Naulia Dawai scored 1 try so far in the Semi. 20 to go

salmson wrote: This isn't a 6N 90 minute jaunt, I expect it'll be treated like a Super Rugby tour match - travel early with a full squad to acclimatise / get over the jet lag. Way too far to bring last minute replacements so I'd expect a 30 man squad - matchday 23 plus a spare 2, prop, lock, backrow, 9,10, outside back - at a minimum, perhaps the full 34/35 man squad.

I see it exactly as that. It is, as you do not describe, a 90 minute jaunt. It is not a test series where you need a large squad. Am I reading this wrong?

salmson wrote: The whole squad will travel, you can't run meaningful attack or defence drills unopposed. We'll be missing all of TOH, Matt, Niyi, Ultan, Kieran, Quinn and Finlay for Dragons and some or all of them for Leinster, depending on injury, minutes played and whether they're playing against NZ.

The other provinces have dealt with this for years, and I'm delighted we have this "problem" now too. We can't win a trophy every year, so Connacht being a viable pathway to international caps is vital to player signing and retention.

Healy is injured until end of Nov.
Hope Finlay and ONE of Niyi/ToH won't go. Because if they do we will really struggle for 2 weeks in their positions.
For the others I agree we will benefit from caps on the long term

This isn't a 6N 90 minute jaunt, I expect it'll be treated like a Super Rugby tour match - travel early with a full squad to acclimatise / get over the jet lag. Way too far to bring last minute replacements so I'd expect a 30 man squad - matchday 23 plus a spare 2, prop, lock, backrow, 9,10, outside back - at a minimum, perhaps the full 34/35 man squad.

salmson wrote: The whole squad will travel, you can't run meaningful attack or defence drills unopposed. We'll be missing all of TOH, Matt, Niyi, Ultan, Kieran, Quinn and Finlay for Dragons and some or all of them for Leinster, depending on injury, minutes played and whether they're playing against NZ.

The other provinces have dealt with this for years, and I'm delighted we have this "problem" now too. We can't win a trophy every year, so Connacht being a viable pathway to international caps is vital to player signing and retention.

maybe what you say is true. if true i am unaware of it. connacht don't travel to away matches with their full squad and i'm not sure that ireland don't either. you do your training during the early part of the week and then the 24/25 travel, be it provincial or international. that would be my understanding. i can't see the justification of travelling with players that simply won't be involved?

The whole squad will travel, you can't run meaningful attack or defence drills unopposed. We'll be missing all of TOH, Matt, Niyi, Ultan, Kieran, Quinn and Finlay for Dragons and some or all of them for Leinster, depending on injury, minutes played and whether they're playing against NZ.

The other provinces have dealt with this for years, and I'm delighted we have this "problem" now too. We can't win a trophy every year, so Connacht being a viable pathway to international caps is vital to player signing and retention.

wp_rathead wrote: Great he is not seriously injured but surely he will be in Irish Camp for the Leinster game?

You would expect that there will be a limited amount of players of players travelling to Chicago, 25 maybe 26. As such you would expect the Irish camp prior to the game will not be enormous. So it will be touch and go if Tiernan will be involved in this camp. The camp is likely to be expanded to a larger number for the Canada game (hopefully including Niyi) but I think it possible that Tiernan could be available for the Leinster game if not involved in that smaller camp. That's how I see it!

A noter que @Young_niyisy (@connachtrugby) s'est classé N°1 des votes sur l'ensemble des réseaux sociaux de la #ChampionsCup
on ChampionsCup French twitter
Means Niyi was voted n°1 on social media taken together.

connachta wrote: TryOfTheRound was a close call as Young_niyisy's try for ConnachtRugby was hailed on social & by WillGreenwood too. Bring on Round 2!

Robson's Try for Wasps V Zebre won Try of Round 1...
Rather bitter about that I gotta say ha

sea_point wrote:

phatguerilla wrote: Could I be an arse and ask that people say 'renewing' when speaking about a player who is signing a new contract, instead of saying resigning, please?

Pedant alert...

You don't resign from a Rugby career, you retire or are released...

And before you say it PG, I know...!
Deliciously ironic isn't it...

#BadgeOfHonour

phatguerilla wrote: Could I be an arse and ask that people say 'renewing' when speaking about a player who is signing a new contract, instead of saying resigning, please?

Pedant alert...

You don't resign from a Rugby career, you retire or are released...

TryOfTheRound was a close call as Young_niyisy's try for ConnachtRugby was hailed on social & by WillGreenwood too. Bring on Round 2!

Great he is not seriously injured but surely he will be in Irish Camp for the Leinster game?

I don't know what thread anything goes in anymore, but looks like great news about Tiernan:

But Ireland full-back Tiernan O’Halloran (knee) will miss the game in Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi after he hobbled off in the 23-21 victory over Toulouse last Saturday.

“The most important thing is it doesn’t look as bad as initially thought, so hopefully he will be right for Leinster.

Intersting info about Mitch Lam as well. I wonder will he stick around now that Boshoff is available?

www.the42.ie/mitch-lam-connacht-pat-lam-son-3035289-Oct2016/

Magpie wrote:

connachta wrote: I DO think Quinn will play now, look at his determination on the 5 pics of him taken today
inpho.ie/app/WebObjects/Shop.woa/wo/2.0....h=&0.25.15.11=SEARCH

He is kicking a ball in a few of the photos, so I have him in the team .... covering TO'H at #15.

Looks like he's working on his drop kick, on the bench to cover lock, 10 & 15?

Good to see Nathan is still kicking about.

Could I be an arse and ask that people say 'renewing' when speaking about a player who is signing a new contract, instead of saying resigning, please?