in all fairness we have only started winning games, people calling for more bonus points is a bit much. Maybe next year we can look at that but for the moment i delighted with the season so far

6 games in and half of last years point total already in the bag.

Interesting stat from the position table.

Ulster and ourselves have exactly the same record, 4 W, 1 D & 1 L. We have 18 points, they have 22. Just shows the importance of TB's and LB's

6 games, 12 points up on the same games last season.

I think we can all agree that this is good news

The spreadsheet is updated at the top of pages 1 and 2

sea_point wrote: The loss of two points in the final 15 minutes and our inability to secure as yet a single bonus point after five rounds has allowed Munster to move ahead and Scarlets to come alongside us in the table.

Totally agree about our bonus point drought, so maybe we should go easy on Mul for at least trying to kick start it.

Having said that we usually have plenty of losing bonus points, but our nail biters against Edinburgh and Leinster deprived us of two, but I'll take the wins!

I think it's fair to say that not since Ray Ofisa have we seen a player arrive who has had an instant impact in games. Heenan got close but i'm referring to a player like Rocky Elsom who led Leinster to a Heineken cup. That's what we'll need to finish in the Top 6. Failure for the 3 guys to be fit and ready at the start of November would be disastrous IMO.

ummm, wrote: Is it bad of me that I'm disappointed we're not +11?

No, not at all. Given the position we were in after 65 minutes on Friday night we should have been able to defend that lead at home.

The loss of two points in the final 15 minutes and our inability to secure as yet a single bonus point after five rounds has allowed Munster to move ahead and Scarlets to come alongside us in the table.

www.pro12rugby.com/matchcentre/table.php

Despite playing well generally and scoring three tries on Friday night we are not scoring enough points in games, as our point for/against position shows. With five games played we have scored 85 points ( or 17 per game) and have negative difference of -11. Our points per game ratio is a tiny fraction better than last seasons, but still in too many games we are a score away from losing especially given two thirds have been at home...

I worry also that when they actually become available we are really going to need our new our Kiwi trio to have to gel really quickly, I really hope they can have a positive impact in improving our forward momentum and our ability to get into positions to score and execute...

There could be a great opportunity during the autumn Internationals to savage a few sides an build up our bonus points collection and correspondingly also improve massively our points for/against ratio. Despite their current form, Ospreys will lose a fair number of players for our clash in Swansea. There's definitely an opportunity to ambush them there if we are positive, then we have much weakened Zebre & Scarlets at home during the period also. I really think we should be targeting 12/13 point from that trio of fixtures, despite the likely unavailability of Marmion and Henshaw with three fit S14 standard Kiwis on board.

ummm, wrote: Is it bad of me that I'm disappointed we're not +11?

Very understandable IMO. Sure, at the beginning of the season if you said Connacht would be +8 after 5 games with a good chance to be +9 to +12 after 6 I'd be very happy indeed. However, if you are targeting 55+ points you can't help but feel like Connacht lost out on 2-3 crucial points. Looking over the remaining games on CC's tables Connacht could reasonably expect to pick up 8 more points by seasons end which would put them on 51 points. So had they beaten Cardiff with maybe the TBP they would just need to scrounge up a couple of extra bonus points now they need an extra win. There are certainly games to pick it up maybe even Cardiff away in March but with it looking increasingly tricky to replicate 5 pointers (just wins will be tough) away to both Dragons and Zebre every point is important.

Is it bad of me that I'm disappointed we're not +11?

swift4prez wrote:

Shelflife wrote: 8 points extra based on last seasons table would leave us in 7th.

and scarlets are -3 points from the same games last season. That 11 points closed on the 20 point gap between both teams in last seasons table

Connacht came away with nothing from their trip to Treviso last season so there's a golden opportunity to close the gap further come Friday.

Shelflife wrote: 8 points extra based on last seasons table would leave us in 7th.

and scarlets are -3 points from the same games last season. That 11 points closed on the 20 point gap between both teams in last seasons table

8 points extra based on last seasons table would leave us in 7th.

Week 5 updated

We're 8 points better off than against the same games as last season. Lets not dwell on what should have been on Friday night

Updated for week 9

pinky wrote:

ConnachtCows wrote: Dont see an option for editing it, but I might just be missing something. I was planning on just uploading a new image each week, so if I have access to edit it, I will edit both the stats page and this thread

OK, I think you should be able to see it now. I made you the owner of it so once you're logged in, if you view the page there should be a cogwheel icon with an edit option in it.

Updated the spreadsheet. Can't see an edit button on the link, to update the stats page, sorry

Cogwheel only shows print and email

ConnachtCows wrote: Dont see an option for editing it, but I might just be missing something. I was planning on just uploading a new image each week, so if I have access to edit it, I will edit both the stats page and this thread

OK, I think you should be able to see it now. I made you the owner of it so once you're logged in, if you view the page there should be a cogwheel icon with an edit option in it.

pinky wrote: Nice one Cows. I created an article for this linked to on the stats menu.
connachtclan.com/stats/last-season-v-this-season
I just used the image from the post, but if you want to go in and edit it, it might be better to paste in the original spreadsheet to make it handier to update.
You should be able to edit the article, let me know if not.

Dont see an option for editing it, but I might just be missing something. I was planning on just uploading a new image each week, so if I have access to edit it, I will edit both the stats page and this thread