A lot is being made of having no defence coach. I've had a look at the other 3 provincial websites and neither Munster or Leinster have a defence coach. In fact Penney doubles up as scrum coach at Munster and o Connor doubles up as backs coach at Leinster. Anscombe doubles up as forwards coach AFAIK.
Yes his backs coach arrived late but he hired him and did so knowing that he wouldn't arrive til now so IRS no excuse. Some of the old guard Connacht fans are not used to critisism at this level and struggle to accept that the new fan, who outnumber them, demands more for his/her money. That IMO is a good thing because accepting defeat as collateral damage of a new coach bedding in is ridiculous. This is pro sport and you are judged on results . At the start of the season we had a prediction thread and I said at that time that Connacht needed to win 2 out of the Munster, Leinster, ulster, Glasgow and ospreys home games as well as winning the other 6 home games. That had to be the level of results given the investment and progress made to date . The bulk of this team have fininshed 8th twice in a row in this league
Questions have to be asked of the coach.

Haven't scored in the 2nd half in 6 of our 11 games I make out. Shocking

Parks at least would keep us ticking over with a DG here and there last season. Seems to be instructed not to do so this year? Haven't seen him attempt barely any.

Another major worry we have, and there is a shite load of them, is what we are going to do at 10 next year. Agree with the lads that this is a season too far for Parks and Lams game plan, for what its worth, doesn't suit him.

None of the other lads have shown enough so we are going to have to bring someone in, Parks is on big money so we should have cash to spend (even that's a worry though with crowds falling and sponsors finishing), even if we do have cash what quality self respecting NIQ 10 is going to sign for us the way things are?

Sears pulled a major rabbit out of the hat getting Clarke to replace Macca last year but things are worse this time around and we've gone backwards faster than Rodney in the old days, on and off the pitch.

Borders no.2 wrote:
There is some knee-jerking but I think anyone who has watched Connacht this season has seen a result like this coming. I too have held the view that Lam needs to be judged on the full season but unless this slide is arrested quickly we'll be back to the bad old days very quickly.

It is an away game but I hate that attitude. The mentality of the team shouldn't be home and away, it should be that we turn up every week regardless of the venue or opposition and put in a performance. After years of painful hammerings on the road I thought we'd got beyond the stage where it was damaged limitation on the road even against teams in the bottom half of the league. We've gone to three venues where we got 10 points last season and returned with 12, 20 and 33 point defeats. Sorry but no excuses that's not good enough.

I understand your attitude but there is a difference between playing at home and away, otherwise going to Paris and London wouldn't be such a hard task for successive Irish teams down the years. The reality is its harder to win away. Having said that Conn have beat teams away and lost to them at home - the only consistency is inconsistency.

Systems take time to bed in but there was a decent basis in place from Eric's time which we haven't built on. Certainly defensively I just don't see a system at the moment or I don't see anything developing that would suggest we won't have teams running in simple tries against us for the rest of the season. That was my motivation for starting this thread. Until we make ourselves hard to beat again, the other stuff is pie in the sky.

Outside of the defensive system I disagree that there was a decent basis left by Elwood, I remember a heck of a lot of aimless garryowens, kicks missing the line, box kicks to relieve pressure that no one chased. However you make some good points about the Dragons and I think what's clear there is the team are all on the same page, Connacht are not right now.
Until a few weeks ago there was no backs and skills coach, that means either someone else was doubling up their work load (whether it be Lam, Parks, or one of the academy coaches) or it was simply being ignored for the most part. There is no defense coach - while a head coach should in theory be able to implement a defense system there's a reason none of the other teams go without a specialist in this area.

To answer the topic question, what I'd like to see done is the team strengthen the set piece and use the lineout more regularly - scrum has already improved a lot but neither are being used consistently as a weapon. Mauls are becoming more common, Connacht have had the capacity to do it well for a few seasons now but use it very sporadically. I remember a game against the Blues where at least two tries came from rolling mauls but then Parks turned it around for them in the second half and they won, the maul hasn't been used consistently enough since then imo (I'm talking aiming for at least one try a game from mauls level of consistency).


I think rossie and salsmon are right about Parks, at any rate I can't see him continuing on after this season so he needs to be used sparingly and mainly off the bench as I think many of us initially thought he would be. One of Ronaldson, Nikora or Carty will have to be our starting 10 next season one way or the other.

As long as Parks is our ten teams know he is not a breaking threat in the middle of the field and that allows them to fan out and defend wide. It seems to me (and I may be way off) that the attacking system Lam is trying to implement depends on a 10 who can play flat and use a sexton loop type move that keeps teams guessing or attack the line either making yards or offloading late. Ronaldson could do that at ail level but its not clear if he can now. Whenever connacht have looked threatening this season Parks has been playing very flat, but he's not capable of doing it for a whole game without reverting to type. Marmion also offers this breaking threat but often becomes isolated.

Following from this I'd like to see the backs consistently chasing any and all kicks and breaks, it seemed at the start of the season that this had improved, but perhaps because of a lack of confidence has already trailed off? Regardless players need to compete all the time. Poolman and Healy are great for this.

It seems to me that the most successful and consistent teams have a very clear plan for what happens at the breakdown/rucks. Ireland seemed to be implementing Leinster's previous system of support players rucking over the tackled player and setting up so the ball could not be turned over by NZ for instance and was extremely effective. Connacht always seem quite haphazard at the breakdown, Henshaw is as likely to try clearing out as Swift, its just a mess at times. This might also go some way to clearing up the defensive system as often players are sucked into the ruck or don't know what to do after the turnover inevitably happens and the opposition make up ground quickly as a result.

One other thing I want to say about last night's result, without trying to absolve it, is that if the shoe was on the other foot and if Connacht had won by scoring 21 points in the final 7-8 minutes, would we believe the team had turned a corner and were ready to challenge for play off positions?

You make a good comparison between ROG and Dan. They are similar type players. I would argue that out halves are confidence players and both were/have been moved outside their comfort zones in the latter stages of their careers by new kiwi coaches.

ROG really struggled up until the HEC qtr final at the stoop. POC came back into the Munster team for that game and IMO ROG and POC decided enough of this nonsense. They went back to what Munster are good at. They played with high, intensity and controlled aggression, beat up the quoins pack and ROG played the corners. When we got in their half we scored. It was vintage Munster rugby and a joy to watch.

When Connacht are playing well they play a similar game. IMO Buckley was a key player in those performances. He won dirty ball, carried and supported well. Ditto JHW, macca and willy. Some of these have been or are injured/dropped and macca is gone but their replacements in wilko, henry, Clark and Heenan are good players.

As Leinster learned you have got to do the hard graft and win the battle up front before you even think of cutting loose the girls out theback. As iI said on a different thread iI wwouldn't get rid of lam but I would bring in a DOR above him. Its not working and its vital for a club at Connacht stage of development that its fixed quickly.

I'm with Darragh and Rossie here: how talented is the squad.

How many of these players would get in the Leinster team? 2, Clarke and Marmion.

How many would make the bench? Henshaw, probably Heenan, Rodney at a push.

The notion that we have quality in every position is rot.

As was pointed out we are weak through the spine of the team. Hooker we're well served at, but George has been mostly poor at 8 and McKeon's been injured. At times playing Mul there has been genuinely the best option available.

At 10 Parks is finished. Let's not have any nonsense about Lam's tactics not suiting him, he has no leg strength left, he can't kick from distance, his accuracy - even kicking from closer in - has been poor, his general tactical kicking is worse than last year and his 10 drop goals of last season are a distant memory. There's no shame in this, the guy is 35 and has played 14 seasons of professional football. Look how fast O'Gara went downhill when Father Time finally caught up with him (yes Rossie, ROG was way better, but they're comparable in physique and style at least).

Our second choice 10 is injured and our 3rd choice has 2 professional starts at 10 behind him.

Duffy is finished too; our international standard 15 is playing at 13 on IRFU orders.

We are playing 10s and 13s at first centre etc. etc.

This is not to excuse Lam BTW - Edinburgh should not score 3 tries against us in 7 minutes unless armed with shotguns and machetes.

I think a bit of realism is called for, i keep hearing the word 'talented' being bandied about as if we have a team full potential great players. The reality is we have only 1 player currently on the fringes of international selection. Every team we come up against week in week out has at least 1 current International and most have many. So why would we try to outplay these teams when we can't compete, the strategy is wrong and that's clear from this woeful losing run.

to use Sean O'Brien's phrase in the run-up to the New Zealand game we need to summon the madness,it's a shame that we don't have a Ray Ofisa in the team to implement a game plan where you disrupt a better team instead of trying to outplay them.

What about the good doctor Phil Pretorius?

He has Corinthians playing very good rugby and has the super rugby experience as a head coach.

It goes on.
Last week it was heresy to suggest Lam sohould go. It's funny how a 40 point beating by an extremely Edinburgh team could do. Imagine what they might have done had Visser been playing.

I read here that we're shite on the road. We're shite at home too! Losing to Scarlets FFS!

Lam must go. He's a jonah. Look at his record at Auckland before parting company with them. Nice bloke, but it's time to go. Or do we wait until we've a W1 L21 end of season record?

No CEO, no defence coach, crap on the field. It can't get any lower. Make the change now. We could do worse than EOS, and I never thought I'd hear myself saying that!

Trying to be objective here although I am 100% in the camp that wants Lam out but thought I'd list the pros and cons under Lam so far, feel free to add

Pros
Heenan - great signing and down to Lam
Rodney - improved from previous years, might be more down to Dan McF and being a late developer though
New contracts - Marmion, Henshaw, Falloon, Healey (another positive) all sign up, hope they honour those contracts though as they may be having second thoughts now!
Now I'm struggling ..........

Cons
Captaincy - 3 captains, one who said he didn't want to do it, we're told Clarke won't be captain in his first year, oh and now he is
Game plan - run it from everywhere, try and pass our way through well organised sides rather than look at the players and strengths we have and work around that
Soaialo - another Lam pick, knew him from Samoa, so why didn't he know that feck off home after a few weeks, have to be smarter when filling our NIQ spots, came with an iffy record Lam should have known better
Young talents ignored - Buckley, TOH, Kearney all ignored by and large, don't be surprised to see them out the door soon. Griff already on the way out, who else will follow?
Score early then nothing - too many games when we have gone 50, 60,70 minutes without scoring
Results - one word, appalling. Getting beat by teams we should and have beaten, bottom of the table, two wins all year and both against Zebre

I am depressing myself even more now so will leave it at that but I'm sure there is plenty more I could add

Totally agree with some of the aforementioned comments. It seems that Mr Lam expected far too much before assessing the capabilities of each player. Every game is littered with players making schoolboy mistakes, falling down on the very basics, and getting refs off side. All the good work that was achieved last year has gone down the drain. The coach would do himself a favour by watching some of the great games put together by Connacht last year, and how the team went about securing memorable victories. The coach has a solid record with other teams, but Connacht players are not responding to him. Dan Parks' best games have always revolved around kicking. Whether that be astute line kicking, field goals, penalties, and converting tries. The 10's that have been used don't know if they are coming or going, and appear at times to be restricted, (perhaps by game plans). Any wonder their confidence looks to be down at times. On for 45 minutes or so, then off. At this stage, it might be beneficial if Connacht concentrated on defence, taking points whenever they're offered, and getting the basics of the game right.

Of course there are limitations but we aren't even coming close to reaching those limitations. We won the most games we ever did last year and I don't think the league has moved on that much over one summer. A summer in which I think our squad actually strengthened (or at least didn't get weaker) I know some of the other teams have improved and I think its fair to acknowledge that but as I say contrast the Dragons last season to this season its like night and day. They have their limitations but they make the most of the squad at their disposal.

We have decent quality in every position. Maybe a bit of guidance missing

everyone blaming lam, but i really really think most of the players are just not up to it.

the league and game has moved on a lot.

most of these guys seem to like the idea of being a professional rugby player, but any half decent, say poorly coached, team of professionals shouldn't be as shit as these are. even the shitty italians are doing okish....

The spine of the team we are pretty weak more often than not.

2, 8, 10, 15

I don't think any coach can do much with these players. There are real natural limitations.

phatguerilla wrote: Lots of knees jerking here but the reality is the same points made before the game still hold up afterwards - Lam needs to be judged on the basis of a full season. Everyone's hurting after losing a game that was won last year but that doesn't take away from the fact that its still an away game. Yes there are questions to be asked but saying the backs coach is here now so everything should be fixed up - how long has he been here, three weeks? Skills, gameplan, defensive strategies take a season to bed in. I'm not here to claim there have been no mistakes made because there have been a few and I've had my say on them before but this sort of reaction has been consistent the last few seasons and it doesn't help in any way.

There is some knee-jerking but I think anyone who has watched Connacht this season has seen a result like this coming. I too have held the view that Lam needs to be judged on the full season but unless this slide is arrested quickly we'll be back to the bad old days very quickly.

It is an away game but I hate that attitude. The mentality of the team shouldn't be home and away, it should be that we turn up every week regardless of the venue or opposition and put in a performance. After years of painful hammerings on the road I thought we'd got beyond the stage where it was damaged limitation on the road even against teams in the bottom half of the league. We've gone to three venues where we got 10 points last season and returned with 12, 20 and 33 point defeats. Sorry but no excuses that's not good enough.

Systems take time to bed in but there was a decent basis in place from Eric's time which we haven't built on. Certainly defensively I just don't see a system at the moment or I don't see anything developing that would suggest we won't have teams running in simple tries against us for the rest of the season. That was my motivation for starting this thread. Until we make ourselves hard to beat again, the other stuff is pie in the sky.

Contrast us with Dragons, Dragons pitched up at the Sportsground last January and I honestly thought they were as bad a professional team as had ever visited Galway. We finished a long way ahead of them last season and they shipped some bad beatings but they made a couple of good signings and brought in a new coaching team and they are back to being a dogged, resilient outfit who you'll earn anything you get off them. They'll get in your face defensively, compete strongly at set pieces and make life hard at the breakdown. They are now at the level we should be at but at the moment we are the opposite to Dragons. We are shipping ridiculously soft tries, the breakdown has been a disaster which was an area I expected us to improve in. Some areas like the lineout have improved but overall I come out of every game this season thinking that there is a few players who have done ok but there is no structure.

Lam had plenty of talk about how important it was to be tight as a group but Connacht don't look like a team in any shape or form at present.

I was a regular attender at SG that season and it was depressing as hell. You could see why it was going wrong though which helped. Rodney was TH and couldn't scrummage, Murphy at 9 didn't give a sh**, NOC was 2 leagues above his level at 10 and couldn't kick a goal to save his life and noone could play with henry.
Now there is a good scrum and lineout, a decent 9 and 10 and probably the best set of backs ever?