I have sympathy for anyone playing outside Frank Murphy last night. It's hard to criticise Parks when he's constantly being put under some much pressure from his own scrum-half. Having said that his cross field kick for the Munster try was crazy. He actually did something similar against the Dragons and got away with it. I still like the fact that I knew he'd get the conversion at the end for the bonus point. There have been so many unreliable Connacht kickers over the years, I'm reluctant to call for Parks to be dropped. I agree with many on here though, he needs to be used more sparingly.

On a positive note, the move to score the try at the end was excellent and that's two weeks running we finished strongly to claim points. It's not something that we has been good at in the past so it's good to see.

I know I'm doing intervention in counter-current, but I really found Muldoon more than ok at openside, and I'm not worried anymore waiting Heenan comeback.. Young Kearney and Buckley were good too

Very easy to point the blame at the officials, true it wasnt Dudlys best game but overall it prob balanced out.

Munster are very cute at ruck time. They constantly disrupt the opposition usually illegally but rarely get caught, it's a joy to behold when you want them to win but an absolute curse when you are playing them. It's street smarts like this that are missing from Connacht.

Sorry frank but you were dire tonight, and Dan wasn't far behind, there may. We'll be a wealth of experience being passed on behind the scenes but on the pitch it's not happening and at the end of the day that's what you are paid to do. Gavin sad to say but your star is on the wane as well.

Nikora won't be back until the end of jan, he's not my cup of tea but I wouldn't mind giving him a run in this new set up , otherwise we have to blood the youth.

I think that Dan has run his course, yes a big influence and a great help, but on the pitch it's as if his heart isn't in it. We need a decent 10.

I'm under the impression that marmion couldn't start tonight as he was in the Irish camp, the difference when he came on was huge .

Munster disrupt and annoy the opposition, but don't allow the opposition to do the same to them. Once they have the ball they go about there business, we allowed them to disrupt us and then let it upset us, we need to learn not to do this.

It's a lbp, but been honest there was a win there for the taking, it was a 2nd string squad and yes we are missing a few key players but we are lacking in line breakers.

A frustrating game to watch , yet again.

I have little to add on comments already, except I didn't think the ref was that bad, and don't agree that as an IRFU one he was biased. I also agree that we need to give the other 10s some game time.

I was surprised at how poor Henshaw was. He is a FB, he is not a 13, maybe he will become one, but he will cost Connacht a lot of points by then and he has not showed that he is learning.

On the play before the Munster try there was a 3 on 3, Murphy was Healey's man who lined him up to cut inside, all Henshaw had to do was hold the line marking the inside runner, but he was impetuous and took out Murphy who offloaded inside and the move led to the ruck and consequent try. Equally against Dragons he was a shooter and missed his tackle. Similarly against Australia he missed his man though it would be harsh to blame him solely as he was one of a few missed tackles. Tonight He also gave a soft penalty with an unnecessary high tackle. He reads a game better from FB, I don't ever see him as a 13, and he will lose confidence as a player if they persist.

Really disappointing stuff yet again against Munster. No fluidity, half backs were terrible, just awful. Carty has to be given a run at this stage. Parks is no longer up to playing 80mins week in week out. Is POD injured? If he's not then it really brings the coaches judgment into question in playing Murphy. He was very poor. Iv'e heard a lot of hype around James Cronin, but he needs to cut out the Dylan Hartleyesue sh1te. Thought he was owned by White when he was on. Our front row was much better imo.

connachtexile wrote: James Cronin is going to find himself with a nasty reputation he will find hard to shake if he continues with the crap he pulled tonight and last week. Someone ought to have a talk with the boy and tell him he's doing his career harm with this cheap shot rubbish.

As for Murphy agreed he's terrible. End of.

Whats very worrying is the fact our knowledgeable coaching team relegated POD who wasn't doing bad to bring him in.

James Cronin is going to find himself with a nasty reputation he will find hard to shake if he continues with the crap he pulled tonight and last week. Someone ought to have a talk with the boy and tell him he's doing his career harm with this cheap shot rubbish.

As for Murphy agreed he's terrible. End of.

As far as positives go, last year we were nilled in this fixture and this time we got a lbp. Its not much but its still progress. At the same time that was a fairly average munster team with no real good individual performances on their part, maybe jj accepted. Cronin is a good prop but a bit of a dirty cunt, some people say you need a bit of that in a team but he seemed to take much too much pleasure in it.

Agree on Duffy, Murphy and Parks but the latter is being asked to play 80 minutes week in week out when its been clear since last year he's not got the capacity for it any more. Carty should be able to start against Zebre whether in the heine or rabo with Marmion taking pressure off him as decision maker if necessary.

I thought after the first 10 minutes that Connacht were going to really dominate in the scrum and then out of nowhere the decisions seemed to become more and more arbitrary, as was issues in the lineout. In the end the ref lost his bottle and lost control of a game that didn't have to be so scrappy but fell apart in the second half.

Thoughts from tonight...

Bonus point loss, is a two fingers to the IRFU. They want us to get nothing...ever..
IRFU have no interest in seeing Connacht win, ever and the appointments of IRFU ref's backs that up. But seeing as there are no Connacht Refs on the panel we are as much to blame, and as bad as Phillip's was tonight we then proceeded to gift a really Munster team the win.

Fionn Carr has had his Mojo surgically removed by his sojourn back with Leinster, for the love of god Pat tell the lad to back himself and tell the lads to back him backing himself. He's one of the best attacking backs in the country and he looks terrified to try anything...

Frank Murphy shouldn't have had a contract this season, end of. With one leg even Paul O'Donohue is miles better and especially in a battle like it was going to be tonight. He basically stripped the backline of any confidence for the first fifty minutes the few times he actuallyt managed to get the ball out. Marmion did more right in his first minute than Murphy did in fifty!

Nathan White should enjoy the bench for the next couple of weeks for that indiscipline tonight, the blokes supposed to be a leader and what he did tonight given the circumstances at the time was utter bulls**t...

Pat Lam - FYI in the Inter-pro's you pick our best 15 to start, we do not win Inter-pro's from a losing position, ever.....

Losing bonus point to paper over the cracks. Fair play to the lads for keeping going until the end at least. Really though that was a very average Munster side. Not many of that pack would be near a Munster 23 for any type of serious game.

I really hope that's the last we've seen of Frank Murphy in a Connacht jersey. He shouldn't have been near the team in the first place and had a huge part to play for Munster. Why Marmion or POD wasn't starting I can't understand. Parks should be consigned to a role on the bench at this stage. Kicked his goals well but apart from that was very poor. We have little to play for in the league. What's the worst that can happen with Carty (or when he returns Ronaldson) at out half, we lose a couple of games, it doesn't really matter, at least he'd be getting experience. Whatever we have to do to get a quality out half for next season we have to do it. I have huge time for Gavin Duffy but again lets bring something new to full back.

We showed when Marmion came on and kept the ball in hand that we can play some good stuff but it was too little too late at that stage. Indiscipline was prevalent again tonight on the Connacht side. At key junctures discipline let us down. I don't think the officials helped the game either though in fairness. Also, if we're going to play a kicking game it needs to be a lot smarter than we showed this evening or in most matches, far too many aimless kicks and not just from Parks.

At least they took the loosing bonus point but there are no positives to be taken from that crap. On the other hand Munster need not take anything either it was a brutal game which lost all resemblance to rugby.

Duffy and Murphy getting contract extensions will greatly assist my decision to renew my ST next season, it's time to utilise some of the young talent that we have at our disposal!!

Man heffo

Murphy has no business being near that side disastrous! marmion has made such a difference, if POD is being overlooked even an academy player like marcus walsh would be a million times better, philips is one of the worst ref's i have ever seen. So many unacceptable stupid plays from terrible kicking from duffy and healy to lose passes to nathan white reacting to a pat on the head. That cant be tolerated gifted munster most of their points. Barely saw henshaw get the ball in the 13 channel all night parks hasnt brought his centres into play at all and his kick length isnt good. Very poor all over so far.

Heffernan is a real ireland prospect, i will put money on it. carty should be getting more game time

19-9.

In an Irish context, even in amongst this dross Earls looks poor. As for Marmion coming on we saw the same nonsense with McCarthy last year, bringing him on when the game was out of our reach. Either we want to get a result or we don't. This messing benefits nobody.

Marmion adds a spark!