No sly digs from Dorce today

www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/gordon-d-...eland-need-1.2667671

Yeah the lack of effort is appalling really.

Another aspect beside the lack of effort and the condescension is the constant harping on about the people of Galway buying into what Pat Lam is doing in the West. It is almost like they are trying to make it a Galway thing rather than a Connacht thing. One of the first thing Pat did was to try and get the whole Connacht community on board with the club. He has brought training out around the province and the profile of the players in the community, going to junior clubs helping out, going to schools etc is what has brought the whole of Connacht together behind the team. We all feel a part of it not just the Galway people, it is much bigger than one city tribalism.

Ps. I am a Galway man myself and if it bothers me this much it must really bother supporters from other counties.

Darragh wrote: The general quality of rugby journalism in Ireland is pretty poor. Ex players in particular.

I haven't enjoyed most of what comes out of D'Arcy, Quinlan, etc.

Having said that, someone like Kinsella at the 42 has shook up a lot of things.

Kinsella clearly works hard at what he does. That alone puts him ahead of pretty much everyone else, before we even start to talk about knowledge of the game and communication skills.

I fully agree Darragh. Most of what is said by these so called experts is either obvious or redundant. Against the head used to be so much better when they could get the likes of Birch on to do some actual tactical analysis and give everyone a real appreciation of what is going on in these matches.

If you look at last Mondays excellent observations of what is happening at Connacht they range from it is "like Munster 15 years ago with the people buying into the whole thing in Galway", the risk taking (sic) is the only way they know how to play so they have to stick to it etc etc to Eddie O'Sullivan who at least tried to say the rugby is not as high risk as it looks and that there is a lot of thought and coaching going in to getting it right. All it is is a talking shop where they praise the players but don't actually analyse or critique them at all which is what the rugby public is hungry for.

Re Murray Kinsella, I think his analysis looks very good but I don't like him on live tv he just doesn't come accross well unfortunately.

Surely there must be a few more intelligent lads that played rugby that know how to analyse games and can actually review a game with some good insights rather than just showering empty platitudes on the players and refs?

The general quality of rugby journalism in Ireland is pretty poor. Ex players in particular.

I haven't enjoyed most of what comes out of D'Arcy, Quinlan, etc.

Having said that, someone like Kinsella at the 42 has shook up a lot of things.

Lads, look at the upside:

Three days out from the Pro 12 final, a player who finished up with Leinster last October has just penned an article which could and should have been headlined "Leinster B have two hopes of winning, and Bob's dead."

I was wondering why the bookies were giving such generous odds on Leinster (1/2 generally, when our record against them, and the game not being in the Sportsground, would suggest 1/3 at least, maybe even 1/4); now I know.

I actually lost count of the amount of sly digs in that latest Dorce article, it's pretty pathetic really

Evil_g wrote:

menacethedenis wrote: Gordon Darcy writing about us in the Times today

www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/gordon-d-...ron-is-hot-1.2599504

Gordon D'Arcy wrote: Pat Lam’s well-drilled side will never have a better opportunity to win a trophy

And so begins another patronising article wherein the author makes it blindingly obvious that they've only watched Connacht play interpros.

Well, six weeks after Gordon D'Arcy told us that Connacht would never have a better opportunity to win a trophy, it appears that Connacht have a better chance to win a trophy.

So what does D'Arcy think now ?

I hope Connacht’s rapid rise is sustainable but the chance of a trophy might not come around again for a while. Well, not until after the next World Cup.

Wake me up in four years so.

Then there's:

Many of Pat Lam’s squad have been forced to travel west from Dublin having been passed over by Leinster.......Healy is one of many “rejects” identified by Connacht, through his All-Ireland League (AIL) form, and given the opportunity to perform... AJ MacGinty is another to make it as a professional via USA at the World Cup....Then there are all those Kiwis. Jake Heenan and Tom McCartney were not deemed good enough or big enough for Super Rugby contracts but both should become Irish internationals over the coming seasons. Just like Finlay Bealham and Ultan Dillane – scandalously missed by Munster – did in 2016..... Even Aki was considered a one-season stopgap for the Chiefs, until Charlie Ngatai regained fitness, after Sonny Bill Williams returned to Rugby League.....What we have learned this season, beyond all debate, is that the player who is overlooked by the Leinster Academy must not lose heart

WTF?

I'm getting a bit sick of this. Why can no one write an article without telling us that Matt Healy played for Lansdowne or that Ultan Dillane is from Trallee?

Why do they never tell us that Eoin McKeon grew up across the road from the Sportsground? What about Denis Buckley? Tiernan O'Halloran? Sean O'Brien? Ronan Loughney? What about Robbie Henshaw Gordon? Why does no one ever mention that his Uncle played for Connacht?

EvoGeo wrote: Nice little podcast there. On a similar note does anyone have any good rugby podcasts they listen to on a regular basis?

I usually listen to the off the ball ones and used to listen to the rte ones (but they seem to have stopped for some reason?).

Well the Craggy Island Podcast obviously. When the dust settles I'm gonna go back and listen to every episode this season in order.

Rob and the Craggy Island crew have broadcast a show called Over the Line on Galway Bay on Thursday nights for the last few weeks as well. The episodes are available on the Galway Bay website, which actually streams quite well on an android phone. You can also stream the entire commentary from last saturday, which I did yesterday afternoon.

The Egg Chasers podcast is excellent (eggcellent?). It's two English guys and a Welsh guy who hates the Pro 12, so it's mostly centred on the Premiership, but they usually give the Pro 12 a mention and they've been effusive in their praise of Connacht all season. They've been paying more attention than most Irish journalists. They've been calling us the only rugby team in the pro 12 for months and in their last episode they toyed with the idea of getting the train to Edinburgh on saturday. They were dismayed to hear that Robbie was leaving us (as anyone who cared about Irish Rugby should have been).

I also listen to Second Captains out of habit, but it's pale shadow of their newstalk show. Patronising guff after interpros, but other than that they dedicated more air time to the golden State Warriors this season than Connacht. At various stages this year I recall Gerry Thornely describing Niyi as "the Nigerian winger whose name I'm not going to try to pronounce" and Simon Hick (in February this year) saying it was "innevitable really" that Connacht's best players would leave. That said, now that Thornely has gotten around to doing some research (which always seems to be centred upon players who came from outside of Connacht) they did do a good 20 / 30 minute piece on "the personal stories" behind Conancht's rise on their last episode.

I think the thing that annoys me about Second Captains is that they used to go find people who cared and had interesting stories to tell and allow them tell their stories. They could have sought out someone who knew something about what was going on, but (perhaps because it's an Irish Times Podcast) we've had to listen to someone who only ever visited the Sportsground for Interpros.

One in the Guardian from yesterday. Nice article, I suspect (or hope) it's been edited a bit from the original, because as Seapoint rightly points out BTL, it's got a bit of a glaring omission in that Eric Elwood doesn't get a mention....

www.theguardian.com/sport/behind-the-lin...rugby-union-leinster

Eggchaser is quite good- not big fans of the pro12 big they are big fans of Connacht, describing them as the "one real team" in the competition on the last pod.

Brian Moore's one is good too....name escapes me.

Nice little podcast there. On a similar note does anyone have any good rugby podcasts they listen to on a regular basis?

I usually listen to the off the ball ones and used to listen to the rte ones (but they seem to have stopped for some reason?).

www.todayfm.com/player/listen_back/7/293...h_Matt_Cooper_Part_1

From 14.40 onwards!

I think you're conflating two "rules":

(1) There is only supposed to be one NIQ/NIE player per 1-15 position across all three "established" provinces i.e. Leinster, Ulster. Munster. This doesn't apply to us as we're treated as a special case. Publicly announced, then flouted at TH (Herbst, Gravy Train), lock (VDM, Triggs, Chisholm), and scrum half (Pienaar, Gibson-Park).

(2) There is absolutely not supposed to be two NIQ/NIE players in the same position at one province (this one would be aimed at us as the other provinces are supposed to have only one player per position between them). Not previously publicly announced (thanks Pat), flouted by Leinster (Nacewa, Kirchner) and Munster (the aforementioned Gravy Train, Sagario) despite the fact that this breaks both rules.

There seems to be a general tightening up here since Nucifora came in - both foreign THs are leaving Munster AFAIK, and all three of the other provinces have been moaning about having signings like Moore and Vito vetoed (sorry) this year.

I'm still confused about the 2 NIQ players in same position rule, some have said the rules do not apply to Connacht. I suppose final word must come from Pat Lam where he told of his disappointment at having to let AJ go and pleading with Nucifora to make an exception.

thats some recommedation... ‘I’ve already told him he can sign for two years [at another club] and I’ll come back and get him, wherever I am, I’ll come get him’

In a way there's an irony in all this that his last game for connacht he'll be coming against Sexton, the guy he might of replaced if he hadn't gone the american route, and being a running out-half coming up against one of the best defensive out-halves in the game

Good Article on AJ and Pats attempts to keep him.
'I’ve told him I’ll come back and get him' - Connacht sorry MacGinty must leave
the42.ie/2784722