If Pat Lam, Jimmy Duffy and the lads think there's enough to work with that's good enough for me. Heard a lot of questions asked when Nepia Fox was signed last season and while we didn't see much of him due to injury we saw enough to show it was a good signing. Let's wait and see.

Having said that, we're putting a big onus on Finlay Bealham. His improvement this season has been off the radar but he's going to have to up it again next season. Conor Carey and Dominic Robertson-McCoy will need to fill the void. Hopefully it'll work out. Pro 12 should be ok. In Europe we'll come under a bit of strain at scrum time you'd imagine.

Losing Marty Moore from Ireland has meant the market is tough as there's no tight head props available who'd be ready for this level. Look at Munster signing John Andress when they needed a big signing.

Hopefully a good lock to come in and anything after that would be a bonus.

Good point but personally I can't see him as anything other than a th really as he is not the most mobile unit and as he gets bigger thats not likely to change. He has excellent technique locking the scrum and real potential if he keeps progressing as a top class th.

As you say though we don't know where the coaches see him long term. I hope he makes it though, he seems a good lad.

EvoGeo wrote: Would O'Donnell not be ahead of him to start with?

O'Donnell got 1 minute at TH against Cardiff, his other 3 appearances (half an hour in all) were at LH, so I don't know if he's even being looked at for TH in the long term.

Any indication how long he's signed for, I'm guessing it 1 year development contract with a view for long term.

Would O'Donnell not be ahead of him to start with?

Re IQ I'd say we wouldnt have been allowed sign a non IQ in the th position anyway as it would have hindered Bealham, Carey and O'Donnell's prospects.

What I said BUT If White isn't there (fingers crossed), he doesn't have any time to settle. He'll be on the bench behind Carey (another newcomer) against Clermont or teams like that, if Bealham gets a knock. Tough.

He's only 22 lads lets give him some time to settle before we pass judgement.

The best point is Lam insisted on the fact he's an IQ, so it's very very likely we have room for our NIQ lock, coming for Aly

n°3, first hour of the game.


Not convinced by his scrum. Still young, room for improvement though.
Carey is more important now, could be our choice n°2, straight on the bench in September

I missed that. He must have something decent about him if Pat has secured him. Heenan Fox Bundee and McCartney are all superb for us.

From min 37 to 76 (look for n°18 again)
Under real pressure at scrum, but so was the n°3, the whole Northland scrum is mesy
Decent ball-carrier and correct tackler

salmson wrote: Pat always brings us back something when he goes on holidays.

Edit: made just 3 appearances for an absolutely appalling Northland team (played 10, lost 10) in last year's ITM Cup, so very much backup/potential signing I'd imagine. Pat sure likes his ambipropsterous front rows; this lad is a TH who can play LH, Loughs is a LH with significant TH experience, Tom Mc is a hooker who turned out to be a pretty damned handy emergency LH, and no less than 4 other senior props - Finlay, JP, Conan O'Donnell and the departed Rodney - played on both sides of the scrum last season.

Yep and not just the front rows, sure Aly Muldowney put in fairly decent shifts at Ten for most of the season and we had Bundee at Eight... :lol:

See who the guy is and make your opinion . Came in after 62 min of the game

salmson wrote:

FACECUTTR wrote: Blues development side and ITM which is a but like pro 12 level.

Second division ITM, so more like AIL level. Same goes for the Blues development side I'd say, given the record of the seniors the last few years.

Northland finished last of 2nd division aswell, losing all 10 games and only getting 1BP throughout the season..
As far as I see, he played 3 times for Northland last season: rugby.statbunker.com/players/SeasonMatch...mps_type=-1&dates=-1

FACECUTTR wrote: Blues development side and ITM which is a but like pro 12 level.

Second division ITM, so more like AIL level. Same goes for the Blues development side I'd say, given the record of the seniors the last few years.

wp_rathead wrote: Connacht Rugby and the IRFU are pleased to announce the recruitment of Irish qualified, tighthead prop Dominic Robertson-McCoy from New Zealand.

The 22-year-old, who has played for the Auckland Blues Development side as well as Northland in
the ITM cup, will arrive for pre-season in July and will boost Pat Lam’s front row options for the new season.

Robertson-McCoy is Irish qualified through his grandfather who hails from Drumgane, Mowhan, Co Armagh.

Commenting on the new signing, head coach Pat Lam said:

“I first saw Dominic as he came through the Auckland Schools system and played for the Blues U18 in NZ. He is a young prop who can play on both sides of the scrum and I believe he has huge potential. I know he will continue to thrive and develop in a fulltime professional environment which will be very beneficial for Connacht and Irish Rugby. We’re looking forward to getting him over for the pre-season as we build towards the start of a new season in both the PRO12 and European Champions Cup.”

Yeeeeeees! A lock now and we're ok, more would be bonus