I think what cost us was an inability to ask serious questions of the Leinster defence when near the try line, on numerous occasions not just at the end we struggled to make any headway and started to go back, but that is against a team who are among the best defensive sides in Europe at the moment. Ben Whitehouse frustrates me so much he is such a poor standard, I've seen him ref a lot of games that don't involve us and he equally frustrates me in those, I was genuinely amazed when McFadden didn't get a card, I thought it was possibly red definitely yellow I want to watch the game back to see how he came to the conclusion he did. But all in all it was a hard fought point and a good performance, and I haven't heard anyway mention but by my calculations Matt is now 1 try away from Fionn Carr's record or am I totally off the mark with that one.

theCulk wrote:

connemara man wrote: Jack is an eighty percent kicker in all competitions this season. That's a bloody good average

It's an expected average for kicks at goal. The problem today was he did a very good Dan Parks impression and missed kicks to touch at very crucial parts of the game. No player is above critcism, but it seems anytime someone says anything about Jack then out come the pitchforks and he is defended against everything said against him. I mentioned the kicking as I thought it swung the momentum back to Leinster. As I said no player is above criticism or in todays PC language "constructive feedback", so here goes:

TOH - decision making. still making bad decisions over when to run vs when to kick
Marms - box kicking is still terrible
Mul - the dummy at the back of the ruck when we were under their posts
Freak - darts

Better now lads?

TBH those kicks were poor one lead to a try against us and we were lucky to get another crack at the other. But context is king and Sexton had similar issues kicking into the same wind.

It's very easy to give out about Jack and for some people there's a tonne of confirmation bias around him. "See I told you he was awful look at that one bad thing he's done that confirms my perception" and ignoring the good work he's doing the other 99% of the time.

Great performance by the lads yesterday. Difficult to single anyone out, but I thought Dillane and Cannon gave their all with super performances from Marmion, both centres and Healy too. I would hope that Kieran has put to bed the question whether he or McGrath should bench for Murray during the Six Nations. Surely it's now Kieran. Also Bundee outplayed the saintly Ringrose, so hopefully that's him pencilled in as Henshaw's partner in the centre for the Six Nations.

You can never take anything for granted with the Dublin meeja though. Last weekend they had Larmour already lining up the No11 jersey for Ireland. I think Matt Healy's performance yesterday was even better. Cracking try.

Two final things: it was a pity that Jack Carty missed the conversion of Healy's try and that he didn't at least feint to drop goal the final possession. He doesn't appear to have the drop goal shot in his locker. Finally: what kind of a fu@ker is McFadden? He should have seen red for taking out TOH in the air and his feigning injury fooled Whitehouse.

connemara man wrote: Jack is an eighty percent kicker in all competitions this season. That's a bloody good average

It's an expected average for kicks at goal. The problem today was he did a very good Dan Parks impression and missed kicks to touch at very crucial parts of the game. No player is above critcism, but it seems anytime someone says anything about Jack then out come the pitchforks and he is defended against everything said against him. I mentioned the kicking as I thought it swung the momentum back to Leinster. As I said no player is above criticism or in todays PC language "constructive feedback", so here goes:

TOH - decision making. still making bad decisions over when to run vs when to kick
Marms - box kicking is still terrible
Mul - the dummy at the back of the ruck when we were under their posts
Freak - darts

Better now lads?

Jack is an eighty percent kicker in all competitions this season. That's a bloody good average

Before the match I said i would have taken the losing bonus point, and I'm happy with that.

I can see why people are giving out.
It was like what Roy Keane said about the hand ball in France, he said the game should have been won before handball.

You cannot blame Jack for losing that game, and I would bet all his team's mates would say the same.
I have often given out about Jack in the past, I do not blame him.
He is the best 10 by a mile.
We do not need a new 10 we need a kicker with high stats.

First of all the pack played very well as a unit and there was great balance.
I thought the penalties in the scrum were harsh but that's the ref. We all know he is sh#t.
Some of his decision for both sides were really bad.


Front row again stood up and were counted, how FB is not back up prop for Ireland is mad.

Second rows did unreal work.
I think there should have been a changed last 10 mins Dillane emptied the tank.
Back rows cancelled each other out, both sets having moments.

Half backs were ok. Again KM had nothing left last 5 to 6 mins.
Was this why we did not go wide?

Centres were class, if TF gets his defence right and perfects the skip or long pass. He will be our number one 12 and we will do well do hold onto him.
They are starting to read each other.
TF is creating space for bundi.
(My dad met is uncle who lives in Castlebar so it's nice TF has Connacht connections)

TOH and Healy are back! All we need is for someone to stand up and take the last winger Jersey.
Both were good in defence, I also gave out about them in the past.

Defence is good, scrum is good, line out is improving.
Most importantly our handling skills are nearly back the best. Most passes going to hand

OUR TEAM NEVER GAVE UP, be proud of them when they gave every bit they could.
Give out when they don't. Today they gave everything the had.

Lads, there is so much positives to take from that game.
If we can keep that up, we will get the 3rd spot.

Remember Leinster left a lot of scores behind them. They should have scored 3 more tries.

Hopefully JJ is playing next week and we can do the do the double

pinky wrote:

Devils own wrote: This is a Connacht rugby forum

This is a supporters' club.

I didnt say it wasnt. I support Connacht Rugby the way I best see fit, you are free to support the way you wish they happen to very different. For me there is very little room for sentimentality in professional sport but to each his own.

Devils own wrote: This is a Connacht rugby forum

This is a supporters' club.

pinky wrote:

Devils own wrote: i'm ruthless about that as any good coach or manager would be.

So which are you, a good coach or a good manager?
Or a good lad to sit on the ditch and wait for an opening to blame someone else for how poorly your year is going so far.

This is a Connacht rugby forum you give your opinions on a full time professional player/team and I will give my mine capeesh. Galway winning the all Ireland in style is still keeping me happy.

Cathal wrote: Carty was not the issue today. Not by a long shot. The kicking conditions were horrible - he ran the back line reasonably well. The remainder of his performance was decent.

I thought on multiple occasions in 2nd half we were trying to bludgeon them to death. If Exeter in Champions Cup proved anything they have a red zone defence that borders on ridiculous. Width was our real opportunity once we sucked in their D but the forwards seemed blinkered. Healy & Niyi were the options.....we never went there.

We're going ok.....we can take Munster down there.

Well to go wide you need your ten to look for the ball.

theCulk wrote: So what is to blame today? Benny Whitehouse's terrible decisions, or Jack's kicking?
Very frustrating game

Jack pretty much had the same conversions as JS and missed the same. Only a penalty between the teams. Wonder if we had set up for drop goal might we have eased the pressure at the breakdown and snuck over for the try? Certainly we never looked like spreading the ball wide in the last few minutes.
Next time is 25 years since winning in the RDS so the win is long overdue.
Sorry that should have read 15 years! Long day by the time I drove back from a Dublin.

Carty was not the issue today. Not by a long shot. The kicking conditions were horrible - he ran the back line reasonably well. The remainder of his performance was decent.

I thought on multiple occasions in 2nd half we were trying to bludgeon them to death. If Exeter in Champions Cup proved anything they have a red zone defence that borders on ridiculous. Width was our real opportunity once we sucked in their D but the forwards seemed blinkered. Healy & Niyi were the options.....we never went there.

We're going ok.....we can take Munster down there.

Devils own wrote: i'm ruthless about that as any good coach or manager would be.

So which are you, a good coach or a good manager?
Or a good lad to sit on the ditch and wait for an opening to blame someone else for how poorly your year is going so far.

tlocke wrote: Ran out of steam in the end. Would of taken a losing point before the game all the same.

That said, the PRO14 seriously needs to improve the quality of refereeing. I understand the need for union’s to blood referees but some of these referees in the league are not up to scratch too often and it’s at the detriment to the league.

Whitehouse wasn’t blooded in this game he’s an International referee.

He’s not my cup of tea, can be too picky at times and miss some bigger things but he’s consistent in that.

We got some calls we shouldn’t have and lost some we should have got.

He’s not the reason we lost but he can be frustrating to watch.

Bazzo wrote:

Devils own wrote:

Bazzo wrote: Who skipped a long pass out to Healy to give him possession in a one on one against McFadden who promptly shat himself because he realised he was facing someone quicker than a prop?

Who stepped a shooting Leinster defender then popped a lovely pass to Bundee putting him in to space to make 20m and put Connacht on the Leinster line with the defence scrambling?

Yes he threw a long pass but Healy was covered by McFadden. Healy made that try out of nothing coming back inside and beating players anyone else could have been isolated and turned over. Who did Lowe hand off like a rag doll to set up Leinster first try and someone missed a critical kick to touch and the end of the game. If your happy that’s fine, we differ completely.

Who did Lowe make a fool of? I dunno, point a finger at our team sheet and you'll hit one of them, he broke tackles, offloaded and beat more defenders in a night than many wingers do in a season.

Oh my goodness, he missed a kick to touch into a gale, string him up. Like I already pointed out Sexton did the exact same and he's one of the best 10s in the world.

Every. Single. Game. Someone just can't wait to get the boot in to Carty when at least half of it is usually nonsense anyway, it's really pathetic from people who are supposed to be fans of his team.

Sextons wasn’t at critical end of game stage with Leinster trailing, sexton can grab a monster 3 points from range and he broke our line with great attacking play and offloads on numerous occasions. He also made some huge tackles on us close to the line to hold up far bigger players. I want Connacht to be the very best and yes I’m ruthless about that as any good coach or manager would be. I call it like I see it, nothing personal as I said. You can feel free to back slap everyone that’s your call.

Yeah everyone will pile into Carty even though Sexton's error count was way higher. Thought we lost this up front - sacked mauls, poor ball retention, some ill-judged pick-and-goes when there was no support and we just needed to accept slow ball and reset with a starter play. Quite the game though, and I'd have bit your hand off for 6 points two weeks ago.

On the ref, I thought we was ok bar the scrum, where Leinster had him bought-and-sold. Mul didn't handle him well (quelle surprise) and that fake at the ruck was just dumb as chips.