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 am here n Parma now.
Connacht went to sleep n second half.
Zebre came out as if they going to win this game
We were good first half, but second half ah we just seem to be some where else.
Ah well we did win

I would be worried to some degree. 1st try came from lack of doing the basics right at the restart after scoring which has dogged Connacht consistently over the years. Ok we were 27 points up but that shouldn't stop us getting the basics right. I missed the 2nd try being honest but the 3rd try was very poor, ok Nikora was at scrum half at that stage but its that f##cking around at the back of the scrum that has cost us on countless occasions this season. To counter that in fairness I thought we controlled the ball well at the back of the scrum when pulverising them in the first half, going forward that quickly, its easy for it to pop out but to be fair it was well controlled.

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.

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 !!!

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

Was Marmion injured? Can anyone say how masterson went at 7? It was more than a little silly to allow zebre score 19 but its not a big deal. 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.

its_phil wrote:
Anyone able to dust off record books and see the last time we recorded a TBP win away from home?

Last bonus point win of any variety was home to Leinster on 28/09/2012.

Last bonus point win away was against Olympus Rugby XV Madrid in the Amlin on 23/01/2010.

We may have got try bonus points in a couple of humdinger losses away to the Scottish sides over the years, but as far as I can tell our last RaboDirectPro 12 (or whatever it was called back then) away bonus point win was against Scarlets on 09/10/2004.

So, ugly as that got after we scored the 4th try, I for one am not going to be too hard on the lads.

Fourdogs wrote:

Former Coach wrote:
Wouldn't be too harsh on the boys. Pat made a lot of changes in the last 20 and it clearly disrupted things. I think we'd all have taken a 4-try win this morning

Don't get me wrong, I am delighted with the bonus win but Zebre also made 8 changes. We will never progress if we haven't got a bench that can at least keep the game plan on track.

Had to follow the game on the Rabo Match live site, so did not see the play only the highlighted reports. 2nd half did not make good reading.

It had nothing to do with the bench really. Games break up, it happens at every level of rugby and with all the Fijian flyers at Zebre it was only going to hurt one team.

It was criminal to go for the scrum before HT and the lineout 15 points up with TBP in the bag. Should have been 3 all day long. I thought we looked more comfortable ball in hand than we have in a long time, some great depth at times with lovely distribution.

6th will be difficult to get now, but Scarlets have a tough 3 games with Munster, Ulster and Glasgow in row. We'll need to win in Llanelli, where we have an awful record, but stranger things have happened.

Anyone able to dust off record books and see the last time we recorded a TBP win away from home?

Former Coach wrote:
Wouldn't be too harsh on the boys. Pat made a lot of changes in the last 20 and it clearly disrupted things. I think we'd all have taken a 4-try win this morning

Don't get me wrong, I am delighted with the bonus win but Zebre also made 8 changes. We will never progress if we haven't got a bench that can at least keep the game plan on track.

Had to follow the game on the Rabo Match live site, so did not see the play only the highlighted reports. 2nd half did not make good reading.

Fourdogs wrote: What the F*** happened there.

27 - 0 up at half time, then we went to sleep and let them score 19 unanswered points in the 2nd half.

Bloody good job Zebre had so many 1st team players in international duty or we would have had our backsides handed to us.

Wouldn't be too harsh on the boys. Pat made a lot of changes in the last 20 and it clearly disrupted things. I think we'd all have taken a 4-try win this morning

What the F*** happened there.

27 - 0 up at half time, then we went to sleep and let them score 19 unanswered points in the 2nd half.

Bloody good job Zebre had so many 1st team players in international duty or we would have had our backsides handed to us.

A bonus point win away from home is always a good day's work and its our first in 12 attempts against Aironi/Zebre. I thought we played some smart rugby in the first half and used our obvious advantage up front. 2nd half not so much, we got a nice break for the 4th try but to be honest we didn't play smartly.

Conor O'Shea isn't someone I particularly like but he says something regularly which makes sense, 'never get tired of doing the same thing in an area where you have a decided advantage'. We were very sloppy and played senseless rugby at times in the 2nd half. The try at the end is awful for a professional team and it should have been a try 30 seconds earlier anyway but despite these negatives its a good evening for Connacht. 3 wins in a row is very possible next weekend.

sea_point wrote: We've allowed the game to break up and frankly their Kiwis/Fijians are better at it than us.

Were playing like absolute clowns for the last half an hour.....

Couldn't string two passes together first half and they've nineteen points this one.....ffs!

We've allowed the game to break up and frankly their Kiwis/Fijians are better at it than us.

Were playing like absolute clowns for the last half an hour.....

Nikora as S-H!! not bad for the moment