At least it's is easy to understand : Buckley, Browne and Ronaldson MUST be fit for Champions Cup. The 12 talented players around then will express themselves, I'm 100% confident about it

Glasgow, Ospreys & Leinster in particularly brought high line speed & intensity with increased physicality at the breakdown.
They managed to disrupt the Connacht attack to great effect leading to multiple handling errors & basic mistakes that increased hugely the longer the games went on.
Frustration then leads to more & more inaccuracy & mistakes are punished and before you know it you're chasing a game you should have put to bed and in so doing mistakes multiply & the margin gets bigger & bigger
Last year Muldowney was not only the best guy on the field at linking the play, the guy never seemed to panic & his standards were consistently brilliant for the full time he was playing (Full 80 mins. in most games & very low injury rate. But also McGinty's ability not only as a second link man, but in exposing the vulnerabilities of the high speed pressing defence by quickly identifying and exploiting the smallest weakness.
A static attack was back on the front foot again & the defence was left scrambling to find it's shape & plug the gaps.
This year Ronaldson's been the only effective link player on the pitch and good as he's been, he missed the start of the season & was injured after 12 mins. or so against Leinster.
Brown has made a huge difference to the pack but he's not a replacement for Muldowney. That's not a criticism, I mean off hand I can't think of many locks in world rugby that could replace Muldowney & none of them are available.
Connacht have one of the hardest attacks to defend against of any club in the Northern Hemisphere but only when it's firing on all cylinders with multiple link players. Reduce it to one & we're far less effective and by one more & the opposition's high speed pressing defence will push us backwards very quickly. Add in the hugh holes at LH prop in particular & to a lesser extent at TH without Buckley & Finlay and the scrum & line out is in trouble.
If staying at the same level is going backwards then we badly need reinforcements in key positions (Either from the academy if they're available or brought in if not) to avoid a fate worse than going backwards.

Re game plan half decent rush defences have caught us out. sure even without Browne and Ronaldson we should have beaten dragons they really aren't a good team. We look like Connacht of two years ago so much looking like it will work but not clicking

connemara man wrote:

phatguerilla wrote: I didn't get to see the Dragons game of course but I can only imagine the reportedly rudderless gameplay was only reinforced by losing Browne who has been a decision maker in the pack? Like everyone I wasn't happy to see the players leave that did go, but if the players who are replacing them are close to the same quality its not such a big issue. If we're replacing key players in positions fundamental to our gameplan, who previously were capable of playing 28+ games a season, with injury prone players, then that's a real concern.

Isn't there a saying that if you aren't improving you are falling behind. I kinda feel that's happening to Connacht this year. We haven't improved on the quality that has left in so much as that the people stepping up are good but the rung below that aren't as good and that's a big issue. And as far as I can tell the game plan is more or less the same. So as teams adjust to how we play we still need to evolve to keep improving

Grif didn't really do much at LI. Any reason to believe his return to Connacht would prove different. Yet the potential is there with Parata and O'Leary (parata in particular). Ili and Kelleher have been great signings. The loss of Buckley, McCartney and Bealham is unescapable. The fact that Browne is learning a trade is obvious. The fact that Jack doesn't rate is there to be seen.

Even worse is that if Browne gets injured (as he is now) then we have no replacement. So we are in a shaky position. There are some crucial positions on the field and these positions are filled by players either learning a trade or simply not good enough to ply that trade. The gameplan is the Connacht gameplan. I don't agree that the gameplan is our failing. We really have player issues.

phatguerilla wrote: I didn't get to see the Dragons game of course but I can only imagine the reportedly rudderless gameplay was only reinforced by losing Browne who has been a decision maker in the pack? Like everyone I wasn't happy to see the players leave that did go, but if the players who are replacing them are close to the same quality its not such a big issue. If we're replacing key players in positions fundamental to our gameplan, who previously were capable of playing 28+ games a season, with injury prone players, then that's a real concern.

Isn't there a saying that if you aren't improving you are falling behind. I kinda feel that's happening to Connacht this year. We haven't improved on the quality that has left in so much as that the people stepping up are good but the rung below that aren't as good and that's a big issue. And as far as I can tell the game plan is more or less the same. So as teams adjust to how we play we still need to evolve to keep improving

I didn't get to see the Dragons game of course but I can only imagine the reportedly rudderless gameplay was only reinforced by losing Browne who has been a decision maker in the pack? Like everyone I wasn't happy to see the players leave that did go, but if the players who are replacing them are close to the same quality its not such a big issue. If we're replacing key players in positions fundamental to our gameplan, who previously were capable of playing 28+ games a season, with injury prone players, then that's a real concern.

Mark Mostyn wrote: Is it just me or has the decent rugby we've played this year corresponded almost exactly with the time Ronaldson has been on pitch?

Yeah, became abundantly clear when he came off in the Leinster game. Not saying Connacht would have won had he been able to see out the whole game, but they lost their way without him and the Dragon's game only seems to reinforce the fact.

Is it just me or has the decent rugby we've played this year corresponded almost exactly with the time Ronaldson has been on pitch?

connachta wrote: Did Cannon actually play bad?

Look we have to remember who was on the field
4 players just out of Academies and probably considered 3rd choices in September
6 players loaned/unused/released by their ex-club (Leinster, Ulster, Munster, Wasps)
exhausted Captain who played 600 minutes within two months at nearly 34 y.o
contested fly-half (If not Boshoff wouldn't have been signed)
two ex club-rugby wingers
2 puppy props and a converted baby scrumhalf on the bench
No disrespect, they actually did the job as much we can expect (a BP)

But what matters is who's gonna be back to help them for Wasps
a turnover and scrum machine LH
a lineout stabilizer
international TH, SH and Lock who faces All-Black tonight + a Springbok
Dawai and SOB, ball carriers that will lighten the pressure in case of rush defence
Ronaldson simply the main pivot point of our game
And maybe Healy, Cooney, Matamua, Poolman, and Masterson if you're still not happy enough
They have by far the ability to beat Wasps, it is just about Lam to help the process to succeed

The team we put out should have beaten the team Dragons put out

Dannie played 20 minutes in Parma for Champions Cup. The commentator was unable to know who he is because of a jersey without number
Just has to gain Lam confidence again, if he wants a new contract...

What's the story with Poolman. Not in squad or on injured list?

Did Cannon actually play bad?

Look we have to remember who was on the field
4 players just out of Academies and probably considered 3rd choices in September
6 players loaned/unused/released by their ex-club (Leinster, Ulster, Munster, Wasps)
exhausted Captain who played 600 minutes within two months at nearly 34 y.o
contested fly-half (If not Boshoff wouldn't have been signed)
two ex club-rugby wingers
2 puppy props and a converted baby scrumhalf on the bench
No disrespect, they actually did the job as much we can expect (a BP)

But what matters is who's gonna be back to help them for Wasps
a turnover and scrum machine LH
a lineout stabilizer
international TH, SH and Lock who faces All-Black tonight + a Springbok
Dawai and SOB, ball carriers that will lighten the pressure in case of rush defence
Ronaldson simply the main pivot point of our game
And maybe Healy, Cooney, Matamua, Poolman, and Masterson if you're still not happy enough
They have by far the ability to beat Wasps, it is just about Lam to help the process to succeed

seems like in most positions we're just a few injuries away from being completely wiped out.

In theory would have been McCartney but..
Him out + Buckley + White + Bealham + Lough + 6 Academy props, I wonder if medical joker can be still be lent by another province for a very short-term (à la Borlase/Gilsenan). If so we should ask, we have a critical enough situation...

FACECUTTR wrote: That injury list is horrible especially the front row. JP loose head and Carey tight head with DR MCCOY on bench and hope JP makes 80. Not ideal at all with Dr McCoy not really cutting it just yet.

Seems Bucks won't make it so it will be interesting to see what we do for LH cover.

That injury list is horrible especially the front row. JP loose head and Carey tight head with DR MCCOY on bench and hope JP makes 80. Not ideal at all with Dr McCoy not really cutting it just yet.