Why isnt Conor Mckeown being considered at out half ? He has loads of experience there and has been training with the squad the whole time.

overstrander wrote: To my mind, this makes no sense at all, can anyone give a good reason for this? He's NIQ, so what? It was for three weeks...

Who knows as regards the IRFU. From Lam's side, he's handed in his notice, he doesn't need to play nicely with the IRFU anymore. Whether this is an attempt to pressure the IRFU into helping us out more, or getting his excuses in early for a second string side getting a thumping in Swansea, is entirely down to your interpretation.

tlocke wrote:

overstrander wrote: To my mind, this makes no sense at all, can anyone give a good reason for this? He's NIQ, so what? It was for three weeks...

I wonder are we hearing the full story here .... I'd be shocked if it is the case, as it makes no sense what so ever. I'm expecting the IRFU to make an announcement (explanation) regarding Pat's comment.

I wonder if Pat is trying to build an "us against the world" mentality.

Might be the shackles are off now that Pat is not going to be working in the system for the next few years and maybe he is showing his frustration at all the ills the irfu have inflicted on Connacht from:

not allowing us give muldowney more than 1 year contract,

not allowing us keep AJ when we clearly don't have adequate cover in the position,

sending our cover th to ulster when there was grave question marks over white,

henshaw being shipped to leinster instead of being given a bumper central contract at connacht,

not being able to replace coaches going back to NZ (not sure if promotion from within was enforced here but I have my suspicions?),

not being given adequate budget to replace a player of henshaw quality in centre or muldowney in the second row. Pat seemed very frustrated going into the season and I have a feeling he had a marquee signing lined up for second row and maybe centre too that was not backed by the irfu.

Maybe Pat is just free to push back now that he doesn't have to worry about working within the system any more. It would be interesting to get the inside track on what really happened with all of the situations above as well as others I have surely missed and probably some others we don't even know about.

overstrander wrote: To my mind, this makes no sense at all, can anyone give a good reason for this? He's NIQ, so what? It was for three weeks...

I wonder are we hearing the full story here .... I'd be shocked if it is the case, as it makes no sense what so ever. I'm expecting the IRFU to make an announcement (explanation) regarding Pat's comment.

I wonder if Pat is trying to build an "us against the world" mentality.

To my mind, this makes no sense at all, can anyone give a good reason for this? He's NIQ, so what? It was for three weeks...

Ok let me get my head around this Munster are allowed to retain Taute for season and change his position from centre to full back in order to push the decision through yet we aren't allowed bring in a guy for 3 weeks because he is NIQ and better still wouldn't cost any money! I'm struggling to get my head around this one.

IRFU turn down Pat Lam's move to bring in his son as temporary cover
the42.ie/3168849

columoc wrote:

connachta wrote: Oh FFS That's enough IRFU can let us struggling with 1 flyhalf out of 4, but not with nil :ohmy: :sick:
Blade as 10, even with Cooney back to kick, would be a disaster. Give Cathal Marsh a 1 month Contract/loan and avoid diving into nonsense
.

Not Cathal Marsh; please.
If pushed, Parata was a 10.

We've had Poolman 12 it was a disaster, let's try this, maybe it will convince once for all NOT to play anyone out of position, whatever they did underage.
Except Bundee and Buckley who can play everywhere

connachta wrote: Oh FFS That's enough IRFU can let us struggling with 1 flyhalf out of 4, but not with nil :ohmy: :sick:
Blade as 10, even with Cooney back to kick, would be a disaster. Give Cathal Marsh a 1 month Contract/loan and avoid diving into nonsense
.

Not Cathal Marsh; please.
If pushed, Parata was a 10.

Oh FFS That's enough IRFU can let us struggling with 1 flyhalf out of 4, but not with nil :ohmy: :sick:
Blade as 10, even with Cooney back to kick, would be a disaster. Give Cathal Marsh a 1 month Contract/loan and avoid diving into nonsense

Good news is Fox may be back for Toulouse then.

wp_rathead wrote: The Connacht lads didn't celebrate through a Funeral en route from Knock Airport to Galway after Pro12 Final did they?
Injury curse continues:
Dillane, ankle, 5-6 weeks
Muldoon hamstring
Fox dislocated Rib
Carty injured thigh at Irish Training Camp (Fair play to his call up BTW)
Blade in line to play OH if Jack doesn't recover

Some detail/updates:
Dillane - 5/6 weeks is best case scenario.
Carty - calf injury, not thigh.
Fox-Matamua - you can't dislocate a rib, but the term is often (mis-)used to mean less serious damage to ligaments surrounding a rib, rather than a broken or bruised rib.
Best case we have 4 in, 3 out, but I don't see them risking Carty in which case it's likely to be as-you-were numbers wise.

www.the42.ie/ultan-dillane-injury-irelan...utm_source=shortlink
www.connachtrugby.ie/squad-update-ahead-...game-8/#ConnachtNews

The Connacht lads didn't celebrate through a Funeral en route from Knock Airport to Galway after Pro12 Final did they?
Injury curse continues:
Dillane, ankle, 5-6 weeks
Muldoon hamstring
Fox dislocated Rib
Carty injured thigh at Irish Training Camp (Fair play to his call up BTW)
Blade in line to play OH if Jack doesn't recover

clanman wrote:

sea_point wrote:

clanman wrote: I doubt Aly will follow Pat, one thing I am critical of Pat for is how he singled out Aly for criticism. that didn't go unnoticed\unforgotten by him or his family and i'm fairly sure it was a factor in him leaving us

Absolute nonsense, dont make unsubstantiated claims. Give us one example of where Pat has criticised his players publicly or singled out a player for criticism. He just doesn't...

What as head coach he says privately to any player us up to him, but given his attention to detail and that of his coaches you can be sure that any criticism is backed up by solid evidence and delivered as a "learning" as the players and coaches referred to their feedback.

There are many reasons why Muldowney could move back to England. One of the biggest being he is from Staffordshire which is about 90 minutes drive from Bristol. And if FCG don't avoid relegation this season there will be a clear out regardless of length of contract signed, they are not a super-rich club despite the fancy stadium which is owned by the City of Grenoble.

maybe you have forgotten or didn't see it reported at the time but Pat singled out Aly at the web conference about a year ago, in fact it was a damning critiscm so much so that Aly's wife saw fit to make a comment on twitter with her outrage at her man being singled out. I could be wrong but I think it would have been around the time that Aly would have been deciding on his future and we know where that ended up.

I'm just stating the facts as I know them and also I wouldn't drag in a current player into such a conversation but I think the loss of Aly is so accutely being felt that a reason for him leaving could be apportioned to what happened or at least be one of the reasons he left.

The reasons behind Aly leaving were several, but mainly related to his age and the IRFU restrictions on contract lengths for IQ players over 30. Grenoble came in with a three year offer on more money and Aly is intelligent enough to know that he is only one injury away from his Rugby career being over. That is the reality of the situation, the notion that he considered leaving because of being pulled up for a below par performance against Edinburgh is ludicrous.

And actually Sam didn't comment, she just re-tweeted a post by the42 which stated:

Interesting from Lam talking about a second-rower who is 'high' on tackle count but 'low' on quality so dropped this week

If you want the context of that reference.... following the Edinburgh game Pat was asked at the team announcement for the Treviso game why Aly was on the bench given Aly had been one of the players higher up the tackle count that previous week.

A. Tackle count is not the default measurement for coaches of a players performance.
B. Aly had missed the start of the season with Ankle stabilisation surgery (as did Quinn) and had only his first start the previous week after a couple of runs form the bench. Browner was the de-facto starter from Game One and Quinn/Aly shared the other slot as they worked back to match fitness/form.Ben Marshall was fit for about two weeks, George out of favour and Ultan considered too raw at that point.
C. In the Edinburgh game, he had started but been subbed just after half time for Quinn. Then Quinn injured his ankle again towards the end and Aly came back on.
D. In the next game, a gimme at home against Treviso with Roux and Marshall crocked longer term and Ultan needing game time, Aly was switched to the bench and Ultan and Browner started.

Pat and Jimmy know exactly what they want from their forwards and last season there was no inkling form any quarter that there was unrest from any one player in the pack.
Certainly Aly (apart from two game the rest of the season where he was rested, and run from the bench) just got better and better as the season wore on and his fitness had returned, not the sign of a man who was harbouring a grudge.......

sea_point wrote:

clanman wrote: I doubt Aly will follow Pat, one thing I am critical of Pat for is how he singled out Aly for criticism. that didn't go unnoticed\unforgotten by him or his family and i'm fairly sure it was a factor in him leaving us

Absolute nonsense, dont make unsubstantiated claims. Give us one example of where Pat has criticised his players publicly or singled out a player for criticism. He just doesn't...

What as head coach he says privately to any player us up to him, but given his attention to detail and that of his coaches you can be sure that any criticism is backed up by solid evidence and delivered as a "learning" as the players and coaches referred to their feedback.

There are many reasons why Muldowney could move back to England. One of the biggest being he is from Staffordshire which is about 90 minutes drive from Bristol. And if FCG don't avoid relegation this season there will be a clear out regardless of length of contract signed, they are not a super-rich club despite the fancy stadium which is owned by the City of Grenoble.

maybe you have forgotten or didn't see it reported at the time but Pat singled out Aly at the web conference about a year ago, in fact it was a damning critiscm so much so that Aly's wife saw fit to make a comment on twitter with her outrage at her man being singled out. I could be wrong but I think it would have been around the time that Aly would have been deciding on his future and we know where that ended up.

I'm just stating the facts as I know them and also I wouldn't drag in a current player into such a conversation but I think the loss of Aly is so accutely being felt that a reason for him leaving could be apportioned to what happened or at least be one of the reasons he left.

sea_point wrote:

clanman wrote: I doubt Aly will follow Pat, one thing I am critical of Pat for is how he singled out Aly for criticism. that didn't go unnoticed\unforgotten by him or his family and i'm fairly sure it was a factor in him leaving us

Absolute nonsense, dont make unsubstantiated claims. Give us one example of where Pat has criticised his players publicly or singled out a player for criticism. He just doesn't...

What as head coach he says privately to any player us up to him, but given his attention to detail and that of his coaches you can be sure that any criticism is backed up by solid evidence and delivered as a "learning" as the players and coaches referred to their feedback.

There are many reasons why Muldowney could move back to England. One of the biggest being he is from Staffordshire which is about 90 minutes drive from Bristol. And if FCG don't avoid relegation this season there will be a clear out regardless of length of contract signed, they are not a super-rich club despite the fancy stadium which is owned by the City of Grenoble.

Thanks for the voice of reason and sensibility Seapoint..

Am I the only one tired of the negativity and personal remarks lately..

Let's get back to positive criticism, analysis and support for our team.. sometimes plans don't come together, but the most of us will still be taking our usual spots whether in the Main (Eric Elwood) Stand- my fervent wish- or Clan Stand..

Looking forward to the squad getting back to health and winning ways in 2017

clanman wrote: I doubt Aly will follow Pat, one thing I am critical of Pat for is how he singled out Aly for criticism. that didn't go unnoticed\unforgotten by him or his family and i'm fairly sure it was a factor in him leaving us

Absolute nonsense, dont make unsubstantiated claims. Give us one example of where Pat has criticised his players publicly or singled out a player for criticism. He just doesn't...

What as head coach he says privately to any player us up to him, but given his attention to detail and that of his coaches you can be sure that any criticism is backed up by solid evidence and delivered as a "learning" as the players and coaches referred to their feedback.

There are many reasons why Muldowney could move back to England. One of the biggest being he is from Staffordshire which is about 90 minutes drive from Bristol. And if FCG don't avoid relegation this season there will be a clear out regardless of length of contract signed, they are not a super-rich club despite the fancy stadium which is owned by the City of Grenoble.

clanman wrote: I doubt Aly will follow Pat, one thing I am critical of Pat for is how he singled out Aly for criticism. that didn't go unnoticed\unforgotten by him or his family and i'm fairly sure it was a factor in him leaving us

Agreed, never quite understood that viewpoint by pat