sea_point wrote: Actually to make a remotely valid assessment of George's handling of that situation you do. You make a massive generalisation about his performance based on an action that he wasn't entirely responsible for.

If you could point out this massive generalisataion that would be great.

With a fly half covering scrumhalf and Dan having taken a deep position to make a clearing kick, the front and second rows row should have ensured a strong stable platform especially given we had a dominant scrum.

But look at the position of Browne when the ball gets to the back, one of the primary roles of wing forwards on your own put in is to keep the opposition scrum half at bay by taking a wide bind so they have to take the long way around to the ball. He had no chance because the tight five didn't do their job and he ended up doing an impression of an Ostrich instead.

Also what about Miah at scrum-half who was in no man's land, in position to neither protect George or to receive the ball.

Absolutely, there was a lot of people at fault for the try. However, it was clearly a manageable situation by the time the ball got to George. It's not like the ball shot out the back. It's still at his feet for Christ's sake.

So why aren't you picking on the tight five for lack of control which is the primary reason for the loss of control at the back....Blaming George clearly suits your agenda...

Well the point of my post was to point out a recurring problem this year that happens when George comes on at 8, so yes, blaming George does suit my agenda - it's the reason why I made the post. It's not the first time he's spilled the ball at the base of the scrum this season and it won't be the last. Is this not one of the primary roles of a No. 8? I accept that there are many other problems with that scrum but his job is to recover the situation which could have easily been achieved in this case.

That try was a cumalitve failure, and I can assure you that yesterday Pat Lam will have been grilling the whole pack for that disaster, not picking out Georg for blame...

Good for him, that's not my job.

George has been a legend at Connacht for many years but it saddens me to say that he is way past it this year.

connachtcl wrote:

sea_point wrote:

connachtcl wrote: Happy out with the result but the 3 tries for Zebre do not make for good viewing.

To all the George lovers on this forum, have a look at this video and tell me he's not a massive liability at 8.

Have you ever played eight as a matter of interest? If you're going to pick a scenario as a stick to beat George with, this is clearly not the one..

That scrum was a sh*thouse, absolutely all over the place. There was no control from the front row when they got the shove and and consequently the scrum lurched forwards, pivoted and collapsed inwards extremely quickly. A nightmare scenario for any number eight in the world nevermind George, and especially five metres from your line...

Again, I don't have to have played 8 (or rugby at all for that matter) to have an opinion on a player's performance.

It's clearly not a perfect scrum but the ball is at the feet of his second row. It's perfectly placed for him to collect it. He just needs to pick it up take a tackle and recycle the ball, especially since it's at our own 5 metres. Instead, he doesn't secure the ball properly and spills it over our own try line. That try is on him, not anyone else.

clan clover wrote: Last year it was Rodney getting a killing on here and Fets and now its George, two weeks ago it was Parks saying he was past it. Its funny at times, but next week it will be someone else who will be labled a liability or something worse.

George is a class act, always has been and always will be simple as that, give him game time and he will prove it not that he has too. Dan is still the man, he has been magic for us not in every game but then again who has, no one is the answer. Take the win , file it with last weeks win and hope we get another this week, confidence will bring results.

I know George is a class act, he's a Connacht legend and he has done so much for us in the past but he is so far past it this year he shouldn't be anywhere near the team.

Actually to make a remotely valid assessment of George's handling of that situation you do. You make a massive generalisation about his performance based on an action that he wasn't entirely responsible for.

With a fly half covering scrumhalf and Dan having taken a deep position to make a clearing kick, the front and second rows row should have ensured a strong stable platform especially given we had a dominant scrum.

But look at the position of Browne when the ball gets to the back, one of the primary roles of wing forwards on your own put in is to keep the opposition scrum half at bay by taking a wide bind so they have to take the long way around to the ball. He had no chance because the tight five didn't do their job and he ended up doing an impression of an Ostrich instead.

Also what about Miah at scrum-half who was in no man's land, in position to neither protect George or to receive the ball.

So why aren't you picking on the tight five for lack of control which is the primary reason for the loss of control at the back....Blaming George clearly suits your agenda...

That try was a cumalitve failure, and I can assure you that yesterday Pat Lam will have been grilling the whole pack for that disaster, not picking out Georg for blame...

phatguerilla wrote:

RogueXV wrote:

rossie wrote: Is it not the continuation of a pattern in games this season which has caused serious concern to most here?

Connacht have been held scoreless in the 2nd half 9 times in their 21 games this season and have outscored their opponents in both the 1st and 2nd halves in just 2 games, the HEC wins over Zebre. So while the bonus point win was great their continued inability to score in the 2nd half is a great concern.

Definitely agree with your overall point but they did actually score in the second half this time. To clarify on my earlier comments I don't think this second half performance was good but I think in a way it is the best thing that could have happened, back to back wins but with a nervy scare at the end won't leave anyone complacent for the home game against treviso.

Yes, I was aware that they scored their bonus point try in the 2nd half but then promptly allowed 19 unanswered points and so were outscored 19-7 in the half. I'm not sure I agree that was the best thing for this team. While better teams have let their foot off the pedal after going up 27-0 Connacht need to learn how to be more ruthless in finishing off opponents.

salmson wrote:

ummm, wrote: Does anyone know what happened with POD at the weekend? It seemed a bit crazy to replace Marmion with Nikora when we had a scrum half on the bench. Was he injured?

Not that I'm aware of. Nikora did quite ok, bar that horrible try at the end which was really neither his nor George's fault but stemmed from our academy loosehead getting twisted up out of the scrum and pretty much thrown on top of the back row.

Someone asked Connacht Rugby this on twitter after the match. The reply was that POD had picked up a slight injury during the warmup.

ummm, wrote: Does anyone know what happened with POD at the weekend? It seemed a bit crazy to replace Marmion with Nikora when we had a scrum half on the bench. Was he injured?

Not that I'm aware of. Nikora did quite ok, bar that horrible try at the end which was really neither his nor George's fault but stemmed from our academy loosehead getting twisted up out of the scrum and pretty much thrown on top of the back row.

sea_point wrote:

connachtcl wrote: Happy out with the result but the 3 tries for Zebre do not make for good viewing.

To all the George lovers on this forum, have a look at this video and tell me he's not a massive liability at 8.

Have you ever played eight as a matter of interest? If you're going to pick a scenario as a stick to beat George with, this is clearly not the one..

That scrum was a sh*thouse, absolutely all over the place. There was no control from the front row when they got the shove and and consequently the scrum lurched forwards, pivoted and collapsed inwards extremely quickly. A nightmare scenario for any number eight in the world nevermind George, and especially five metres from your line...

Again, I don't have to have played 8 (or rugby at all for that matter) to have an opinion on a player's performance.

It's clearly not a perfect scrum but the ball is at the feet of his second row. It's perfectly placed for him to collect it. He just needs to pick it up take a tackle and recycle the ball, especially since it's at our own 5 metres. Instead, he doesn't secure the ball properly and spills it over our own try line. That try is on him, not anyone else.

clan clover wrote: Last year it was Rodney getting a killing on here and Fets and now its George, two weeks ago it was Parks saying he was past it. Its funny at times, but next week it will be someone else who will be labled a liability or something worse.

George is a class act, always has been and always will be simple as that, give him game time and he will prove it not that he has too. Dan is still the man, he has been magic for us not in every game but then again who has, no one is the answer. Take the win , file it with last weeks win and hope we get another this week, confidence will bring results.

I know George is a class act, he's a Connacht legend and he has done so much for us in the past but he is so far past it this year he shouldn't be anywhere near the team.

Does anyone know what happened with POD at the weekend? It seemed a bit crazy to replace Marmion with Nikora when we had a scrum half on the bench. Was he injured?

RogueXV wrote:

rossie wrote: Is it not the continuation of a pattern in games this season which has caused serious concern to most here?

Connacht have been held scoreless in the 2nd half 9 times in their 21 games this season and have outscored their opponents in both the 1st and 2nd halves in just 2 games, the HEC wins over Zebre. So while the bonus point win was great their continued inability to score in the 2nd half is a great concern.

Definitely agree with your overall point but they did actually score in the second half this time. To clarify on my earlier comments I don't think this second half performance was good but I think in a way it is the best thing that could have happened, back to back wins but with a nervy scare at the end won't leave anyone complacent for the home game against treviso.

We don't score enough tries full stop. Hopefully the return of Pooleman will help this a bit. Second half performances are poor as you have mentioned and is it what's been said or not said at half time that influences it ?? Something has to be off if we consistently switch off n the second half. Could a sports psychologist help with this or do we have one ??

rossie wrote: Is it not the continuation of a pattern in games this season which has caused serious concern to most here?

Connacht have been held scoreless in the 2nd half 9 times in their 21 games this season and have outscored their opponents in both the 1st and 2nd halves in just 2 games, the HEC wins over Zebre. So while the bonus point win was great their continued inability to score in the 2nd half is a great concern.

Last year it was Rodney getting a killing on here and Fets and now its George, two weeks ago it was Parks saying he was past it. Its funny at times, but next week it will be someone else who will be labled a liability or something worse.

George is a class act, always has been and always will be simple as that, give him game time and he will prove it not that he has too. Dan is still the man, he has been magic for us not in every game but then again who has, no one is the answer. Take the win , file it with last weeks win and hope we get another this week, confidence will bring results.

connachtcl wrote: Happy out with the result but the 3 tries for Zebre do not make for good viewing.

To all the George lovers on this forum, have a look at this video and tell me he's not a massive liability at 8.

Have you ever played eight as a matter of interest? If you're going to pick a scenario as a stick to beat George with, this is clearly not the one..

That scrum was a sh*thouse, absolutely all over the place. There was no control from the front row when they got the shove and and consequently the scrum lurched forwards, pivoted and collapsed inwards extremely quickly. A nightmare scenario for any number eight in the world nevermind George, and especially five metres from your line...

Out of interest, did anyone go to the Blue Note for it and was the stream quality any good?
Only saw the tweet about that this morning. Would have gone for a look.

They're showing the match on Setanta Ireland at the minute. It's nearly half time though but they are repeating it tomorrow at 2.00pm for anyone who wants to record it and watch it after work (like me)!

phatguerilla wrote:

Fourdogs wrote:

phatguerilla wrote: ......... It looks worse because all Connacht's points came first and then theirs, if it had been over and back throughout the game it wouldn't bother anyone.

phatguerilla

True, "if it had been over and back", but it wasn't, was it ????

To build up such a substantial lead and keep them scoreless in the 1st half only to allow them right back into the game in the 2nd surely raises questions !!!

I take your point I'm just too happy with a bonus point win to start pointing fingers.

I'm agreed Phat. I think criticising a team that clearly achieved it's primary target of a bonus-point win is a bit rich. Yes, they leaked a fee tries that they shouldn't have but hey I've seen us losing lots of these games in the past. Onwards and upwards!!

It's not the first time George has fluffed it. It won't be the last. He is magic at times but he is a liability. We need to bring in a 8/6 and that mistake proves it. I was/am a huge fan of his and was delighted he was signed again but he is not working out. Maybe second row would suit him better.