MulMan wrote: Still though with the likes of Niyi, Matt, Ultan, Stacey, Bundee and Tom out it will have an effect, no point making excuses we can still make it without them, but they definitely would have helped. The fact we're in poor form could cause us to be more underestimated, clutching at straws I know but we have to try and cling to the positives of late

Except Tom and Bundee, my point is none of those you quoted are far above Roux/Kelleher/Poolman/Farrell... IMO
The questions are simple : will we be able to gain the extra sec to move the ball faster to counter rush-defences (we could), and will we begin to defend and tackle (I'm less optimistic)...?

Still though with the likes of Niyi, Matt, Ultan, Stacey, Bundee and Tom out it will have an effect, no point making excuses we can still make it without them, but they definitely would have helped. The fact we're in poor form could cause us to be more underestimated, clutching at straws I know but we have to try and cling to the positives of late

TBH If Ronaldson manage to fit in Aki's role, and Delahaut/Heff in Tom's one, I don't think we're far from full-strenght.

No excuse for play-off, Even Carey is fully training for at least 10 days if is starting in Munster. So he will have a month of rugby under his belt on the 20th of May.

Heenan/Buckley/Roux/Poolman/Masterson/Boshoff/Kelleher etc, all those we missed so much recently, are available.
Dawai/SOB/Cannon are luxury back-ups.

We have the depth (for once). Those guys just need to step up...

I think had Carey got a bit of a run under his belt he may have been in with a chance of going to Japan, given the lack of tighthead options; his scrummaging looked very impressive before injury, still think Finlay is a bit more mobile in open play, but glad to see Carey back. It will be interesting to see how Delahunt goes, with Tom starting we always had Heffernan coming in with good impact, so hopefully Delahunt can put down a marker because we'll need a strong performance from 1-23 over in England

I know were missing a few lads but great to see so many homegrown players in the 23 and so many Irish. Good to see
Tough ask to get a win after last year but their forwards can be got at and even in a loose game it would probably suit our skills more.

Carey and Connolly having gametime before the play-off is massive.
We NEED the 1st to secure a dominant scrum, + the lineout was the only improved point recently. So at least the setpieces could be ok, it matters a lot in England...

salmson wrote: Most of the lads who had shockers last week - Robertson-McCoy, Cannon, Masterson, Blade - are left out altogether, so looks like the leather enema Pat promised has been applied. I presume SOB and Heff are just being rotated, they were our best players last week. Didn't think Heenan or Griffin (in the quarter of a game he got) were that bad so surprised to see them left out of the 23 entirely (neither on unavailable list). Conversely TOH and Leader can count themselves fortunate to be near the matchday squad at all. We've little or no chance of winning but hopefully we make it difficult for Munster.

I don't think any of those lads make our first choice 23 anyway, hopefully Masterson has more impact next season with a full preseason under his belt.

You'd hope it's just rotation with an eye on the playoffs, covering lock is a bit of a waste of our best back row (in my opinion).

Maybe Heenan is being wrapped in cotton wool given his injury history?

We have precious little cover for TOH and he has been our best player for a lot of this season so we have to stick with him. Leader is the only back 3 cover we have left.

I don't think it's a particularly good Munster team but we've shown no evidence since October that we're capable of putting in a performance good enough to beat them, but I live in hope.

Looks like Carty-Ronaldson-Farrell is going to be our 10/12/13 axis for the playoff semi, I really hope they put in a decent performance this weekend because on current evidence it's hard to see them causing much problems in the playoff.

Most of the lads who had shockers last week - Robertson-McCoy, Cannon, Masterson, Blade - are left out altogether, so looks like the leather enema Pat promised has been applied. I presume SOB and Heff are just being rotated, they were our best players last week. Didn't think Heenan or Griffin (in the quarter of a game he got) were that bad so surprised to see them left out of the 23 entirely (neither on unavailable list). Conversely TOH and Leader can count themselves fortunate to be near the matchday squad at all. We've little or no chance of winning but hopefully we make it difficult for Munster.

Connacht team to face Munster

Saturday, May 6th, kick off 5.15pm, the Sportsground

(Connacht caps in brackets)

15 Tiernan O’Halloran (126)
14 Danie Poolman (84)
13 Tom Farrell (
12 Craig Ronaldson (66)
11 Cian Kelleher (12)
10 Jack Carty (79)
9 Kieran Marmion (119)

1 Denis Buckley (117)
2 Shane Delahunt (27)
3 Conor Carey (10)
4 Quinn Roux (56)
5 Andrew Browne (154)
6 Eoin McKeon (106)
7 James Connolly (22)
8 John Muldoon (301) (captain)

Replacements:

16 Dave Heffernan (83)
17 JP Cooney (49)
18 Finlay Bealham (81)
19 Sean O’Brien (38)
20 Naulia Dawai (11)
21 John Cooney (38)
22 Marnitz Boshoff (3)
23 Darragh Leader (52)

Injured/unavailable: Tom McCartney, Ronan Loughney, Ultan Dillane, Nepia Fox-Matamua, Steve Crosbie, Bundee Aki, Peter Robb, Stacey Ili, Matt Healy, Niyi Adeolokun, Josh Rowland.

Munster:
15. Andrew Conway
14. Alex Wootton
13. Jaco Taute
12. Dan Goggin
11. Keith Earls
10. Ian Keatley
9. Angus Lloyd
1. James Cronin
2. Rhys Marshall
3. Stephen Archer
4. Darren O’Shea
5. Billy Holland (Captain)
6. Jean Deysel
7. Conor Oliver
8. Jack O’Donoghue
Replacements
16. Niall Scannell
17. Dave Kilcoyne
18. John Ryan
19. Peter O’Mahony
20. Tommy O’Donnell
21. Conor Murray
22. Tyler Bleyendaal
23. Francis Saili

TOH, Poolman, Farrell, Ronaldson, Kelleher, Carty, Marmion;
Buckley, Delahunt, Carey, Roux, Browne, McKeon, Connolly, Muldoon;
Heffernan, JP Cooney, Bealham, SOB, Dawai, Cooney, Boshoff, Leader

Folks, have some returns on the Bus and Ticket combo. If anyone is interested, send me an email below.

Westie85 wrote: I think if Carey isn't fit for the weekend you can't include him in a play off. We saw at the weekend what happens when you throw in players who haven't played in months.

considering that the playoff is going to be a forward battle he's got to get 30 minutes gametime against munster

I think if Carey isn't fit for the weekend you can't include him in a play off. We saw at the weekend what happens when you throw in players who haven't played in months.

inpho.ie/cache/inpho/a5/5b/9b/6114ce2421...8/INPHO_01202976.jpg
That's not what would have seemed to be light training...

I'm optimistic for the 19th of May, that's all matters

connachta wrote: hope Carey is ready, we need him to be 100% for play-off. Bealham has been disappointing this season
I'd go with Buckley/Carey and Bealham/McCoy on the bench

I don't think Carey will be ready. He was listed as unavailable on the team announcement last week and as I mentioned I presume there would have been an update with the others if he was available for this weekend. I don't think Bealham has been completely disappointing this season, he started out well but he's definitely faded as it's gone on. I wouldn't have him wearing 17 either, I don't rate his scrummaging at loosehead at all, he was getting schooled by the Scarlets tighthead at the weekend until he switched sides to accommodate Buckley and then he was fine.

hope Carey is ready, we need him to be 100% for play-off. Bealham has been disappointing this season
I'd go with Buckley/Carey and Bealham/McCoy on the bench