Anybody have a program for the Cardiff match friend looking for one

At the highest level , Jack ain't got it. Harsh but true....

Not our best game but deserved the win.

Think people are being a bit hard on Carty, I'm not his biggest fan but I thought the crowd got on his back very quickly last night without much cause from what I could see. Cardiff weren't great but that midfield of theirs is as good as anything in the league and they (along with any other Blues player in that area) blitzed our midfield all day meaning Carty had no good options at second receiver, and in that position the right thing to do is tuck the ball and take the contact rather than throw the bad pass (which he did on occasion, once with disastrous consequences). That said we need to see Boshoff start the next game, you don't bring an overseas player to sit him on the bench and we need to have some idea about him before the Wasps back-to-backer.

Though Niyi did a lot of important work last night, particularly defensively and that both Blade and Cooney played well, always think Blade does better coming off the bench and changing up the pace.

Pretty bog standard game but important win against a bogey side. We had the better of it without ever convincing. The intercept directly after the try was very demoralising as it gave a disappointing Cardiff side a platform and instead of being in a place where we looked like we could push on and win comfortably we were under the cosh for a while after. The missed penalty from Cardiff at 7-7 was important. To go in 10-7 up was important and gave us the platform to eventually take control.

Defensively we were scratchy. Stacey provides an exciting threat in attack but defensively he'll be badly exploited against better sides especially if he plays in the centre. John Muldoon continues to lead the line, a couple of massive turnovers for them when we were struggling to put Cardiff away.

At a time when its hard to find good IQ props the signing of Conor Carey is looking a good one. He's been thrown in the deep end earlier than expected and its a tough learning curve but he got through a lot of work again last night and managed well at scrum time.

Was glad to see us try little dink in behind the rush defence. Its something we haven't used enough. Its risky but its needed (on occasion) to not make us too predictable to defend against.

We need to up it significantly with Wasps coming down the line. 5 points are a must next week. I think Top 4 will be beyond us given our start to the season. Top 6 is going to be difficult but looking to the 6 nations, there is the potential for us to collect a huge number of points during that period so we just need to keep ourselves on the coattails of the others until that stage.

We've been kicking more since at least the Leinster game, only thing that made sense to do really if teams expect you to always run the ball and push up high as a result. Also felt to me like we were preparing the team to play with Boshoff though he showed last night he won't always take the kicking option. When we start to blend the kicking game with last years gameplan we will see rewards.

I thought Ili showed up really well at 12 and despite what others say was hitting above his weight in defense with 12 made three missed, second only to cannon. Made at least one try saving tackle while still on the wing when cardiff had a two on one, not many players could have covered that as well (admittedly the skip pass cardiff threw didn't really make the most of their numbers but still). Yes he's a little small but I could easily see him as our starting 12 for the near future unless we need the physical presence of Robb/Bundee.

At the same time felt defense of the whole team was a bit off, lots of players shooting up as we know they like to do but cardiff more than ready for that, a little step and were around the tackler and making metres. Lots of tacklers going too high and therefore ineffective. Overall we were lucky to win given how many tackles we missed but I will take a win like that every time given we normally start back slowly after a break.

There was a lot of rustiness on show yesterday, a lot of dropped passes and misplayed moves. With a bit of dew on the grass this may have begun to frost over, a lot of guys were slipping in the second half.

Jack had some really nice moments yesterday, and some pretty awful ones too. In the second half we changed tactics a little and kicked when they had 13/14 players all up in a line, they had to drop one or to more back and we found space for ball carriers again. I agree that Jack getting caught in possession on a few occasions, might not be entirely his fault, If someone isn't blocking opposition defenders in the 10 channel, and the expected 2nd receiver isn't where they are supposed to be, you are going to look an awful mug. Or maybe Jack played the wrong play, only the guys out there know what happened.

On a positive note, our bench looked quite strong, good to see so many players back and I think that game will benefit a lot of players. It was great to see Marnitz Boshoff get a run, he had a mixed bag. One lovely twinkle toed run to make good yards in our own 22, a few nice kicks, a missed touch and a few penalties conceded.

Nothing is beyond us yet, teams are all taking points form each other and we haven't played either Italian team. A couple of wins and it could all look very different,

Well
I find it harsh for Cooney/Blade + any of our back-three players + Carey and Heff (such great ball-carriers and ruck-machines) to make way for Marmion, Healy, Bealham and McCartney..
Loughney is constantly dominated at scrumtime and in contact areas, I'd try to re-introduce Robertson-McCoy ASAP
Cannon is a decent bencher behind Dillane/Roux for Wasps
Nepia blindside and Heenan openside must be seen for a whole game...
Our main issue is centre to pair with Aki
1) partly injured Ronaldson or Griffin
2) Robb who made smth like 7 knock-ons on his own
3) Out-of-position Ili, Kelleher, Poolman or Parata
That's the moment we all miss Dave McSharry....

Just wondering and being the Devils advocate.

Jack looked poor last night, numerous times it looked as if he didnt know what to do and got caught out.

But, is it all his fault or was someone else not doing their job ? If the call is to have say a runner on Jacks right and Jack looks to pop to this runner that isnt there, thats not Jacks fault but he looks like he doesnt know waht hes doing when its the runner that has fecked it all up.

Connacht Abú wrote: Just before Carty gave the intercept pass for Cardiff's try; he was fuming & giving out at what I can only asume was... Cooney and not he was given kicking duties after Ronaldson handed them over.. You could see he was really pissed off and tried too hard to make things happen instead of excepting it and moving on. Carty does some great things with ball in hand but I just wonder sometimes..

Jack had a bad day at the office. Decision making not good and he cannot seem to manage a game. I was fuming when he missed touch from a penalty as this is becoming a regular feature of his game. I don't think there was a change in tactics re kicking more ball - jack seemed to lose confidence in his ability to pass ( after the try intercept) and kicked numerous ball away. I am not trying to be hard on the guy but I think he needs a bit of time out to sort out whatever is going on for him - it's as if he is trying too hard! He has obvious potential to develop further but at the moment I feel he could cost us points if last nights performance is repeated. We're in a professional arena and tough decisions need to be made and jack needs to step up if he is to retain his place.

Job done. Win in the bag and denied Cardiff anything, hopefully nothing too serious for Craig and no new injuries accruing elsewhere. You can never realy be sure how a team is going to roll after a couple of weeks break especially with the re-introduction of a couple of player. We were clearly the better side, but lacked a killer edge tonight. Lads will be better for the blowout, and they'll need to be with Treviso coming to town next. Vital for our season and our headspace with big games coming up that we take five points next week...

Just before Carty gave the intercept pass for Cardiff's try; he was fuming & giving out at what I can only asume was... Cooney and not he was given kicking duties after Ronaldson handed them over.. You could see he was really pissed off and tried too hard to make things happen instead of excepting it and moving on. Carty does some great things with ball in hand but I just wonder sometimes..

clanman wrote: just to add heenan does a lot of the unseen hard graft.

Heenan had a fantastic game. The tache was appalling though.

just to add heenan does a lot of the unseen hard graft.

very disappointed for danie poolman. he is running out of time to secure a contract and it must have been a right kick to see his position taken by toh tonight. personally i think he is at least equal to Ili as a utility back solution. time is running out for him at connacht and that's a shame

- Muldoon is still immense.
- He's right, 1st time ever Cardiff is a sold out game
- Scrum wasn't perfect yet (I do think Loughney is a gent but not up to it TBH), but much better with Buckley
- Heffernan (except the high tackle) was great, and it's not the first time this season
- Heenan did one more a lot of impressive unseen work
- He didn't played blindside as I'd have said, it was Fox in the end there, and it worked well
- Blade/Boshoff did better than I expected
- Carty defended his starting spot decently though, except his mistake for the Cardiff try
- Cooney kicked since the start!!!!!! What about Craig?
- Hope Ronaldson is ok btw, Ili can't tackle
- But he's involved and electric.
- Don't know if Healy would bring more...
- Carey is ok, good cover for Bealham
- Aki, Aki, Aki, everywhere

Jack didnt play particularly well. Other than that good result