberto de Marchi will still want to test the mettle of their opposite numbers early on.

Others looking to get amongst the Connacht back-row will be the excellent Alessandro Zanni, who will give former Junior All Black captain Jake Heenan a good test.

"We know the level of physicality we can expect from them. For us, this week has been about improving the areas of our game which let us down last time out. It's all about progress and improvement and we need to keep forging ahead," Lam said.

The former Samoa coach is learning about his team by the week, and his knowledge of the snakepits along the Pro12 route will expand at Stadio di Monigo this evening.

A win in Italy would put Connacht in good stead ahead of their big step up against Saracens, but it looks beyond them.

Verdict: Home win

Read this in the paper today and it seriously p1ssed me off and it p1sses me off even more after that pathetic performance. Quotes from Lam like 'I know the true supporters out there know what we are trying to do and are behind us' really gall me.

It goes without saying the supporters are behind the team but from what I have seen to date Lam is leading this side on one track and its not the right one.

Regardless of anyone's views, every supporter puts their hard earned cash into following this side and are entitled to their opinion. Like many others I have supported Connacht for years and will continue supporting the team but its the supporters who will ultimately dictate whether Lam stays in his job and he wouldn't want to forget that. If this muck continues supporters and with it sponsors etc. will drift away.

I know I'll have 99% of people jumping down my throat (This is not a Lam Out thread before anyone starts hijacking it in such a way), after all it is only 5 games into the season and the season can only be fully judged at the end of the season but the early signs aren't good and I think Pat Lam would do well to show some respect towards the people who ultimately pay his wages.

Eric had his ups and his downs but you could be sure he'd always call a spade a spade and show respect for the supporters. Pat Lam would could learn a thing or two on that front.