Borders no.2 wrote: In terms of us, I did think Ulster would rotate for us with Munster (h) and the European triple header in mind. We'll have to see how we line up. Can't see many of our lads being called up to this camp. Doubt Muldowney will be called up, if he is I'll be disgusted as we could have started him against Newcastle if that was the case.

Unfortunately I see Uncle Joe picking a number of our best players to go and hold tackle bags- I guess our league position merits the "privilege" but I don't expect it will have any impact on the team taking the field in the 6N (don't get me wrong, I'd love to see us have more representation on the Irish team). End result is Connacht players not available for team training, and having to fight for release back to the province.

In the previous 6N everyone was loving how on-task all the players were, that can only come with training - and in a sense, Connacht's increased funding & success has come off the back of national team success and prize money. There is a good piece I read about the IRFU increasing the commitment to country over province, and this is just one more indication of it. Doesn't help the regular supporters who go out to watch their province, or help fill those empty seats (or Connacht staying top of the league if our best tackle bag holders are called up).

Craig Gilroy to miss Ulster's trip to Galway to face Connacht with an eye socket injury

Decadence wrote: Peter Fitzgibbon

He hasn't reffed us much recently but hes actually been ok the last few times we've had him. Looking at some of the jokers we've had recently, I'd be optimistic that he'll be fair at least. Hope I'm not eating my words come Saturday night!

Peter Fitzgibbon

salmson wrote:

Borders no.2 wrote:
However, Connacht head coach Lam is hopeful of welcoming Ronan Loughney, John Muldoon, James Connolly, Kieran Marmion, AJ MacGinty, Bundee Aki, Matt Healy and Tiernan O’Halloran back from injury this weekend.

Any update on White and Dillane? They were listed as unavailable in the Newcastle team announcement but there was no mention of them as being injured in last week's injury update.

Sorry I don't know. Only picked that information up from this article. I'm sure there'll be an official press release later in the week. Nathan White may have been unavailable due to IRFU restrictions. If he is pulled into the training camp it shows the nonsense of the system in place as he's is a players who has had far too few games at this stage of the season. Not sure on Dillane.

www.the42.ie/connacht-injuries-pat-lam-m...oon-2516097-Dec2015/

Borders no.2 wrote:
However, Connacht head coach Lam is hopeful of welcoming Ronan Loughney, John Muldoon, James Connolly, Kieran Marmion, AJ MacGinty, Bundee Aki, Matt Healy and Tiernan O’Halloran back from injury this weekend.

Any update on White and Dillane? They were listed as unavailable in the Newcastle team announcement but there was no mention of them as being injured in last week's injury update.

Some good news

However, Connacht head coach Lam is hopeful of welcoming Ronan Loughney, John Muldoon, James Connolly, Kieran Marmion, AJ MacGinty, Bundee Aki, Matt Healy and Tiernan O’Halloran back from injury this weekend.

Connacht face Ulster at the Sportsground on 26 December (KO 6pm, TG4), meaning the return of even some of the above would be extremely timely. All eight players will undertake fitness tests this week.

More negatively, three fresh injury concerns arose from last weekend’s defeat in Newcastle.

Hooker Jason Harris-Wright, who has had a tough time with injuries in recent seasons, sustained an upper back joint sprain and a rib cartilage strain against Newcastle and will be assessed before Lam names his team on Christmas Eve.

Wing Danie Poolman, who was a try scorer against the Falcons, also suffered a rib cartilage injury and is being monitored as his pain subsides.

Finally, 21-year-old academy centre Peter Robb was concussed during the Challenge Cup fixture and is currently going through the return-to-play protocols.

We've done this under both Kidney and Schmidt and what has it done for us come World Cup time which is supposedly the overall plan at the end of all this. For me the players should be getting as many games of this intensity as possible. There is no use Munster or Leinster having their big guns to face Zebre or Treviso. These games are the ones you learn from.

Also from a provincial viewpoint, what used to be one of the big fixtures in European Rugby has been severely downgraded in the last couple of years. This will be another blow to its status and we are likely to see a half full Thomond Park for what was once a guaranteed sell-out.

In terms of us, I did think Ulster would rotate for us with Munster (h) and the European triple header in mind. We'll have to see how we line up. Can't see many of our lads being called up to this camp. Doubt Muldowney will be called up, if he is I'll be disgusted as we could have started him against Newcastle if that was the case.

The flip side of weakened teams for these games is a full strength Leinster on New Year's Day but we'll cross that hurdle when we come to it.

It's such a shame that the Interpros turn to mickey mouse games. I'm not worried for Connacht, except TOH, because of whom we may end with Gaffney as FB. If Muldowney is picked, Dillane/Browne are more than OK, same for Blade/Porter with Marmion. Parata/Masterson/Delahunt are a bit young, and hopefully will be available for Connacht

It will be a travesty if we don't lose a few to the camp also (injury allowing) so we mightn't be in great shape ourselves

Herr Schmidt holding the annual post Christmas training camp, so Ulster's team will be more like their 'A' team. Munster Leinster game will also be a glorified 'A' game.