clanman wrote: I think he decided he was going to trust the players, a lot of ifs and buts, so who knows what would have happened I mean Blade would normally have been replaced at 60 mins, and we know what he did in the last few minutes.

You are generally not inclined to replace a player who is "in his state of grace" all along the game. Wheras Loughney.Connolly and Qualter were not, not bad at all, but Naoupu, McKeon and Buckley could have brought freshness. No more polemic, this team was happy after the missed pen, and that matters a lot too..

On behalf of the Clan Committee, can I say an enormous well done to all of you that made the journey at the weekend (and particularly to Martin Joyce in the kit van for safely delivering Seamus).

At the Ospreys match last year we hooked up with the North Wales Connacht Supporters Club and this weekend we were joined by the Connacht Supporters for the South and West for France, maybe we might see them again in La Rochelle.

I think he decided he was going to trust the players, a lot of ifs and buts, so who knows what would have happened I mean Blade would normally have been replaced at 60 mins, and we know what he did in the last few minutes.

Magpie wrote:

connachta wrote: I'd also like your opinion about Lam coaching
Obvious he wanted to preserve next week starters, but when Nikora made it 27-22, and even more after Blade try, he should have released McKeon Naoupu and Buckley for a single minute... The risk was high to concede a pen with tired 20 y old players who spent 79 minutes on an away field. And that's what happened.... All's well that ends well, but we can thank the poor Ugalde...

And if Lam had sent on McKeon, Naoupu and Buckley, and one of them conceded a penalty you'd be on here decrying Lam for a stupid decision to bring on cold players that were not up to the speed of the game and not in tune with the referee.

Finally your last line:
All's well that ends well, but we can thank the poor Ugalde
should read
All's well that ends well, and we can thank a magnificent performance from a team that many said could not get a result here.

No, no, you can disagree, but not accuse me of being dishonnest. A lot of poeple here have said the bench would have had a huge impact, and took it into account. I was screaming for substitutions at half time. So, frankly, if the replacements had conceded a pen, I'd have been disappointed alright, but at no point I would have said it was bad management, agaisnt my own initial opinion.

And this doesn't remove anything to our youngsters (and Swift ) who won the game, and would have won it too, even with "traditional" 60th minute subs.

connachta wrote: I'd also like your opinion about Lam coaching
Obvious he wanted to preserve next week starters, but when Nikora made it 27-22, and even more after Blade try, he should have released McKeon Naoupu and Buckley for a single minute... The risk was high to concede a pen with tired 20 y old players who spent 79 minutes on an away field. And that's what happened.... All's well that ends well, but we can thank the poor Ugalde...

And if Lam had sent on McKeon, Naoupu and Buckley, and one of them conceded a penalty you'd be on here decrying Lam for a stupid decision to bring on cold players that were not up to the speed of the game and not in tune with the referee.

Finally your last line:
All's well that ends well, but we can thank the poor Ugalde
should read
All's well that ends well, and we can thank a magnificent performance from a team that many said could not get a result here.

Loved Miah's reaction at the end of the game and his post match comment about captaining the side would probably be one of his proudest moments in his career. For someone who gets his fair share of stick, you have to think he could do a proper job for one of the French teams in D2 and with it being contract renewal time I wouldn't be surprised if someone did come in for him.

Agreed he's done everything asked for him in what must be a frustrating time for him. He's got a great attitude and did a great job for us down there in Bayonne.

Great result. Absolutely delighted with that win. With the side we put out I did fear the worst but what a boost that is to our challenge cup hopes and morale within the squad. Only saw the highlights and we got away with it to some extent but winning away in France with a 2nd/3rd string is an impressive result even if Bayonne were nowhere near full strength either.

Massive win with some great individual performances, thought Dave Heff, Muldowney and Faloon gave us a really solid platform upfront and the young(er) lads grew into the game in the 2nd half. Blade just seems to be on a different level, bodes well for the six nations.

Thought we were a little unlucky for their first two scores, but credit to the lads they kept plugging away. Have to hold my hands up thought we should have gone to the corner a couple of pens sooner than we did, but again fair play to the players they kept calm and the score ticking over when it mattered.

Looking through the photos on inphoe.ie, was good to see Heenan on the pitch on water detail, for someone so young he has some serious leadership potential.

Loved Miah's reaction at the end of the game and his post match comment about captaining the side would probably be one of his proudest moments in his career. For someone who gets his fair share of stick, you have to think he could do a proper job for one of the French teams in D2 and with it being contract renewal time I wouldn't be surprised if someone did come in for him.

Fair play to those who travelled over, picture on my stream might have been a bit dodgey but could hear the Connacht fans throughout, wished I was there.

How many more sleeps before Leinster?

I'd also like your opinion about Lam coaching
Obvious he wanted to preserve next week starters, but when Nikora made it 27-22, and even more after Blade try, he should have released McKeon Naoupu and Buckley for a single minute... The risk was high to concede a pen with tired 20 y old players who spent 79 minutes on an away field. And that's what happened.... All's well that ends well, but we can thank the poor Ugalde...

I watched the entire game once again

TBH a bit disappointed by Finn
Swift still has something in the powerhouse!
Healy and Ronaldson both did a lot of "unseen" work
Scrum was not as good as expected, lineout better than exp.

Homemade highlights here- just lost my youtube upload virginity-Turn down the volume - poor sound quality - and its in French

connachta wrote: I think it's clearly a 50/50, hope the home advantage won't infuence the ref..

It was very close indeed, and the ref was a little more by our side, it's rare, so I take this

Great for the confidence of our extended squad

Congrats. Great win.

Just checked the table. Win next one and home Qtr final is on. Anything can happen from there.

Incredible performance. Blade was sensational. Confidence will be sky high now throughout the squad for the interpros. Well done lads!

We were the better team in the first half and went in behind....second best in the second 40 and ended up winning.....odd game sometimes
As many have said we got some calls, the turnover scrum on our 5m was a howler. They'd marched us back about 5m at which point we illegally wheeled it, how he gave that to us I'll never know but I'll take it.

Some great performance, the obvious one is Blade, and good to see all 5 of the front rowers we used today are either current or past academy players

We can definitely count ourselves very lucky there, a lot of calls went our way, but Faloon and Blade were outstanding, Willie has to be starting 7 for the next run of games