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.

Followed our game on twitter (thanks) Watched the Munster game. Talk about a reversal of fortune on last year. When we beat them there , zero athmosphere apart from what was created by us ,and the place half empty. And now their "fanatical " supporters back singing the Fields . It makes my skin crawl. We will be back. We had a bad day , nothing has changed . We will learn from this we move on ...

Not the most embarrassing result ever; remember I Cavalieri Prato and Catania anyone? Not bloody far off those though. What a disaster of a season. Hard to think we're 10months on from our greatest day and it feels like we're back in the dark ages again.

Really enjoyed watching Leinster and Munster today but it stung watching them do so well and us losing to Zebre when we beat them two times each last year, they're on an upward trajectory and we're going backwards

By all accounts, Connacht were second best all over the pitch today. Absolute shambles.

Pat announcing his departure when he did ( I know contractually he had to) was a disaster. The loss of the key players from last years team was disasterous, the disintegration of the coaching team was a disaster, the injuries to the squad were a disaster...the list goes on and on and on.

This Zebre defeat is one of the most embarrassing in a long time (if not ever). Such a fall back to earth from last year - the memories of last year will be sorely tested from now on.

Does Pat have a history of this? Doing well for a few seasons & then imploding? I feel he is in Bristol already!!

We're rudderless & not a single class signing made or being spoken of...terrible.

Very disappointing result. A result like this has to come down to: focus, mental preparation and being in the right frame of mind to execute.
Would be great to hear more from those that attended the game.

Obviously very hard to comment given that I wasn't in Parma.

Result very hard to swallow. Last year in Treviso was a blip on the way to bigger things, but this was a good strength squad.

Going to be a very tough week in the Sportsground for everyone.

Yeah I'd have to agree that two good games all season is an accurate enough assessment. I know there are many factors at play, injuries and loss of key players like McGinty, Muldowney & even Henshaw but I think the loss of Andre Bell was the greatest of all closely followed by Dave Ellis. Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not downplaying the unbelievable job that Pat Lam has done since he came but the impact that Bell & Ellis made could never be over stated. One poor performance after another this season despite the players on the field shows just how much the failure to properly replace these guys has cost Connacht. Thank the gods they had the sense to put Nigel Carolan in place going forward and I know I'm going to get a lot of criticism for saying this but with the almost complete failure of the Line Out this season and average enough scrum considering the quality of the forwards, Jimmy Duffy has to be a very lucky man to be still in a job next season.

dobby wrote:

Mark Mostyn wrote:

dobby wrote:

salmson wrote: Top 4 now ruled out, Scarlets need 2 points to make automatic Champions Cup qualification impossible. Edinburgh still mathematically in with a chance of overhauling us. F*****g mortifying.

Top 4/top 5 was really never an issue. What truthfully gobsmacks me is that we make minimal changes and suddenly we are ordinary. I honestly struggle to understand this.

Suddenly? Being realistic, have we played well twice this season? Ulster and Toulouse at the start of the year? Or have I missed some?

So realism is just a set 15.?And all other combinations are worthless? I am struggling with this result as many are

No, I'm saying that whoever is playing, there's a malaise over the team this year and they are playing without motivation or aggression

Mark Mostyn wrote:

dobby wrote:

salmson wrote: Top 4 now ruled out, Scarlets need 2 points to make automatic Champions Cup qualification impossible. Edinburgh still mathematically in with a chance of overhauling us. F*****g mortifying.

Top 4/top 5 was really never an issue. What truthfully gobsmacks me is that we make minimal changes and suddenly we are ordinary. I honestly struggle to understand this.

Suddenly? Being realistic, have we played well twice this season? Ulster and Toulouse at the start of the year? Or have I missed some?

So realism is just a set 15.?And all other combinations are worthless? I am struggling with this result as many are

dobby wrote:

salmson wrote: Top 4 now ruled out, Scarlets need 2 points to make automatic Champions Cup qualification impossible. Edinburgh still mathematically in with a chance of overhauling us. F*****g mortifying.

Top 4/top 5 was really never an issue. What truthfully gobsmacks me is that we make minimal changes and suddenly we are ordinary. I honestly struggle to understand this.

Suddenly? Being realistic, have we played well twice this season? Ulster and Toulouse at the start of the year? Or have I missed some?

That was the worst performance i can remember... especially under Pat, we got bullied across the pitch every Zebre player was better then ours on the day, accuracy was non existent, tackling was atrocious 2nd rows slipping by backs, they got around us too easily and were reading what we were doing. Scrum held up but nothing came of it lineouts were mixed, I haven't heard any interviews but if i hear any ref bashing from the club I'll be fuming he was poor but not the reason we lost, no one on the team can hold their heads up after that.

salmson wrote: Top 4 now ruled out, Scarlets need 2 points to make automatic Champions Cup qualification impossible. Edinburgh still mathematically in with a chance of overhauling us. F*****g mortifying.

Top 4/top 5 was really never an issue. What truthfully gobsmacks me is that we make minimal changes and suddenly we are ordinary. I honestly struggle to understand this.

dobby wrote: I seem to have suggested we should rotate. My argument failed famously

We had 6, maybe 7 of our first choice pack out there so we can hardly blame selection. And last week Ospreys were kind enough to demonstrate what happens when you go to Italy and act the maggot. Excuses are thin on the ground.

Top 4 now ruled out, Scarlets need 2 points to make automatic Champions Cup qualification impossible. Edinburgh still mathematically in with a chance of overhauling us. F*****g mortifying.

I seem to have suggested we should rotate. My argument failed famously