Lads, we have to get real here, for all that Clancy/TMO were poor and Heaslip should have been carded that isn't why we lost the game. We were completely outplayed at the breakdown (remember this is a team coached by a once fine back row player), Lam takes off White to his and everyone else's amazement and yet again we have failed to score in the second half and barely looked like we would.

I am delighted to see the academy lads given an opportunity but why has it taken until now (and various injuries) for Lam to give certain players a chance?

The facts are we are bottom which ain't good enough. Looking at the games for the rest of the season we should win six/seven, I don't think we will given what we've seen so far (two wins all year in the Rabo) and it has been a year when we have gone backwards. Yes we have young lads coming through that hold future promise but at the end of last year we had plenty of young lads who had really good seasons and we should have kicked on especially with the signings made but we have gone backwards in terms of the rugby we are playing and most importantly results.

Great match and the future looks bright for Connacht.

The most disappointing aspect of the night was the booing of both the referee and Heaslip as they left the field, we are NOT soccer fans.

I can understand Leinster supporters defending their player and rambling on about him "slipping" and "using his arms". However the reality is that is waffle as neither happened, it was simply a cheap shot, and disappointing to see it from a guy that has captained this county. It deserved a yellow. The placing of the resulting Penalty was a tad strange, not sure how they found that spot on the ground. Parks simply has to be making that kick though. Most other assets of his game are gone and now it appears that his goal kicking is no longer to be trusted. The pass for Darcy's try was forward and should of been disallowed, having said that i felt Leinster where well on top at that point and at least 3 points was coming.

For Leinster i thought Jordi Murphy was very good again as was Heaslip. Rob Kearney, Cronin and McCarthy (it still hurts) were also impressive. Toner is simply too tall to compete against in the lineout. For me Madigan was poor though, just my opinion, but his defense is not good enough. Another game i know, but he was a standing statute at the death for the crucial All Blacks try. A few times tonight i thought he was found wanting in general play. He has loads of talent, i hope for Irelands sake he can sort it out. Goperth was an improvement when he came on.

From a Connacht pov, Carty was a breath of fresh air, his kicking was a bit wayward but he did well for his first game. He's already a decent option for the troublesome 10 jersey. Darragh Leader was my standout Connacht player. Leinster rightly targeted him, but he was outstanding in the air tonight and he generally used that huge right boot to good effect. thought our scrum had the slight nudge on Leinster's. Harris-Wright, White and Wilkinson all had decent games. Clarke was excellent on our throws. Browne and Muldoon were busy all night. Can't fault any of the other players. McKeon could do better. Henshaw played well against his much vaunted direct opponents. Still think that Griffin is more suited to outside center though. It was another good display from Marmion as well.

Really disappointed not to have gotten at least a LBP from that game. Moral victories are pointless in professional sport, the better team won out in the end. Another frustrating night from a Connacht point of view.

Parks cost us the game with that miss. That's the truth.

Now onto the other matters.
1) How in the name of all that is holy did Heaslip remain on the field? Pure chicken sh!te reffing not to bin him. He better get cited for it. And to repeat my previous question, how in the name of all that is holy was the try allowed following a forward pass? Even ALL the Leinster fans I talked with in town couldn't believe it.

2) Our junior back line made the Irish backline (basically) look an absolute shambles. They're in trouble for the 6 nations. Fair fecks to Cary, he gave it everything and it's a pity cramp ended his night early.

3) I've never met more of an ignorant c*** that one particular Leinster fan tonight. At half time he decided he'd plant himself in one of the spaces vacated by one of our group while they went for a slash. He was told "hey man, thare's people standing there". His reply "I don't give a f*ck". Not messing here. He nearly caused a row, but calmer heads prevailed. The people on here that know me know that there is a group of us that stand in the same place all the time. A pretty substantial group too, but he proceeded to be a spa and not even vacate when the guys returned. Serious bad form and a bad representation of the travelling fans and rugby fans in general. He was very lucky he didn't get a puck from one of the far more senior members of the group

<end rant/>

Very good defense lads never gave up but looked out on their feet at about 60mins. Lads shouldnt really be going down with cramp that early would have to question the fitness coach.

Henshaw had a decent game at centre bodes well, griffen, carty, Leader did well also and heffo when he came on. Think we missed a true flanker like Heenan badly, we came off second best by a long way in backrow battle.
Lost our shape which led to one out runners that were isolated far to easily.

Flannery was right that parks plays way too deep and i don't think people even expect him to get average length/difficulty kicks anymore.

Great to see more and more academy players coming through who have Connacht's pride in their hearts. Hopefully its just the start. Sort out top class ground should be on the list now aswell.

refuse to blame Clancy for Leinster's win - they were the much better team than us in second half (when we once again didn't register a score)

Heaslip was immense for Leinster - but I have no doubt he should have been binned. Had Parks had the ball and Heaslip did what he did (ie No attempt to use arms in tackle) he prob would have been binned- don't understand why fact it was late was only a pen..

Also, how the tmo allowed the try at the end was rather baffling - Leinster were on top and who is too say they wouldn't have scored a try anyway but jaysus when you compare that try to the one Robbie got in Toulouse you do sometimes have to feel we never get benefit of the doubt..

Leader missed two kicks at goal (Clarke should have told him to go the corner with the second one), Carty missed difficult conversion- but I was most frustrated with the one Parks missed - he should have nailed that.. If he was still groggy from the late tackle then give it to Leader..

Bench made a massive impact for Leinster in this game. McCarthy was immense when he came on for second half, involved in 2 or 3 excellent choke tackles. Gopperth had much more of an impact than Madigan in the game when he came on..

For Connacht, thought Robbie Henshaw was fantastic- kept O'Driscoll quiet and left D-Kearney for dead with the try. Leader and Carty had very solid debuts- exciting prospects. I'd give Carty the start next week again vs Zebre.. In the pack, Browne, Kearney, Clarke, Muldoon and JHW played like men demented.. Like last week, was rather dissapointed with McKeon - he didn't do much wrong but he is much better than he performed tonight..
Nathan White looked pretty pissed to be coming off..

Gutted we didn't get atleast a LBP in that game, these moral victories are no good now that we are bottom of the table..

Not really much to add here. Very encouraging play from our backs, I think our backs outplayed theirs which is even more impressive when you compare international caps etc. great for the future of the province that we're producing lads of that quality (or are coming thro the academy). Dan doesn't have it anymore sadly. Some small errors, but encouraging.

Reffing was awful, leave aside the Jamie Heaslip and forward try thing, Leinster were constantly offside, rarely on their feet etc. still tho, they know how to play the ref (i.e. cheat).

Highlight of the night was Robbie shoving BOD on his arse.

Should've taken the bonus point, should've won it. Roll on HC.

First of all we didn't do enough to win. Zero points for the 7th or 8th occasion this season in the 2nd half tells its own story. We didn't compete strongly enough at the breakdown (again) in particular and until we do its going to be the same old hard luck story most weeks. Parks miss at 8-9 was a killer blow to our hopes but in fairness he had got a fair lash to the head from Heaslip so wouldn't be overly critical on this occasion. Leader going for the 2nd penalty at 5-0 was disappointing. The first one showed he has a good range but not that good a range. Despite that he did very well and is worth more games in the 2nd half of the season. Carty wasn't bad. I'd give him some more game time. I still would have Ronaldson ahead of him at present.

Some other observations. Kicking the ball down the throat of Rob Kearney is madness. Props shouldn't kick the ball. When you have possession in you own half with 5 seconds to go, go through a phase and then kick it out, don't kick it back to a team like Leinster. Rodney did quite well but Nathan White was on top of his man and looked puzzled to come off so early.

I think everyone saw the Heaslip call bar the 3 officials on the pitch. I don't know what went on between Clancy and the TMO but they manufactured it well to keep Heaslip from getting a card. In fairness on this board there hasn't been much criticism of officials this year but tonight I think its justified. The pass for the try looked forward at the game and from everyone I've talked to or angle I've seen it was forward but Leinster probably had the game in their grasp at that stage.

Its infuriating but all we can do is pick ourselves up learn the lessons from our own mistakes and move on.

Thoughts on the game:

1. Jude Quinn should never be let near a video monitor again.

2. The difference Carty made to our backline moving was huge he has to start next week against Zebre.

3. Leader is nowhere near the finished product but there is oodles of potential there and he is definitely an option going forward.

4. Clarke and McKeown were everywhere tonight how neither of them was MOM is a mystery.

5. Apart from Parks and Naopou (who wasn't on long enough) our bench made a big impact coming on. Overall I think a BP would have being justified.

6. Parks simply doesn't have it any more and should be eased out when Ronaldson comes back.

Any other game/ref that was a yellow for Heaslip. At the same time we didn't look near scoring in the second half, so hard to say the loss was undeserved.
The good points of the game was the young lads, including the subs, Heffernan and TOH both looked sharp and hungry.
Can we please stop using Griffin as a crash ball 12 and/or put Henshaw at 12?

no BP, but young guys really made the job, good for the future

How on earth was that not a yellow for Heaslip, late and no arms. :ohmy:

And don't get me started on that forward pass for the try, can't wait to hear what lam has to say

Anyone looking for a feed of the game in English, really good use of the Ref Mic too..

www.sportlemon.tv/20140104/vv52c8531929e...07912174-717632.html

swift4prez wrote: i hate to be bringing bad news but we could be bottom after round 12.

zebre 14 treviso 12 only 9mins to go

edit: zebre won

Good win for them. Finally something to give their long suffering fans.
Actually I think it's good news as it keeps Treviso in striking distance.

Shows they're not to be dismissed next week though.

salmson wrote: It gets worse. Miah Nikora and Ronaldson injuries mean Jack Carty, another local produce, starts at outhalf ahead of Dan Parks."

For me that's pretty much the worst part of the article. Whenever people talk about why are we so slow to give youth a chance in this country, well there's the answer encapsulated in a single comment.

Never mind that Carty has gone through the full academy system, amassed experience at both Ail and Connacht A level, that Marmion and Henshaw were thrown into senior starts with much less experience than him a year ago; Carty starting is the worst aspect of this team.

swift4prez wrote: i hate to be bringing bad news but we could be bottom after round 12.

zebre 14 treviso 12 only 9mins to go

edit: zebre won

Bad for connacht, good for my superbru.

i hate to be bringing bad news but we could be bottom after round 12.

zebre 14 treviso 12 only 9mins to go

edit: zebre won