pinky wrote: It's worrying to hear that we are the standard-bearers for restraint in terms of stadium music. :sick:
It's one of the things I've heard most grumbling about when it comes to the sportsground matchday experience. Or should that be lip-read most grumbling about. Now I think of it though, have they reduced the output of tinny chart music since the two crooners came on board?

This weekend was the first time I noticed they had finally turned them down. It was great not to be leaving a game half-deaf

menacethedenis wrote: Nothing really to add to what's already been said about the game except how devastated I was to see Dave McSharry in trouble so soon after coming on. You'd have to worry for his future but hopefully it was a freak accident and he'll be back playing soon.

He fell backwards and his head whipped nastily against the ground. Such bad luck, but I would share your concerns. He really didn't look good coming off. Without knowing details I'd be slow to speculate, but the approach in the last year or so has been to give players extended breaks when they've had a succession of head knocks (Sexton and George North being the most obvious examples). His welfare has to come first, so if he needs to take a break away then that's what should happen.

pinky wrote:

Borders no.2 wrote: 3. The home crowd is worth a few points

Woohoo, we're worth points.

Only with Hodges :lol:

It's worrying to hear that we are the standard-bearers for restraint in terms of stadium music. :sick:
It's one of the things I've heard most grumbling about when it comes to the sportsground matchday experience. Or should that be lip-read most grumbling about. Now I think of it though, have they reduced the output of tinny chart music since the two crooners came on board?

Oh please, that ref was shocking and he gave plenty of baffling penalties to Newcastle and missed plenty of offsides and late tackles by them. Blaming him is laughable. Nothing really to add to what's already been said about the game except how devastated I was to see Dave McSharry in trouble so soon after coming on. You'd have to worry for his future but hopefully it was a freak accident and he'll be back playing soon.

If they thought we were rowdy Friday night they should come back when Leinster come to town. :evil:

Borders no.2 wrote: 3. The home crowd is worth a few points

Woohoo, we're worth points.

Couple of interesting comments in the Newcastle Chronicle about the fans and the match. First of all from Dean Richards:

Once again hit by a weighty penalty count inside their own half as French referee Thomas Charabas repeatedly blew against them, Richards said: “You look at the penalties and question one or two of them, but the 50-50 calls are sometimes the ones which will never go your way when you have got a crowd like there was here in Galway.

“The referee perhaps got swayed a little bit, but that’s life, and it will be a different thing altogether when they come to us next Sunday.

“It is a great crowd over here, it really is, and as much as that may have played a small part in some of the decisions it was down to us because we shot ourselves in the foot.

www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/sport-opin...tle-falcons-10589612

3. The home crowd is worth a few points

His comments might have been borne out of frustration, but Dean Richards was spot-on in saying Connacht’s crowd bought them a few penalties.

Raucous, rowdy and not backward in coming forward, the 4,346 inside the Galway Greyhound Stadium didn’t half make a racket.

Appealing for everything and getting plenty, French referee Thomas Charabas was sucked into whistling a few 50-50s in their favour.

Yes, the Falcons were right to highlight their own indiscipline as Jack Carty slotted six penalties, but some of them would not have been awarded had Connacht been the visiting side.

5. Less is more when it comes to stadium music

I might be 35 going on 75 when it comes to my taste in stadium entertainment, but much of what we have to suffer on the Premiership circuit can only be described as noise pollution.

Ear-splitting dance music for no obvious reason ensures you can’t hear the person next to you before or after kick-off, and it is there again to kill the atmosphere whenever a try or penalty is scored.

Connacht wheeled out a couple of crooners in green Santa hats prior to kick-off, they rattled off two Irish tunes and bang – job done.

Even if much of it was in the Vic Reeves club style it hit the mark, and the rest of the night was left for the Galway crowd to generate the noise.

They certainly did that. The Clan Stand was fair jumping, even during a first-half penalty-fest short on clear chances. It just goes to show what can happen when you toss away the manual and allow the punters to make the noise, rather than rely on the ubiquitous in-ground generica.

Surprising to see London Irish hammer Edinburgh today. That group looks close between the top 3. Dragons have two wins on the board but no bonus point for them today.

Congrats Enisei. That's some result to pull out deep in your off-season so far away from home.

Minor drawback for Connacht is that Falcons, who seemed out of it last night, are now well positioned for second place. Whether they can get enough points for a QF, and whether they want one, is another matter, but it might give them more of an incentive next weekend.

Whoops. Stream isn't great. I had the teams mixed up. It was the Russians who lost their own line-out. They won anyway. Nice one

FT!

Amazing result for our Russian comrades!

All over - Enisey win!

Full time. Fantastic result for us and congrats to Enesei justifying that they are more than entitled to their place in this tournament..

Love the translation, make what you will of these two tweets but sounds good to me!

Lost ball smelling of FIR and... shame (must not be afraid to say) #CABSotchi #ChallengeCup

Balloon recovered at 30 sec of the end but finally lost on the 40 Russians #CABSotchi #ChallengeCup

This is like watching games on teletext in the 80s.