clanman wrote: calling for change at 10 is over-reacting, take stock of what we have done this season, we're 6th in the league, we could easlily have picked up a win against either Lieinster or Ulster, before that we'd lost damn all games. I know improvements should always be looked for but Carty has to be kept for at least the next couple of games.

I don't think it is over-reacting. What you are talking about above is what we have achieved this year as a team. However, looking at Carty individually, he has started all bar two or three of our fixtures so far this season so its not like he's being judged over a handful of games. If he starts on Thursday I have no major problem as I amn't overly convinced by Ronaldson as an option at 10 but I think its fair at this stage for supporters to be questioning if he is what we need at 10.

The IMF wrote:

sea_point wrote: Ronaldson has to be given a fair chance too…...

That got me thinking how much game time has Ronaldson actually seen at 10 this season in the Pro12?

Carty has played in every single Pro12 game this term, and from what I can remember has played at 10 throughout (but I'm open to correction on that) for a total of 792 mins. 10 Starts + 1 Sub. Of Carty's 10 Starts, 8 of them have been for the whole 80mins.

Nikora has played in 2 games both at 10 - total of 78 mins. 1 Start + 1 Sub.

Ronaldson has played in 8 games this season but from memory his only appearance at 10 was replacing Carty against Ulster for a total of 10 mins. 0 Starts at 10 + 1 Sub at 10. (289 mins in total 3 Starts + 5 Sub).

At the halfway stage of the season it would be a massive change in direction from Lam if Ronaldson was now handed the reins at 10. I can't make my mind up, do we continue with the investment in Carty? Or if we're not going to have a proper look at Craig now, when do we?

It may very well be, but we signed him as a 10 and occasional centre. It doesn't matter a damn really what point of the season it is at if there is a problem with our backs executing (there patently is). I really hope Pat isn't going to have a Brendan Rodgers type blind-spot (over Mignolet) with Ronaldson. He may not be the second coming of Christ, but he should be at least given equal opportunity to succeed or fail...

Jack has been steeped this season to play with a largely healthy squad and with the benefit of Muliaina's experience guiding him and more recently Bundee's presence. Last season Craig had the Dan Park's that was playing his way out of a contract extension and a squad that was so injury ravaged that it went on a ten game losing streak in the first half of the season, after Christmas he got bugger all game time...

Personally I feel Ronaldson has more to offer potentially if he's given the chance and backing to show it, and if giving him another decent shot at the 10 jersey shifts up our attacking threat then I'm sorry but Jack should just have to suck it up and address the parts of his game that clearly need improving. No one at this stage is playing with anywhere near enough authority to have a divine right to the 10 jersey, that's for sure...

calling for change at 10 is over-reacting, take stock of what we have done this season, we're 6th in the league, we could easlily have picked up a win against either Lieinster or Ulster, before that we'd lost damn all games. I know improvements should always be looked for but Carty has to be kept for at least the next couple of games.

sea_point wrote: Ronaldson has to be given a fair chance too…...

That got me thinking how much game time has Ronaldson actually seen at 10 this season in the Pro12?

Carty has played in every single Pro12 game this term, and from what I can remember has played at 10 throughout (but I'm open to correction on that) for a total of 792 mins. 10 Starts + 1 Sub. Of Carty's 10 Starts, 8 of them have been for the whole 80mins.

Nikora has played in 2 games both at 10 - total of 78 mins. 1 Start + 1 Sub.

Ronaldson has played in 8 games this season but from memory his only appearance at 10 was replacing Carty against Ulster for a total of 10 mins. 0 Starts at 10 + 1 Sub at 10. (289 mins in total 3 Starts + 5 Sub).

At the halfway stage of the season it would be a massive change in direction from Lam if Ronaldson was now handed the reins at 10. I can't make my mind up, do we continue with the investment in Carty? Or if we're not going to have a proper look at Craig now, when do we?

GTTC wrote: Just have to mention it again, Dillane was savage. Another youngster with Huge potential.

Agreed it was only rewatching the game I noticed how much work he got through. His last contribution just before he came off was pretty impressive stuff. He was injured on the side of the pitch and receiving treatment (looked in a fairly bad way from the few previous rucks) but got up mid-treatment to make a tackle when Ulster had numbers on the blind side.

Just have to mention it again, Dillane was savage. Another youngster with Huge potential.

clanman wrote: to be fair to Carty he's not the reason we have lost a few games recently, ok we all knew going into this season that not having an experienced 10 was going to make life tough for us but Carty has done ok for us if you take into consideration his and the teams performamces in all the games we've played up till now. At the start of the season i was keen to see Ronaldson have a crack at it however having seen a couple of his appearances at 10 I just don't think he can manage a game, he keeps the ball in hand and either won't or can't kick for territory and his passing out of hand seems a bit slow.

Really depends on how you're measuring. But if you're saying that he's got what is potentially a very tasty back line firing, then that simply is not true. Flyhalves need to to do more than just shovel the ball on or kick it away, both nine and ten need to keep their opponents guessing and Jack is being figured out by opponents defences much too easily.

I'm a pro-Ronaldson, didn't play enough at 10 to judge him, has to be tried.
But I conced 1 thing to Carty : except his unforgivable error against scarlets, he is clinical under high balls.

to be fair to Carty he's not the reason we have lost a few games recently, ok we all knew going into this season that not having an experienced 10 was going to make life tough for us but Carty has done ok for us if you take into consideration his and the teams performamces in all the games we've played up till now. At the start of the season i was keen to see Ronaldson have a crack at it however having seen a couple of his appearances at 10 I just don't think he can manage a game, he keeps the ball in hand and either won't or can't kick for territory and his passing out of hand seems a bit slow.

For me, mobility is linked with those extra 3-4 m... My model for Connacht isn't Munster, but rather Glasgow. Nakarawa, Kellock, and their whole front row aren't particulary strong and powerful. They're just in the ruck at the right time, doing the right thing...Heenan is this kind of guy, the article where he spoke about his positioning summed up what the personal work ethic should be...

PS : just for those who missed it

If it hasn’t been a lifetime of practice, how is it that Heenan looks so comfortable around the breakdown and in is rucking? The 22-year-old explains that he has his own methods of refining those technical skills.

“I like to do a lot of training at walking pace, a lot of contact training at a slow walk. It’s quite strange, I suppose, but it’s almost a trigger in your head and a little bit of muscle memory, and you’re not bashing yourself around during the week.

The big ones would be the jackal ball and the arrow ball. I like to get myself in different positions and just feel where my feet are strongest, feel my body like that and almost just move around until I find a position that’s my strongest to stay there.

“Boys are coming in, trying to get rid of you and you’re in your strongest position. I like to do that a few times until I can get in that position quickly. In a game, someone gets pulled down and you can just snap straight down into that position.”

Heenan clicks his fingers as he describes the sensation of clamping down over the ball for a steal or hitting a ruck in attack, his determination to win those contests coming across even in a relaxed setting at Connacht’s Sportsground headquarters.

He watches fellow professionals closely, “sees things other players do,” and then attempts to add those abilities to his repertoire. As with any New Zealander, and most self-respecting back rows in the world, Richie McCaw is always a fascinating subject to study.

www.thescore.ie/jake-heenan-connacht-dragons-1657187-Sep2014/

connachta wrote:

The Outlaw wrote:

clanman wrote: I'm going to suggest again that henshaw should play at 15 for the Munster game regardless of Schmidt opinons, let him play at centre against edinburgh and exeter.

Not going to happen. You'd have to be happy with a BP last night. We haven't the pack yet to really win games against the Top 5.

I'd argue a lot of the backine dysfunctionality comes from a lack of carriers in the pack . Outside george and Mc Carthney they don't carry their weight in contact well- as a result teams know its all coming through the backs

That's why I said it's a backline AND backrow disfunctionality. Faloon is ok, but with Heenan at 7, Masterson at 6, we'll have the required mobility... Buckley is great already, he can't do everything everytime...

Mobility isn't my issue. Raw prime beef is and we don't have enough of it to do the heavy lifting in terms of making those 3-4 metres hard yards.

The IMF wrote:

Decadence wrote: Carty kicks the ball away at every opportunity.

at the risk of being accused of being the chairman of the 'Jack Carty Defence League'... just to look at Dec's point and compare it to the espn Kick / Pass / Run stats which are not 100% accurate from previous experience but will do as a basis for comparison between Carty and Jackson.

www.espn.co.uk/scrum/rugby/match/233331.html

FH Carty 14/19/6 - kick % of possession =36%
FH Jackson 14/13/8 - k%p = 40%

I'm going to re-watch the game again today sober so maybe I missed a lot of Carty's mistakes. I'm not trying to knock people's opinions but I do think it's quite telling that observations seem to be made on Jack's performance after games that maybe seem a little harsh.

You're missing some critical stats for both fh's. Metres run:

Jackson made 8 for 38m
Carty made 6 for 5m (five just in case anyone thinks it's a typo)...

Personally as I posted elsewhere I am not at all convinced by Carty, decent hands but lacks the physicality to keep defences interested and when going gets tough he looks for the easy out. Couple of cross field kicks too early in the phases that were nowhere near accurate enough. There was also a period of successive kicks to nowhere in the second half that should have seen him called ashore, but Lam persisted with him for far too long IMO. Ronaldson has to be given a fair chance too…

I think Carty's inability to test the defence more is making us too predictable and is denying critical space for those outside him as the defence knows it doesn't have to hold but can push up and out every time and get the extra man out to defend the resulting McShaz/Robbie/Bundee carry....

Certainly our tries for column doesn't lie....

I'd be critical of Darragh too who butchered probably our best move of the game when Dani gutted the Ulster line, instead of maintaining his momentum in support of Dani he slowed right down in anticipation of the pass which gave critical milliseconds for the Ulster defence to line him up. If he'd kept his speed up he would most likely have punched his way through and over for a try....

Critical errors made all the way through the match. Also Kieran needs to get back to playing regularly as well. Absolutely no decking point in him being involved in the Ireland camp if he's not getting enough rugby and his form suffers (as it seems to be at the moment)...

The Outlaw wrote:

clanman wrote: I'm going to suggest again that henshaw should play at 15 for the Munster game regardless of Schmidt opinons, let him play at centre against edinburgh and exeter.

Not going to happen. You'd have to be happy with a BP last night. We haven't the pack yet to really win games against the Top 5.

I'd argue a lot of the backine dysfunctionality comes from a lack of carriers in the pack . Outside george and Mc Carthney they don't carry their weight in contact well- as a result teams know its all coming through the backs

That's why I said it's a backline AND backrow disfunctionality. Faloon is ok, but with Heenan at 7, Masterson at 6, we'll have the required mobility... Buckley is great already, he can't do everything everytime...

I'd argue a lot of the backine dysfunctionality comes from a lack of carriers in the pack . Outside george and Mc Carthney they don't carry their weight in contact well- as a result teams know its all coming through the backs

Good point. Aki can break the line but we don't seem to run lines off him. Would like to see the likes of Buckley who is so mobile and has the heft to carry more but it's something we might need to rectify next season with new signings.

clanman wrote: I'm going to suggest again that henshaw should play at 15 for the Munster game regardless of Schmidt opinons, let him play at centre against edinburgh and exeter.

Not going to happen. You'd have to be happy with a BP last night. We haven't the pack yet to really win games against the Top 5.

I'd argue a lot of the backine dysfunctionality comes from a lack of carriers in the pack . Outside george and Mc Carthney they don't carry their weight in contact well- as a result teams know its all coming through the backs

I'm going to suggest again that henshaw should play at 15 for the Munster game regardless of Schmidt opinons, let him play at centre against edinburgh and exeter.