I'd wonder about the missed tackle stat, there was a large number of occasions when our players were bounced by the attacking player (normally due to the enormous size of the ST team) but this slowed the player down and allowed other Connacht players to swarm in and make the tackle. I think that could go down as a missed tackle but it's not the same as grabbing air whilst your opposite number flies past you.

Just watched it again, if we've won, it's really a miracle with lots of heart and mental strenghts

We had no scrum, late ruck cleaning, loose passes and 26% missed tackles.
Roux + Buckley will help us a lot
Able to beat Toulouse with such a margin of progression is encouraging
Dawai made 22 tackles with Otago this W-E, but honnestly McKeon/O'Brien have been very good, hard to know which of them he could move out..

Having a bit of grub with the Toulouse crowd from Le Huit after the game:
www.connachtclan.com/news/38-general-new...-dinner-with-le-huit
Get yer orders in as soon as possible (by tomorrow evening preferably) so we can get numbers in to Rabbitt's and have everything ready to go.

Bookies will keep odds tight until teams announced. Published odds at that stage tend to be more reflective of chance!

Feck this is a huge one. It's nearly like a knock-out game. If Connacht lose at home then we can pretty much say the goose is cooked. On the other hand, if they win, there's a very good chance they'll still be in contention when we go to the Stade Ernest Wallon in January (and Toulouse may even be out of it by then).
The bookies have released their odds and they don't exactly have Toulouse as raging favourites (3 points).
Nervous week ahead ...

Thought Browne had a stormer Friday night, could have easily been MOTM. Would like him out there as much as possible. Maybe play him at 6 rather than throwing Ultan in there for the first time against Toulouse. Have to go with Marmion's experience over Blade. Would tend to agree about leaving SOL out entirely if both Carty & Ronaldson start. My only concern is Craig has had his moments with injuries and I could just see them pulling Carty ashore then Ronaldson getting some freak injury on the next play.

has Blade had a bad game against a French team, I seem to recall he usually has stormers, a few tries thrown in?

Seems that there is going to be a fan zone setup down by Foster Street for the match, running from 3:30 to 8:30
Great idea in my opinion.
Streets will be pedestrianized and a big screen setup for the game.
Going to head there before the match. Hope it takes off. Would be great to have something like that for all of the big games.
Considering they couldn't get a screen last season for the semi or the final, this should be good

It's mad that Toulouse only get a six day turn around between two away games whereas we get eight between home games.

If it were the other way around, we'd be complaining about a conspiracy. (Well I would anyway).

Hey all - I'm new here but some of you might recognise my username from boards.ie, where I post occasionally on the Connacht thread in the Rugby forum. Anyhow, hope this is OK but I've two tickets to this weekend's game in the new seated stand (sold out at this stage I believe) and it turns out I won't be able to make it down from Dublin for it.

If anyone discovers the need for two extra tickets in the next day or so, please get in touch and I'll post them down, happy to take less than face value just don't want them to go to waste! Really looking forward to the match but the best I can now hope for is to watch it in a pub somewhere ahead of the social engagement keeping me in Dublin...

i watched the game today ad they competed well with clermont, they certainly like the offloading game whenever possible instead of going to ground, not sure how many of their players were missing through injury but it wasn't their 1st team playing today, the have a huge squad so resting players is clearly not an issue.

selecting Dillane at 6 would be a wise move, we need some bulk in our pack, having Roux back would be huge also, our front row is going to be a weak link if there are a lot of scrums

Toulouse ran Clermont close at the Marcel Michelin after looking beat just before half time, but came up short. So still without an away win this season.

connachta wrote:

Diabhal wrote: Did Cooney not say at ht that he's a few weeks away from playing again?

Did he? Ok, than your opinion between Marmion and Blade to start this one...

I'd honestly go with Blade to start. Marmion could be explosive off the bench and he's a bit off form this year after the SA Tour. Blade really turned up in a big way last night, similarly to Heff.

phatguerilla wrote: I don't think Carty went off injured? If he's fit he'll start. SOL cover 10 to 15 (to varying levels of quality) so he's always likely to make the bench. With McKeon going off early last night we might see Dillane at six as was proposed a few weeks ago with Browne and Roux in the second row.

Disagree about O'Leary, Poolman/Lii can cover all position except 10, maybe (debate's on) with better quality. And in this case Craig would cover 10

Meanwhile you're fu***** right about Dillane/Browne/Roux combo. Risky to try Dillane for the 1st time there against Toulouse though... And in this case who takes place on the bench, SOB 19 and Connolly 20, I guess?

I don't think Carty went off injured? If he's fit he'll start. SOL cover 10 to 15 (to varying levels of quality) so he's always likely to make the bench. With McKeon going off early last night we might see Dillane at six as was proposed a few weeks ago with Browne and Roux in the second row.

Diabhal wrote: Did Cooney not say at ht that he's a few weeks away from playing again?

Did he? Ok, than your opinion between Marmion and Blade to start this one...