That video was tough viewing especially when you see how we seemed to be cutting through them at our ease early on. The tries are actually embarrassing defending on both sides.

Leaving Saturday's calamity aside, perspective is important too. Take out last season and since 2011-12 the current Top 6 has been the Top 6 each season. Before last season 7th and 50 points in 2014/15 was our best ever total. Prior to that we'd never reached even 40.

This season has been a disappointment but I think everyone half expected it being honest.

Some fall from Grace since Murrayfield last May

at least the Leinster game should give us the team the moral boost it needs, Leinster will surely rest the majority of their champions cup semi-final team

dobby wrote: The point was made earlier in this thread that we put over 100 points on Zebre in the Champions cup. So obviously we can focus if we want. The reality is the PRO12 is our bread and butter.quote].

The reality is that we don't have (and aren't getting) the resources to successfully campaign in both the Champions Cup (Priority for selection of players) and Pro12 (Secondary for selection of players e.g. Ireland players rested, bringing in academy players etc..) unlike the machine or talent conveyor belt that is Leinster. Challenge Cup allowed us to bring on the younger players without a great deal of pressure and put more focus on the Pro12. I am beginning to think that this teams problem is that they are only getting to play together late in the season and are too far behind other more cohesive (match tested) units. So many new players were parachuted into big games that you cannot deny this team has lurched from crisis to crisis this season. It's hard to blame players or coaches when we haven't had a settled spell all season. With KK unlikely to take the reins until the Autumn things will remain unsettled until he gets time to make his mark.
While I want us to at least make 7th and equal 2014/15 position, I do wonder if playing Challenge Cup next season would allow the team to settle more quickly?
Bad and all as losing to Zebre was (but they probably deserved the win) Ospreys and Cardiff both collapsed against their opponents in the Challenge Cup so there's plenty more suffering out there. It's just time we started dishing it out to other teams.

If you go down the Leicester comparison route, it seems mentality is a huge part of the professional game (be it soccer or rugby). If you look at the turnaround at Munster I would applaud Erasmus and Nienaber. But what happened with Axel provided a focus also. It got the fans back to shout their team on. And there is no doubt about it the support of fans plays a huge part in whether a team succeeds or not.

I did read the Keatley article on the indo. It was hard reading. You are left feeling sorry for the guy and his family, but the reality is you put yourself out there. And if you put yourself out there you have to perform or you will be criticised. You are expected to perform.

So it is a fine balance. You play well, you are loved. You play badly and you are open for criticism. Fans are fickle. And they have a right to be such. At the end of the day they back their team year in and year out while players come and go. Fans have a right to say what they feel is not working with their team. With a fan it is not personal, it is what they believe is the best for their team.

And having watched the games this year I won't be unhappy to see a new management team taking over. The point was made earlier in this thread that we put over 100 points on Zebre in the Champions cup. So obviously we can focus if we want. The reality is the PRO12 is our bread and butter. And I think the management have failed to explain that to the players. Or do the players think that they have moved past the PRO12. I simply don't believe this. I believe we have lost the bones of our coaching staff and Pat is already gone in everybody's mind so the sooner KK arrives the better. And of course he has to finish his current season (and probably need a few weeks off afterwards) so that is really going to mess with our pre-season never mind the start to next season

dobby wrote: You would have thought (well I would have thought) that a bit of fresh blood in the team would have given these new players an opportunity to play their way into a regular starting position (or at least the squad of 23). So, as I see it, these players had lots of reasons to perform. So I am left bereft of ideas as to what went wrong at the weekend. I was expecting to see Farrell and Aki really impact in the centre. I was expecting Rowland to have a great game at fullback (granted he was moved to the wing at a very early stage). Obviously we can't field the same team every week and the team that was fielded against Zebre should have been more than adequate to win that game. So the new players had the incentive. I can only think that the reason comes down to structure. And if the players aren't managing the areas they are responsible for, well then comes down to proper coaching. I appreciate that Jack had to move to full-back but it was always possible we could lose a full-back/winger so it was a strange call to have Eoin on the bench when Dani already had that position covered. So we had no wing full-back cover on the bench and that was a management call. So the more I think about this result (which is so frustrating) I think the coaching staff have to take a degree of responsibility

There's no getting away from the fact that we have looked badly coached this year. It seems like things have gotten stale, and the players don't seem to have the same fire in their bellies as last year. I just hope we can have a decent crack at the playoffs and the new coaching staff can freshen things up next season

You would have thought (well I would have thought) that a bit of fresh blood in the team would have given these new players an opportunity to play their way into a regular starting position (or at least the squad of 23). So, as I see it, these players had lots of reasons to perform. So I am left bereft of ideas as to what went wrong at the weekend. I was expecting to see Farrell and Aki really impact in the centre. I was expecting Rowland to have a great game at fullback (granted he was moved to the wing at a very early stage). Obviously we can't field the same team every week and the team that was fielded against Zebre should have been more than adequate to win that game. So the new players had the incentive. I can only think that the reason comes down to structure. And if the players aren't managing the areas they are responsible for, well then comes down to proper coaching. I appreciate that Jack had to move to full-back but it was always possible we could lose a full-back/winger so it was a strange call to have Eoin on the bench when Dani already had that position covered. So we had no wing full-back cover on the bench and that was a management call. So the more I think about this result (which is so frustrating) I think the coaching staff have to take a degree of responsibility

After getting out of jail at Zebre earlier in the season wouldn't have thought the lads would be caught out again. Perhaps complacency crept back in after handling them so well in the Champions Cup games and a month ago. Just not acceptable. Red Sea parting on Zebre's first try, Danie never got off the ground to compete for the high ball that leads to their second and somehow they manage an overlap a man down for their third. Reports that Connacht were, to a man, outplayed are completely believable from the last two minutes of the highlights and still they had a chance to win it finishing the last 15+ minutes of the game up a man but going 7-7 over that period. Seeing some telling stats on the Pro 12 site for what they're worth. Connacht 44 tackles made, 11 missed, Zebre 191 made, 23 missed. Connacht 19 turnovers, Zebre 11.

Oh dear that'll really hurt.

Tom Farrell's attempted tackle for their second was embarrassing. I also hadn't realised they had two players binned in the game. Conditions looks ideal too, so no excuses. Bundee seemed to have a couple of nice involvements, which is a positive I guess!

Their last try came from Connacht kicking into the corner winning the lineout then the ball is stolen back and up they go.

I should have drank more over there

It ain't pretty. Well actually, their last try is...

Betty Swallocks wrote: Losing to Zebre is not acceptable at any level. This has been a disaster of a season frankly, and the announcement of Pat's decision to leave in December and the subsequent decimation of the coaching team mid-season has destroyed our season. Allied to the utter shambles of our pre-season and we have there the reasons why we're losing to Zebre on the same weekend that Leinster and Munster win HEC Q/F's. Not good enough!

It's been awful, but even at our worst we could always pull off one-off big performances, so if we manage that (twice) and win the playoffs the season will have been a relative success.

With a full coaching staff, new ideas, a proper pre-season, and a few signings I think (hope) we'll be in good nick for next season.

Losing to Zebre is not acceptable at any level. This has been a disaster of a season frankly, and the announcement of Pat's decision to leave in December and the subsequent decimation of the coaching team mid-season has destroyed our season. Allied to the utter shambles of our pre-season and we have there the reasons why we're losing to Zebre on the same weekend that Leinster and Munster win HEC Q/F's. Not good enough!

Zebre are crap. We scored 118 points on them in the Champions Cup.

Borders no.2 wrote: To be fair last season was special but a lot of things came together to create it. This season was always going to be incredibly difficult. Given the lack of activity in the summer and the lack of a proper pre-season ourn Pro 12 European qualification hopes were effectively over for us after the defeat against Scarlets in the 3rd full game and definitely after the losses to Leinster and Dragons in October/November.

The effect of the loss of key personnel on and particularly off the pitch has been obvious throughout most of the season really.

With Edinburgh losing last night this game wasn't season defining but it's still a hard defeat to stomach especially having been 12-3 up and inexplicably letting Zebre go up and score a try while down to 14 late in the game. I thought we had moved on from being caught out in games like this but you would wonder about the environment in Connacht at the moment. Lots of departures, everything a bit up in the air.

Hopefully we can bounce back next week. It'd be a massive disappointment if Pat's time here ended on this kind of note.

If you take John Cooney going to Ulster, if you take Bundee's reaction to when Pat announced his move. And then the Pat move in itself is very deflating to the team. The John move suggests his mind is elsewhere. God knows what Bundee is thinking but he hasn't been firing on all cylinders this year. And then we play Zebre and lose. And Zebre are not crap but it helps if your team is in the right mindset. If you have a desire to win you may fail but you will give it your best shot. I don't think the Connacht mindset is the best at the moment and while we will make the Euro playoffs somebody needs to give these guys a good kick up the arse.