biffo77 wrote:

menacethedenis wrote: I'm delighted with the 5 points but this was one of the worst games I've ever seen up at the sportsground. Zebre were beyond awful. They couldn't get the most basic things right . I appreciate they were not full-strength but they were a disgrace and would make you fear for Italian rugby. I thought we were poor in general as well. If Zebre had anything about them we could have been in big trouble. So many unforced errors, predictable laboured passing and soft defence. I hope to god we were only playing what was in front of us and had one eye on the packed fixture list as we'll be beaten heavily if we play like that against Ospreys and Edinburgh. I thought Healy was the pick of the bunch but wouldn't for the life of me been able to pick a man of the match.

the problem is when a team doesn't want to play, it's hard to have a good match, Zebre seemed happy not be beaten heavily rather than try win themselves. That kills a game as a spectacle. We let them in for 2 soft enough tries, but in both cases, I think our guys just had switched of the alertness, from sheer "boredom".

Playing a team that wants to win, like the Ospreys, it should be a better spectacle as a fan.

But if you don't have the ruthless gene in you to punish lazy sides, you're going to struggle against the better ones.
A good side would have absolutely buried Zebre, not allow them a way back into the game.

I know Pat will say we had the bonus point and we have Ospreys the following week, but still and all I want to see the killer instinct in our Connacht sides. Creating major problems for good side for eighty minutes, and burying poor ones..

menacethedenis wrote: I'm delighted with the 5 points but this was one of the worst games I've ever seen up at the sportsground. Zebre were beyond awful. They couldn't get the most basic things right . I appreciate they were not full-strength but they were a disgrace and would make you fear for Italian rugby. I thought we were poor in general as well. If Zebre had anything about them we could have been in big trouble. So many unforced errors, predictable laboured passing and soft defence. I hope to god we were only playing what was in front of us and had one eye on the packed fixture list as we'll be beaten heavily if we play like that against Ospreys and Edinburgh. I thought Healy was the pick of the bunch but wouldn't for the life of me been able to pick a man of the match.

the problem is when a team doesn't want to play, it's hard to have a good match, Zebre seemed happy not be beaten heavily rather than try win themselves. That kills a game as a spectacle. We let them in for 2 soft enough tries, but in both cases, I think our guys just had switched of the alertness, from sheer "boredom".

Playing a team that wants to win, like the Ospreys, it should be a better spectacle as a fan.

of course until we come up against full teams we won't know how good the players are this season, i've seen Browne not perform against the better teams so will reserve judgment, but he has has a good start to the season. Ospreys match is a big one if we are to maintain momentum, they really have been playing poorly without all the 1st teamers as oppsosed to the Scarlets who have a few nuggets who have stepped up their game this season. and with edinburgh doing well also we need to win away, in fact are Edinburgh the new Glasgow?

I'm delighted with the 5 points but this was one of the worst games I've ever seen up at the sportsground. Zebre were beyond awful. They couldn't get the most basic things right . I appreciate they were not full-strength but they were a disgrace and would make you fear for Italian rugby. I thought we were poor in general as well. If Zebre had anything about them we could have been in big trouble. So many unforced errors, predictable laboured passing and soft defence. I hope to god we were only playing what was in front of us and had one eye on the packed fixture list as we'll be beaten heavily if we play like that against Ospreys and Edinburgh. I thought Healy was the pick of the bunch but wouldn't for the life of me been able to pick a man of the match.

I was really impressed with Rodney's performance.
I know I slatted him last year, but I thought he was back to his best, on Friday.

The return of form for Andrew Browne has probably been the highlight of the start of the season - he has been brilliant

16 points so far equivalent of 4 wins. We had the bonus point in the bag by half time without being anywhere near our best. Our ability to convert turnovers into a try at the other end was good to see. Overall though we were a bit loose on the evening, some cheap turnovers on our side too which a better team would have capitalised on. Conceded some silly penalties and conceded two tries to easily the weakest side we will play in the league this season and the less said about the 2nd half the better.

Good to see Conan O'Donnell get his debut and he did well at scrum time. Encouraging that we are giving lads like this a springboard. Hopefully get Ronan Loughney back shortly though to give us a bit more depth on the bench.

Atmosphere was flat, one to chalk down as job done and move on, we got the bench emptied early enough and we move on to Ospreys next week with a lot of work to do. With the form of Edinburgh and Scarlets, the next few games are taking on increasing significance to try and draw one or two of the usual top 5 into the battle for Top 6.

One game at a time........ Just take it one game at a time !

Carty not injured, he picked up a bug.

Job done on the game and bonus point, but disappointing 2nd half.

Should add that they are averaging a bonus point a game thus far, they really come in handy as they add up.

Anyone listening to the radio know what happened Carty?

Evil_g wrote: Strong team announced:

15. Tiernan O’Halloran
14. Danie Poolman
13. Rory Parata
12. Bundee Aki
11. Matt Healy
10. Jack Carty
9. Kieran Marmion

1. Denis Buckley
2. Tom McCartney
3. Rodney Ah You
4. Quinn Roux
5. Andrew Browne
6. John Muldoon (captain)
7. Nepia Fox-Matamua
8. Eoin McKeon

Replacements:

16. Shane Delahunt
17. Conan O’Donnell
18. Finlay Bealham
19. Aly Muldowney
20. Eoghan Masterson
21. John Cooney
22. Craig Ronaldson
23. Darragh Leader

Hopefully we'll get to see a bit more of O'Donnell.

Yes, hopefully the game will be secured early enough to get all three front row replacements a good run out. They will undoubtedly be needed over the course of the 16 game run considering the way injuries are playing out.

What's the story with Jason Harris-Wright? He was supposed to be back in September but now he's back on the injured / unavailable list. The injury list is high for this early in the season...

Strong team announced:

15. Tiernan O’Halloran
14. Danie Poolman
13. Rory Parata
12. Bundee Aki
11. Matt Healy
10. Jack Carty
9. Kieran Marmion

1. Denis Buckley
2. Tom McCartney
3. Rodney Ah You
4. Quinn Roux
5. Andrew Browne
6. John Muldoon (captain)
7. Nepia Fox-Matamua
8. Eoin McKeon

Replacements:

16. Shane Delahunt
17. Conan O’Donnell
18. Finlay Bealham
19. Aly Muldowney
20. Eoghan Masterson
21. John Cooney
22. Craig Ronaldson
23. Darragh Leader

Hopefully we'll get to see a bit more of O'Donnell.

Borders no.2 wrote: I've seen talks of rotating for this one but I'd go full strength, get the job done as early as possible and build momentum into Ospreys.

I'd agree Pat needs to name a team capable of collecting all 5 points here. Connacht will need to pick up all points possible if they are to improve on last season's finish. Sure it might be tempting to rotate some players in here considering Zebre are weakened and, as you say, it's the start of a good run of games, but no one should be too pushed at this point due to the nature of the schedule and with any luck the squad will be bolstered in the coming weeks by players returning from injury and the RWC.

With the World Cup coming into the business end this should hopefully be a good way to start the weekend.

After a stop start season to date, it starts to get into a flow now. This is the first of something like 15 or 16 weeks of games in a row.

Zebre have no points to date. They were trounced at Cardiff in week one but were more competitive losing away to Dragons (13-0) and home to Scarlets (8-20, led 8-6 at half time).

We collected all 10 points from the two games against Zebre last season and they are weakened heading into this one. It should be a win and hopefully a 5 pointer for us. I'd hope that we'd set some sort of target in defence too. We have conceded too many points to date. Important to keep Zebre to a low score with games likes Ospreys and Edinburgh coming up.

I've seen talks of rotating for this one but I'd go full strength, get the job done as early as possible and build momentum into Ospreys.