In fairness I thought he had a good game, there were a couple of errors but he was involved an awful lot in the game. As you mentioned his tackling was excellent as was his ball presentation. Especially for the disallowed try if I remember correctly.

I don't think the pack is the problem , or should I say I think we can hold our own in that department. That said we are not pulling up trees in any department right now.

There are a few things that strike me watching Connacht. I'd be interested to hear people's thoughts.

Grubber;
Grubber kick or should I say lack of. The grubber kick left with AJ by the looks of it. It was used so effectively in the centre field by both AJ and Bundee a couple of years ago. We don't seem to use it anymore. To be honest I'm not sure what they’re trying to do. We just seem to move the ball out wide slowly and then boot it up the field with no chase. (Harsh and exaggerated I know)

First receiver;
It seems like every time the first receiver takes the pass there's an opposition player right on top of him already ..., and our first receiver is usually deep ........ I haven't seen many flat passes this season. The opposition can't be offside all of the time and the referee certainly doesn't think they are because he’s not blowing for it.

Conceding tries out wide;
This goes back to the second half of last season. Teams don't even seem to have to move the ball out wide particularly quickly and we still get caught. How many tries have we conceded out wide in 2017? We don't seem to play narrow , we are losing the breakdown battle which would suggest we are not. Are people just not communicating ? I think yes in regards to Cardiff’s last try.

Anyway more of a rant than offering constructive thoughts.

Had thought Ultan had a very mixed game. What has struck me also is really how ineffective the backline is. Other than Butler we seem to be going nowhere. Both John and Eoin have been close to invisible

Wasrednowgreen wrote: Result = not embarrassing ourselves.

The fact we consider losing by two scores a result is already pretty embarrassing tbh.

Just watched the game back, and two things struck me:
(1) Dillane's error count was off the charts, way worse than I first thought. I counted 6 handling errors (2 knock ons, 2 balls dropped backwards with possession lost, 2 hospital passes 4/5 yards in front of the target) and he needlessly conceded the penalty that the first try came from. Against that his tackle count (19/0) and carries were off the scale for a second row, so I guess you take the rough with the smooth.
(2) Likewise Deegan mixed the very good with the very bad, which is hardly surprising since that was (as far as I know) his first competitive full-pro start (Aussie NPC is semi-pro I think). His passing and lines of running were excellent, and you'd forgive him his penalty conceded, but his kicking was terrible. From 5 kicks we lost possession twice, lost territory twice, and had one gain when his kick was partially charged down into touch. He wasn't the only culprit, Marmion kicked away possession twice in the first half too. Overall I think we had one effective kick from play in the whole game.

Ok, the score at the end was shocking and we have a rough start to the season, but we have to move on. We have no more excuses, we have to start getting results and if we win in Belfast (yes, I said win) then this will do a lot to get our season back on track.

So enough about the bad thoughts of the Cardiff match and let’s look forward and finally get that win in Belfast.

Result = not embarrassing ourselves.

Wasrednowgreen wrote: We're looking distinctly average already. Next weekend could be a car-crash. In fact, us keeping it to within two scores would be a result. Can't see it happening.

No actually keeping within 2 scores isn't a result as we will receive 0 points unless we score 4 tries.

We're looking distinctly average already. Next weekend could be a car-crash. In fact, us keeping it to within two scores would be a result. Can't see it happening.

We've had a terrible start to the season but as it stands Connacht are in a Champions Cup qualifying spot (which would count as a successful season) so suggesting it is all over after 4 games is beyond hyperbole.
Granted we will most likely drop out of the qualifying spot in two weeks' time if Blues beat Dragons, but with so many teams misfiring at this stage, I don't think we can consider administering the last rites until the Arms Park on November 24th at the earliest. If we lose there having succumbed to Cheetahs the previous week then you can safely transfer the remaining eggs into the EPCR basket (assuming we haven't also lost to Oyonnax and Worcester, in which case I'm out of metaphors).
Personally I'm looking forward to the complete lack of expectation over the next two fixtures ...

Fair points all, but we've just lost two on the trot to teams that were winless this season until they met us (Dragons had won just 2 games in the league since they beat us last year). I think the concern people have isn't that we're going to finish where our long term mean would suggest (8th overall/4th in our conference) but that we'll finish 11th or 12th overall/6th in our conference ahead of only Kings & Zebre, and possibly Dragons.

Also, if you're going to cite long term averages as the foundation of your argument, it shouldn't be lost on you that our next three fixtures are away to Scarlets & Ulster, and home to Munster, and that we historically get less than a point a game from each of those fixtures. So it's hardly hyperbolic for someone to claim the league season is done and dusted, and that the Challenge Cup is our best, and possibly only, route to next year's Champions Cup.

Only got to see 2nd half and for 38 minutes we were by far the better team. Those 38 minutes gave me some hope, the last 2 minutes gave me an ill feeling of de-ja-vu. Some people seem very angry with the results this season so far and with our finishing point last year. One fan on here even deems the Pro 14 season over for Connacht after 4 games.

Having had a look back on the previous end of season tables on the PRO14 website, (which I assume are correct), Connacht have been in this league for 14 seasons now, I discount the first 2 as there was 2 conferences but no home and away games. Across the 14 seasons we have won on average 7 games, scoring an average of 35 tries, conceded an average of 49 tries, amassed an average 38 points and averaged 9th place in the table. Only in 2003-04, 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17 did we beat this average.

My hope for this season is that KK in his first year beats this average. I know its not a high hope to have, but things have been a whole lot worse for Connacht over the years when the resources were slim and a lot better also as resources increased, so beating the average season would be a fair first season in charge for KK by my reckoning.

Overall I thought it was a much improved performance, we had a lot of possession and attacked with threat at times, defensively o thought we better also, yes there were 2 crucial lapses of concentration/execution that cost us. Cannon interview before match was telling that we will start to see the KK effect in the next few matches, I always thought it was going to be a tough start to the season but signs were there the other evening that we are starting get our house in order

To be honest what struck me after the Dragons game is the fact that KK seemed to give the players a pass (although what he said in private may have been quite different). Personally I don't think what he said was all that bad, Simmons seemed cheeky enough with some of the questions. There's been no edge to the players displays you could argue since last December, hopefully KK brings that, we need to up our intensity levels. Listening to the Craggy podcasts he's been spikey enough with Rob, unnecessarily so. I'd give him the benefit of the doubt, in that he maybe doesn't realise that he's not part of the "traditional" press.

Not too bothered by the interview. He was clearly absolutely seething(no more than the rest of us) and probably didn't want to be there at all, I'd say he just wanted some straightforward questions to answer so he could get out of there. May have come across a little rude to the interviewer but it's barely worth commenting on tbh.

Didn't see the interview where he was rude to Rob Murphy but bad form if that's the case alright.

Like sligsup I'm more worried about the fact that our defence is seemingly completely non-existent despite bringing in a specialist defence coach who had a full pre-season with the squad. Not sure that 4 on 1 overlap to let Halaholo in in the 78th minute or whatever can be blamed on him though, it was absolutely criminal from the players. I noticed Ili was out there defending the wing by himself but didn't even seem to be calling for numbers, absolute schoolboy stuff from all the players on the pitch.

I think right now we need to worry about the performance on the pitch instead of the interviews. He was not too polite but perhaps he is the guy who can give the squad the kick up the arse that they need. In recent years we have had Elwood with pride/heart, Lam who had belief. Hopefully Keane is the guy who can give the sharpness and cuteness that the squad needs.

Graham Simmons likes to give the impression that he's everybody's buddy in interviews, and thinks that his rambling metaphors are understood by everyone. Keane had to ask for clarification more than once.

As I said before Keane is not an exuberant Islander, but a straight up and down Kiwi no frills, no fancy. If you want a straight answer, just ask a straight question and you'll get it.

As long as he's being true to himself, I have no problem with him. In a Years time we may see a different style emerging, right now he has to be himself and get on with the job in hand. But he did not let anyone down on Saturday, they were confined to on-field.

Anyway the issues from Saturday for me are not the interviews, it's the late arrival of another coach when we're trying to shift playing style and with a lot of new personell...and from the game principally the awful decision making on the field by some of our most senior players...

Evil_g wrote:

sea_point wrote: Nothing wrong with Keane's TV performance. He's a typical dry straight talking Kiwi, he isn't Pat Lam and the players are going to find this out soon.

I thought he made the interviewer's job unnecessarily difficult. He knew well that the interviewer was not suggesting that he himself had gotten on the wrong side of the referee. Pretending he did is not straight talking. He was similarly rude to Rob Murphy (who spends a lot of his own time promoting Connacht Rugby) in his first press conference without the excuse of it being a few minutes after a bitter defeat.

I don't think behaving like that is a good idea. He might think that the questions are innane....but he makes a living training grown men to run around a field after a piece of leather. He, and Connacht, needs the media.