connachtcl wrote: Can't understand this myth that George offers more better ball carrying and helps the scrum. McKeon is a much better ball carrier and controls the ball better at the base of the scrum. You only have to look at today as an example, George cost us dear in the second half, by not controlling the ball properly in the scrum. Love what he has done for Connacht but I'm afraid he's past it now and doesn't even warrant a place on the bench!

Very unhappy with today. Zebre are really awful and we didn't put the m to the sword at all. So many missed opportunities that we may end up regretting after next week. Am I right in saying that if Sarries get a losing BP tomorrow we have to beat them by more than 7 points to come second next week?

What Myth, have you ever actually played in the pack before or specifically at eight? You're measuring Georges performance on 15mins and one unstable scrum which made the channel ball rubbish for him.

He's three three inches taller and two stone heavier than McKeon, so with best will in the world (and everything else being equal) there is no way that he is worse at locking the scrum than Eoin or taking ball on and we know what he offers at lineout time.

A lot is expected of George and to in all honesty this evening he certainly was no worse than McKeown who was pretty anonymous despite us dominating much of the game possession wise...

Just as a by the way on this. The Rotherham team that started v Cornish Pirates below contained 9 of the starting side, 3 of the replacements and 17 of the 23 who lined out against Connacht back in October in Galway so it wasn't too weakened.

Borders no.2 wrote:

sea_point wrote:

Borders no.2 wrote: Not a great performance. Slopiness cost us the bonus point. Zebre really are dire. It says it all about how poor our season has been that Zebre are ahead of us in the league.

The A result today also makes for bad reading. An average of over 60 conceded in the 3 away games is awful. Considering we won our two homes games so far its hugely dissapointing to perform so poorly on the road.

Not too concerned by the Eagles result, Rotherham are on a break from Championship fixtures for a couple of weeks so it was our A/Development versus their Senior side. Flip it and we'd muller their seconds as the Sportsground...

If it was a one off I wouldn't be worried but we beat Rotherham with a weaker side than started today at home, same against Bedford, beat them at home and then concede 50 away from home. At least Rotherham are up near the top of the championship but its still a poor effort. 6 tries conceded before half time is very poor. That Connacht side had enough experience to expect a bit better than that.

9 of those lads had played competitively for the senior team at some stage this season and the likes of Layden, Finn and Sean O'Brien are all expected to come through. Its a bit of a men v boys scenario with some of these lads but in other cases, an injury or two or some poor performances could see a number of these players elevated to the senior team.

Connacht Eagles’ lineup v Rotherham Titans

15 Tiernan O’Halloran
14 Shane Layden
13 Conor Finn
12 Brian Murphy
11 David Panter
10 Tadhg Leader
9 Frank Murphy (captain)

1 Ronan Loughney
2 Dave Heffernan
3 JP Cooney
4 Sean O’Brien
5 Danny Qualter
6 Mata Fifita
7 Rory Moloney
8 Eoghan Masterson

i actually think that team is chronically underpowered. similar to the senior side

Borders no.2 wrote:

sea_point wrote:

Borders no.2 wrote: Not a great performance. Slopiness cost us the bonus point. Zebre really are dire. It says it all about how poor our season has been that Zebre are ahead of us in the league.

The A result today also makes for bad reading. An average of over 60 conceded in the 3 away games is awful. Considering we won our two homes games so far its hugely dissapointing to perform so poorly on the road.

Not too concerned by the Eagles result, Rotherham are on a break from Championship fixtures for a couple of weeks so it was our A/Development versus their Senior side. Flip it and we'd muller their seconds as the Sportsground...

If it was a one off I wouldn't be worried but we beat Rotherham with a weaker side than started today at home, same against Bedford, beat them at home and then concede 50 away from home. At least Rotherham are up near the top of the championship but its still a poor effort. 6 tries conceded before half time is very poor. That Connacht side had enough experience to expect a bit better than that.

9 of those lads had played competitively for the senior team at some stage this season and the likes of Layden, Finn and Sean O'Brien are all expected to come through. Its a bit of a men v boys scenario with some of these lads but in other cases, an injury or two or some poor performances could see a number of these players elevated to the senior team.

Connacht Eagles’ lineup v Rotherham Titans

15 Tiernan O’Halloran
14 Shane Layden
13 Conor Finn
12 Brian Murphy
11 David Panter
10 Tadhg Leader
9 Frank Murphy (captain)

1 Ronan Loughney
2 Dave Heffernan
3 JP Cooney
4 Sean O’Brien
5 Danny Qualter
6 Mata Fifita
7 Rory Moloney
8 Eoghan Masterson

I guarantee you that The Eagles played against their Second string/Development in the earlier games, Championship sides do not put out their First XV in B&I until there's a chance of winning silverware. Rotherham had a chance of qualifying for last eight and have no championship fixture for over two weeks so their team today was basically their 1st XV Squad with only a couple of exceptions.

Allied to our lengthy and protracted injury list, the reason so many young lads are involved in our HCUP demands, expecting anything other than the occasional win is pretty overambitious to be fair. Most of their squad today played last weekend against Cornish Pirates

Rotherham Titans wrote: Titans V Connacht - 11/01/11:

15 Sean Scanlon, 14 Jamie Broadley, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Jack Roberts, 11 Curtis Wilson, 10 Dallan Murphy, 9 Dan White,

1 Toby Williams, 2 Ben Sowrey, 3 Mark Tampin, 4 Ben Thomas, 5 Dan Sanderson (Capt.), 6 Alfie To’oala, 7 Ali Birch, 8 Laurence Pearce.

Replacements: 16 Tom Cruse, 17 Mike Dias, 18 Rikki Stout, 19 Alex Rieder, 20 Jack Preece, 21 Juan Pablo Socino, 22 Ben Rath.

Titans v Cornish Pirates - 04/01/11:

: 15 Sean Scanlon, 14 Michael Keating, 13 Jack Roberts, 12 Juan Pablo Socino, 11 Curtis Wilson, 10 Dallan Murphy, 9 Dan White,

1 Robin Hislop, 2 Ben Sowrey, 3 Colin Quigley, 4 Barney Maddison (Capt.), 5 Ben Thomas, 6 Alex Rieder, 7 Jack Preece, 8 Ed Williamson.

Replacements: 16 Tom Cruse, 17 Toby Williams, 18 Mark Tampin, 19 Dan Sanderson, 20 Laurence Pearce, 21 Joel Gill, 22 Jamie Broadley.

I saw Marmion holding his wrist at one stage so that may be why he was taken off.

Can't understand this myth that George offers more better ball carrying and helps the scrum. McKeon is a much better ball carrier and controls the ball better at the base of the scrum. You only have to look at today as an example, George cost us dear in the second half, by not controlling the ball properly in the scrum. Love what he has done for Connacht but I'm afraid he's past it now and doesn't even warrant a place on the bench!

Very unhappy with today. Zebre are really awful and we didn't put the m to the sword at all. So many missed opportunities that we may end up regretting after next week. Am I right in saying that if Sarries get a losing BP tomorrow we have to beat them by more than 7 points to come second next week?

59-3. 9 tries to nil. Connacht now 3 points adrift at the bottom of the group. Only the Scottish no-hopers and Aberavon have a worse scoring difference in the competition.

Rotherham Titans 18
Llanelli 13
Bedford 11
Connacht 8

It finished Titans 59-3 Connacht....

Dare I ask how the A game finished?

sea_point wrote:

Borders no.2 wrote: Not a great performance. Slopiness cost us the bonus point. Zebre really are dire. It says it all about how poor our season has been that Zebre are ahead of us in the league.

The A result today also makes for bad reading. An average of over 60 conceded in the 3 away games is awful. Considering we won our two homes games so far its hugely dissapointing to perform so poorly on the road.

Not too concerned by the Eagles result, Rotherham are on a break from Championship fixtures for a couple of weeks so it was our A/Development versus their Senior side. Flip it and we'd muller their seconds as the Sportsground...

If it was a one off I wouldn't be worried but we beat Rotherham with a weaker side than started today at home, same against Bedford, beat them at home and then concede 50 away from home. At least Rotherham are up near the top of the championship but its still a poor effort. 6 tries conceded before half time is very poor. That Connacht side had enough experience to expect a bit better than that.

9 of those lads had played competitively for the senior team at some stage this season and the likes of Layden, Finn and Sean O'Brien are all expected to come through. Its a bit of a men v boys scenario with some of these lads but in other cases, an injury or two or some poor performances could see a number of these players elevated to the senior team.

Connacht Eagles’ lineup v Rotherham Titans

15 Tiernan O’Halloran
14 Shane Layden
13 Conor Finn
12 Brian Murphy
11 David Panter
10 Tadhg Leader
9 Frank Murphy (captain)

1 Ronan Loughney
2 Dave Heffernan
3 JP Cooney
4 Sean O’Brien
5 Danny Qualter
6 Mata Fifita
7 Rory Moloney
8 Eoghan Masterson

Agree with everything posted,like tho see our forwards do what they were born to do run straight and hard. Should have been playing penalty advantage for George knockon and where are the support players, Heenan made a great break looked for supporting player but no-one there.need tho get players running off the ball carriers shoulder

Great to see the Clan sportingly clap off the ref today, that is more like the respect the men in the middle deserve for a thankless job.

Borders no.2 wrote: Not a great performance. Slopiness cost us the bonus point. Zebre really are dire. It says it all about how poor our season has been that Zebre are ahead of us in the league.

The A result today also makes for bad reading. An average of over 60 conceded in the 3 away games is awful. Considering we won our two homes games so far its hugely dissapointing to perform so poorly on the road.

Not too concerned by the Eagles result, Rotherham are on a break from Championship fixtures for a couple of weeks so it was our A/Development versus their Senior side. Flip it and we'd muller their seconds as the Sportsground...

If there's such a thing as a bad win then today was it.

We showed them no respect from the off and were not clued in for most of the game. Our back play was shocking at times. Passing for the sake of passing. No commiting the Zebre defence. We were passing when 10 yards off the opposition. That will not win you any games at ANY level.

Best performers today were White, Mul, Heenan, Henshaw and Healy.

Not a great performance. Slopiness cost us the bonus point. Zebre really are dire. It says it all about how poor our season has been that Zebre are ahead of us in the league.

The A result today also makes for bad reading. An average of over 60 conceded in the 3 away games is awful. Considering we won our two homes games so far its hugely dissapointing to perform so poorly on the road.

The Outlaw wrote:

connachtexile wrote: I can only agree with you. I can't remember how many times I've seen us drop the ball or miss a pass. Our backs today were desperate. Even our second try was a piece of skill by Henshaw rather than a proper move. For me POD coming on and throwing a crooked feed costing us a scrum in a good place and then doing it AGAIN only two minutes later was pretty much the whole match in a nutshell. We were dire and didn't deserve a bonus point on that performance.

We just don't have enough beef up front. We're too lightweight in terms of carriers in the pack. We badly need a couple of pure power athletes in the backrow especially but the second row as well. As a result we struggle to hold onto the ball. Of course when you're dropping it all the time it makes things hard as well

Henshaw's try was the only bit of class in the whole 80 mins.

I'll refer you to my post previously relating to selection, with that selection we should have been running from everywhere but didn't show anywhere near the required enthusiasm to run Zebre ragged. If we wanted to sort them out in the tight we should have started with Swift for Browner and George at 8, that would have solidified our scrum given us more carrier and our backs more go forward ball.

Dave Ellis needs to take responsibility for the backs, can they not be taught not to drift across and then shovel off the ball to somebody standing still?