Deleted - big long-winded reply.

to play the game the way we want to play has certain requirements to be effective.
1. Good kickers of the ball at 9,10,12 and 15. we lack quality in this area so far.

2. Rock solid defence both in terms of system and one up tackling. we are crap at both atm.

3. soild scrum and lineout. our scrum is good atm but lineout a shambles. our defensive lineout is non existant and was quite good last season.

4. a high return from placed balls.

Parks should make a difference to points 1 and 4. The defence and forwards coach have serious questions to answer though and imo forshaw should replaced immediately and assistance(even in a part time capacity)given to the forwards coach for now. my reasoning here is that this time last season we had a decent lineout but no scrum and things have now reversed so dan obviously is struggling to keep all shows on the road at the one time.EE is the boss so if there is no improvement his position will have t be looked at in the summer.

Creedance- things arent all rosy on the clan terrace. most of us are as frustrated as F***k at the level of performance and results. I for one wont be attending on friday night even tho i will be in galway on the night. Partly because im going to the all ireland on sunday but also to protest(in my own little way) at performance levels and Price hike for interpros. i go to see connacht not leinster and imo connacht are not worth 25 euro atm.

sponsors like mazda wont stick around with these results. neither will the supporters who have swelled the ave attendance from 2000 to 4600 last season.

I think this has kind of descended from what was concern as to the direction the team is heading to some posters making out its a mob rule to get Eric out. Whoever is Connacht coach and 23 Connacht players have the supporters full backing in all games. The roar Connacht got at half time against Scarlets after what had been an ok first half showed that supporters are desperate to have something to get their teeth into and to get behind the team.

Connacht supporters always get behind the team without question regardless of circumstances. We have all seen some god awful Connacht displays but the team has never been booed off, the team has often got a rapturous reception when it definitely wasn't deserved. The support of our supporters is second to none but people pay their season ticket money or entrance fee and deserve better value for money than they have been getting.

There have been a few moans and groans during recent games which in direct proportion to the performance were small and imo were fully justified. There is a good atmosphere in the clan and it has given the ground some sort of soul but the ground can't be a happy clappy place every week regardless of results or performance.

Nobody has turned on the team during a game, everyone got behind them and will continue to get behind them even if/when Leinster are trouncing us on Friday evening. This isn't all a budget issue or an injuries issue. Every team going out needs some type of gameplan and imo that has been completely absent so far this season. Thats not all managements fault (and there have been extenuating circumstances) but questions have to be asked and you'd hope they are being asked internally. Ultimately the buck stops with them and hopefully we can see some signs of a plan emerging next Friday. I'd take a bad defeat if I saw something to suggest the team knows the direction its heading in.

This Heineken Cup bandwagon mightn't come around for a long time provided the compromise ERC changes are reached for a couple of seasons time so its a critical juncture for Connacht Rugby to keep its top players, bring through a good crop of young players and keep a strong core of support.

Also knocking supporters of other sports is most unwelcome, only perpetuates the stereotype of some rugby fans and is without any real justification. I'd rate Galway supporters as extremely tolerant in comparison to almost every other county.

swift4prez wrote: quick question Creedence. where you at the game vs the scarlets?

i was in the clan, no bitching or boo's (completly again that towards my own team) thank god but face were on the floor from most people leaving after the final whistle. the main stand was nearly empty when that scarlet player touched down after he ran 75metres for his try.

nobody was 'buzzing' or had a hop in there step leaving. it felt like a big funeral

I wasn't at the Scarlets game, and doesn't sound like I missed much in the way of fun, but I don't see what is so remarkable about what you describe? I expect a few more nights like this over the season given our resources versus those of other teams in the HEC and the Rabo.

quick question Creedence. where you at the game vs the scarlets?

i was in the clan, no bitching or boo's (completly again that towards my own team) thank god but face were on the floor from most people leaving after the final whistle. the main stand was nearly empty when that scarlet player touched down after he ran 75metres for his try.

nobody was 'buzzing' or had a hop in there step leaving. it felt like a big funeral

RogueXV wrote: but let's give Eric and staff until at least Feb or March when they've had a run of games with a truly first choice side before we try to force them out.

Better again, regardless what happens lets not try and force them out. That's Sears' job, not the crown in the Clan.

One of my best memories of last season what how I looked forward to going to the Clan while on that eternal losing streak. Even the bad losses on miserably wet evenings it was a good place to be. Once that atmosphere changes it is adios from me, regardless what happens on the pitch. Ifanyone is into miserable bitching from the terraces, go to watch the Galway hurlers next Spring. They'll be baying for Anthony Cunningham's head by April.

Agree it's much too early to be showing Eric the door. I wasn't a fan of giving him the top spot, but the team was significantly more competitive last season and so far this season he hasn't remotely been able to select a side from a full deck due to injury. Yes, the teams that have run out there had their opportunities to turn a couple of results around, but let's give Eric and staff until at least Feb or March when they've had a run of games with a truly first choice side before we try to force them out.

clan clover wrote: [quote="sea_point"
Eric's role isn't as a coach, he's Director of Coaching. Which indicates that he is responsible for devising playing strategy and hiring the coaches to implement that strategy. How much autonomy these coaches have is unclear, but you can be sure that if Eric was not listening to what his coaches were telling him they would not be staying. Most could earn more elsewhere...

ConnachtRugby wrote:
<strong>Team Management </strong>

Director of Coaching: Eric Elwood
Team Manager: Tim Allnutt
Assistant Coach: Dan McFarland
Backs Coach: Billy Millard
Defensive Coach: Mike Foreshaw
Head Strength & Condititioning: Tom McLoughlin
Strength & Conditioning: Jim Molony
Video Analyst: Conor McPhillips
Logistics Manager: Martin Joyce

Provincial Academy Manager: Nigel Carolan
Academy Strength & Conditioning: Antoine Mobian
Elite Player Development Officer: Jimmy Duffy
Coaching Development Manager: Eamonn Molloy
Coaching Development Officer: Cory Brown
Womens Community Rugby: Wendy Hickey
Community Rugby Officer: Jim Herring
Community Rugby Officer: Paul Jennings
Community Rugby Officer: Gavin Foley
Community Rugby Officer: Charlie Couper

Your missing the point, the way we play the team selection the oddities we see week in week out are all EE anyone can see that, the subs on match day are all EE. Any photos you see of Connacht on any website in training, who do you see in the middle over seeing the training EE. As director of coaching as you put it, he should be elsewhere and not getting involved in the coaching of the team but he does. Anyone remember his be-rating of Billy Millard at the sidelines last year. Why did Billy Melrose move on, ask yourself, did he have coaching input????.[/quote]

Are you taking the mickey, seriously?

Eric is the de Facto face of Connacht Rugby, and by being that face he allows the other coaches to get on with the day to day work of preparing the teams without the distractions of the media pestering them. But he also needs (it his his primary role) to monitor what is going on, on the training paddock so that he is happy that the employees that he is directly responsible for are translating what he is asking them to do into appropriately targeted training.

As a comparison I can tell you for a fact that at Quins training sessions at the University of Surrey in Guildford despite John Kingston being Head Coach that Conor O'Shea attends every training session (and he doesn't even live in the Guildford area - Cookham the other side of Maidenhead) and his office at the Stoop both of which are 30+ Miles away.

As for Billy Melrose, please check your dates....

Thu 02 Jun 2011
London Irish has announced today that Brian “Billy” Melrose has been appointed as the Club’s new Elite Player Performance Manager on a permanent contract.

Joining Toby Booth’s coaching team in July, Brian will be responsible for the development of the current elite players; to help maximise individual skills and on-field performance. He will also lead on the sourcing and recruitment of new talent to meet the squad’s future requirements and help ensure the Club’s continued progression and success.

A top-class Australian coach, Brian has most recently been at Connacht in the Magners League as their backs coach. During an illustrious career, Melrose has enjoyed spells with Australian Super Rugby side New South Wales Waratahs, where he was the attack and kicking coach, as well as time with the Australian U20’s side and the Sevens team.

Andy Martin, London Irish Chief Executive said: “This new elite player performance manager role will form a key part our strategy for success and being able to attract someone of Brian’s calibre clearly demonstrates the undoubted potential of London Irish. I am confident that with Toby, Mike, Justin and now Brian also on board, we have a world class coaching set up that will lead the Club to great things.”

London Irish head coach Toby Booth said: “London Irish places a great deal of importance on the development of its players both on and off the field and the advancement of our development programme is vital for maximising positive performance on match days. I am delighted that Brian will be joining the team, he brings with him a wealth of knowledge and experience which I know will command great respect amongst the squad from the outset.”

Brian, who will join the club for the start of pre-season training said: “I am very much looking forward to the challenge that awaits at Sunbury. There are a lot of talented young and established players within the squad and I look forward to working with each them

www.london-irish.com/news/Irish61456.ink

And that'll be Billy Melrose who jumped ship from Eastwood RFC to Connacht and from Connacht to Irish in the space of a Year? Perhaps there's more to it in reality than the simple 2+2 your suggesting..

By the way what happened to Brian/Billy, oh yeah he's back in Oz since May trying to find work...

April 11, 2012

Meanwhile Smith has spoken of the proposed backroom shake-up which is due to take place at London Irish in the summer.

It was reported in the Rugby Paper that Exiles’ assistant head coach Mike Catt, performance manager Brian Melrose and defence coach Justin Bishop could be on their way.

Catt is rumoured to be considering three job offers, including one from his former club Bath.

The future of head coach Toby Booth also remains in doubt with rumours linking him to the vacancy at Bath following the announcement last week that Sir Ian McGeechan will be leaving at the end of the season.

Smith said: “There is some speculation that London Irish are falling on hard times. That is not true.

"London Irish has a big rugby budget. There is £5.5 million spent on rugby.

"We just need to make sure we are spending at least £4.2m of that on players because that is what the salary cap is.

“We have had to look at tightening our belt in some areas in order to make sure that we put the quality on the pitch."

“So we are reviewing anyone who is not on a fixed-term contract as well as all the behind-the-scenes structure to make sure we provide a terrific support structure for a quality squad.

www.getreading.co.uk/sport/rugby/london_...fight_to_save_career

Billy Melrose - LinkedIn - www.linkedin.com/pub/brian-melrose/50/52a/823

Bring back Bradley!

[quote="sea_point"
Eric's role isn't as a coach, he's Director of Coaching. Which indicates that he is responsible for devising playing strategy and hiring the coaches to implement that strategy. How much autonomy these coaches have is unclear, but you can be sure that if Eric was not listening to what his coaches were telling him they would not be staying. Most could earn more elsewhere...

ConnachtRugby wrote:
<strong>Team Management </strong>

Director of Coaching: Eric Elwood
Team Manager: Tim Allnutt
Assistant Coach: Dan McFarland
Backs Coach: Billy Millard
Defensive Coach: Mike Foreshaw
Head Strength & Condititioning: Tom McLoughlin
Strength & Conditioning: Jim Molony
Video Analyst: Conor McPhillips
Logistics Manager: Martin Joyce

Provincial Academy Manager: Nigel Carolan
Academy Strength & Conditioning: Antoine Mobian
Elite Player Development Officer: Jimmy Duffy
Coaching Development Manager: Eamonn Molloy
Coaching Development Officer: Cory Brown
Womens Community Rugby: Wendy Hickey
Community Rugby Officer: Jim Herring
Community Rugby Officer: Paul Jennings
Community Rugby Officer: Gavin Foley
Community Rugby Officer: Charlie Couper

[/quote]

Your missing the point, the way we play the team selection the oddities we see week in week out are all EE anyone can see that, the subs on match day are all EE. Any photos you see of Connacht on any website in training, who do you see in the middle over seeing the training EE. As director of coaching as you put it, he should be elsewhere and not getting involved in the coaching of the team but he does. Anyone remember his be-rating of Billy Millard at the sidelines last year. Why did Billy Melrose move on, ask yourself, did he have coaching input????.

The truth about Bradley's last season:

First let's laud a 7 game winning streak in Europe, ending with a one score loss in the semi to a locked and loaded Toulon. Since I'm about to point out just how bad we were under Brads, I shouldn't forget the good bits.

Out home record was 5-1-3 in the league, which isn't bad until you remember (1) the season was 4 games shorter and (2) we did not compete, at all, in the away games.

Our 9 for 9 losing record in away matches that year started with a 62-13 defeat to Edinburgh, for the love of all that's holy, and finished with a 41-10 shellacking at Ulster.

In between we saw such gems as a 35-3 pasting in Thomond and a 58-10 drubbing at the hands of the Scarlets.

We got one, solitary, away point (vs. Leinster), in the league that year.

And that season was light years ahead of the 4 that preceded it.

Be careful what you wish for and so on...

OK first off the people here defending EE seem to think that we want Bradley still in the job we don't.

Is EE working under a different set of circumstances than Bradley? Yes.

Do any of us think Bradley would be doing a better job than EE? No.

The point swift4prez was making was that under Bradley last season when more money was coming online we were beginning to see improvement which continued in EE's first year. Since then we've got the HEC cup which was amazing but we've stalled in progress. The welsh teams have all slashed their budgets and put in wage caps and we have an Italian team which has never played together before. Yes alot of them know each other from Airioni but there's enough newbies to make their transition tough. With this in mind we hoped that with the money we've spent and the new talent coming through to do better in the league than last year. What has happened is we've lurched from one disaster to another barely beating the worst team in the league in what was the 3rd game they've ever played together. I'm a fan of EE and what he had done for Connacht but as a coach he doesn't have what it takes and should be replaced. As for EE himself I'd like to see him on the board of Directors were his true talents seem to lie.

Edit: to answer Creedence I was hoping for 7th which I don't think is/was impossible.

P.S. : Also people think that this is a soccer style we want the manger out should realise that most professional soccer managers wouldn't have lasted a 13 game losing streak like EE did last year not without serious barracking from the terraces or alot more vitriol in the forums.

This is like reading a Sunderland F.C. forum. Thoroughly depressing.

The expectations here are way out of line. Go back over to the 'Predictions for 2012-2013' thread and read what posters expected from this season - crazy stuff in some cases (home wins against every Welsh Italian and Scottish sides???). What were they based on? Nothing other than hope and fantasy that I can see.

There is no real reason that I can see that we would do better than last season. Matching that would be a solid result IMO. For every new recruit we have, every other side has someone who's record can match that. What other club would consider Dan Parks to be their marquee signing? As Sears rightly points out in the article, every other club is working just as hard (on bigger budgets) to push on too.

It is nothing but a complete fantasy to think that changing Eric Elwood for some unknown person would make any significant difference.

swift4prez wrote:

Packie wrote:

swift4prez wrote: anyone saying its to early to question eric has a very short memory.
anyone remember last season? 14 games lost on the bounce.
read any thread on here from them games, aironi away, munster away, ospreys home. your memory will come back and youll get a reality check.
this season, started off against the worse cardiff team there supporters ever seen.
we were 2inchs away from going behind in zebre with only few mins left, macca scored and but an extra 7points on the score line to make every think ''ok''.
then we played scarlets, a good team no doubt, but we gave away an 8point lead at half time, in 11 mins in the second half.
we went to glasgow and gave them 4 soft trys when we could of won.

<strong>at least with bradley he was winning his home matches</strong>, his last season he only lost 3home games, vs ospreys, munster and toulon when we got to the semi of the amlin.

You're 4 years old, yes?

well done on picking out half the sentence. if you kept reading you would of clearly seen i ment his last season. truth hurts? dont make this personal. if you choice to ignore it, dont read this thread. we are back 5/6 years with results, better players but not wins. who's fault is that

He was making a very succinct point actually, and you're just being a tad over sensitive.

But the FACT remains that Bradley gave us many more reasons over a much longer period to want his departure than Eric has. The successful run in his last term only began after he had announced his impending departure, for the first half of the season we were complete and utter pony..

You point to the losing streak last season, our first in Heineken Cup history when our resources (which were being asked to step up to another level) were stretched past breaking point. The loss to Treviso is the only game I had issue with. The loss to Aironi was a car crash waiting to happen as the lads were mentally crushed after being pipped by Leinster six days earlier. But in that sequence of games listed below the only bad performances really were Treviso home, Munster away and Aironi away. With a bit of luck, lack of injuries and a wee bit more self confidence we could have nicked a half dozen of the other games too. Saying that, the first three wins could just as easily have been losses at the blow of a whistle.

20/01/2012 H Harlequins W 9 - 8 Heineken Cup

14/01/2012 A Toulouse L 3 - 24 Heineken Cup

07/01/2012 A Aironi Rugby L 6 - 20 RaboDirect PRO 12

01/01/2012 H Leinster L 13 - 15 RaboDirect PRO 12

26/12/2011 A Munster L 9 - 24 RaboDirect PRO 12

17/12/2011 A Gloucester L 19 - 23 Heineken Cup

10/12/2011 H Gloucester L 10 - 14 Heineken Cup

02/12/2011 H Benetton Treviso L 13 - 15 RaboDirect PRO 12

26/11/2011 H Ospreys L 6 - 17 RaboDirect PRO 12

19/11/2011 H Toulouse L 10 - 36 Heineken Cup

11/11/2011 A Harlequins L 17 - 25 Heineken Cup

05/11/2011 A Ulster L 3 - 22 RaboDirect PRO 12

29/10/2011 H Cardiff Blues W 20 - 16 RaboDirect PRO 12

08/10/2011 A Leinster L 20 - 30 RaboDirect PRO 12

30/09/2011 A Ospreys L 21 - 26 RaboDirect PRO 12

23/09/2011 H Newport Gwent Dragons W 17 - 13 RaboDirect PRO 12

16/09/2011 A Edinburgh L 14 - 19 RaboDirect PRO 12

10/09/2011 H Scarlets W 13 - 11 RaboDirect PRO 12

03/09/2011 A Benetton Treviso W 11 - 9 RaboDirect PRO 12

The facts are that we are probably just about above the two Italian sides in terms of overall resources (players, money etc), every other game is a massive challenge against teams with more money and better resources and in the near future that is unlikely to change dramatically.

The building blocks to enable us to strengthen are just being put in place now (ground development, improved match day marketing and facilities, better sponsorship deals etc.) but even with more money we are as Tom Sears stated in the Indo article recently we are still just trying to keep up with the continuous developments of the other teams.

It'd be great if we could afford to do everything at once, (afford to recruit a winning team, hire a successful world class coach and develop our ground into something resembling a professional rugby stadium), fact is we can't we can only manage baby steps and that's what we're doing except Eric's doing it in a HEC environment whereas Bradley failed to do it in a Challenge Cup (old format) environment...

swift4prez wrote: anyone saying its to early to question eric has a very short memory.

Belive me I have a very long memory and if you think we are worse off under Eric than we were under Bradley I think it's you who needs the reality check my friend!

swift4prez wrote: at least with bradley he was winning his home matches, his last season he only lost 3home games, vs ospreys, munster and toulon when we got to the semi of the amlin.

And where did we finish that year? 10th was it? I'm not saying we've had a good start to the season and yes that losing streak last year was incredibly painful and frankly embarassing, but I would still regard it as one of our most successful seasons ever, it certainly had some of the most enjoyable matches/ days out for me anyway. With all our injuries so far this year I don't think it's fair to judge the coaching staff so soon, that's all.

swift4prez wrote:

Packie wrote:

swift4prez wrote: anyone saying its to early to question eric has a very short memory.
anyone remember last season? 14 games lost on the bounce.
read any thread on here from them games, aironi away, munster away, ospreys home. your memory will come back and youll get a reality check.
this season, started off against the worse cardiff team there supporters ever seen.
we were 2inchs away from going behind in zebre with only few mins left, macca scored and but an extra 7points on the score line to make every think ''ok''.
then we played scarlets, a good team no doubt, but we gave away an 8point lead at half time, in 11 mins in the second half.
we went to glasgow and gave them 4 soft trys when we could of won.

<strong>at least with bradley he was winning his home matches</strong>, his last season he only lost 3home games, vs ospreys, munster and toulon when we got to the semi of the amlin.

You're 4 years old, yes?

well done on picking out half the sentence. if you kept reading you would of clearly seen i ment his last season. truth hurts? dont make this personal. if you choice to ignore it, dont read this thread. we are back 5/6 years with results, better players but not wins. who's fault is that

read your post again