WestLuce wrote: I heard the sligo fella has alot to offer..heard from the inside he has no problems fittin in with the squad i hope to see him get some good game time anyway show what he has to.offer..suppose to be serious on the attack and hard running..
Not too sure if they made right choice signin from wegians hes not suppose to be keepin up with the pack..
All in all should be a good game next week tho lookin forwsrd to it

Heard similiar. He's an absolute tank of a man

Peter Reilly loosehead prop playing for Leinster and international U20 this year during 6 nations and RWC in South Africa...

Thanks Connachta was having a mental block with him.

I heard the sligo fella has alot to offer..heard from the inside he has no problems fittin in with the squad i hope to see him get some good game time anyway show what he has to.offer..suppose to be serious on the attack and hard running..
Not too sure if they made right choice signin from wegians hes not suppose to be keepin up with the pack..
All in all should be a good game next week tho lookin forwsrd to it

connachtexile wrote:
P.S. Once again whose Reilly?

Peter Reilly loosehead prop playing for Leinster and international U20 this year during 6 nations and RWC in South Africa...

ummm, wrote: Oh my gawd I forgot JOC! How could I forget JOC? My excuse was I was fixating too much on new signings and stuff. Yeah. that's it.

I've done the same on an other topic... Maybe it's due to the lack of hair but of course JOC is a key player in the squad

Happy with the signing at prop. Don't know much about him but he's young and seems to be showing promise at AIL Div 1A. He'll get at least B&I Cup exposure and I'd imagine he'll be in the first 23 for a few games with Connacht so its a win win. Its a strong squad (by Connacht Standards) in most areas.

Not sure about the fella playing with Sligo but they've had a long look at him before they gave him a contract so they must feel he has something to offer at least at B&I Cup level. Perhaps in time he'll be a decent squad player as Troy Nathan eventually turned out to be but unlike Nathan at least he can knock the rough edges out of his game with regular gametime at A level.

How the hell did we miss Cooney?! Man were slipping in our old ages. Interesting that they named McCrea as a wing as some of us thought he might be transferred to 12 earlier in the summer season. I for one am happy with the squad which is our strongest in years.

P.S. Once again whose Reilly?

JOC is still good enough to start give him 50 minutes then use the bench

Willie Faloon, TJ Anderson, Eoghan Grace the lads have a big season ahead

Eoin McKeon is still young but good enough to play off the bench

Also Andrew Browne,Mick Kearney can play in the back row

Good to see Browne back

Best thing about this is that i don't have to pick the team

Oh my gawd I forgot JOC! How could I forget JOC? My excuse was I was fixating too much on new signings and stuff. Yeah. that's it.

like the look of the squad make up. Taking the budget into account its probably as good as it could be. Dont know much about cooney but he has done well at Div 1a AIl so B+I shouldnt be too much for him and after that who knows.
Healy looks good in the video posted here but thats all i know of him so hopefully he reproduces that at next level and can defend.
The centre fafita is a concern as sligo are a div 3 side so jump is far greater but he looks big so prob worth a punt.
No mention of Reilly anywhere tho?
I agree with ummm that eric and team will want to hit ground running and pick up an early win which is why imo they will go with strongest poss team which i think is-
Wilko, Etna, Loughs,
Swift, Macca,
Mul, George, Faloon,
Murph, Parks,
Toh, Mcsharry, Griff, Fets,
Gav.
Buckley, White, harris- wright, Gannon, JOC, Donohue/moore, nikora, Poolman.

I know there are a lot who will think that JOC should be first on the team sheet but i just think that with his age and being injury prone(particularly last couple of seasons) he might be a super impact player with 20/30 left and this would hopefully help avoid those injuries thus benefiting the team more over the course of the season.

Brett & Rollox didn't play much (or at all) on the tour. They'll have started training a bit later, but I'd say they'll be well up for getting stuck back in as quickly as possible.

I expected to see Poolman make an appearance, but maybe off the bench. McShazza & Grico in the centres, Fets & TOH the wings. Fets really needs to improve his strike rate, otherwise we'll be looking to Poolman to get us on the board.

This is a game we absolutely have to attack. Blues have lost a shed load of players and we all know how long that can take to come back from.

Wilko, Etna, White
Swifty, Macca,
Mul, Faloon, George
Murph, Parks
TOH, McShazza, Grico, Fets/Poolman
Gav

Flav, Rollox, Bux, Kearney, Browne/Grace, POD, Miah, Poolman/Fets.

ConnachtCows wrote: So who will be in the starting 15 against Cardiff???

Hold on, Tiernan is listed as fullback? He needs to playing everyweek at his age, not rotating with Gav

I think Tiernan will mostly play wing, but we need a succession policy. As for the starting 15, fitness permitting the following are probably nailed on - Swift, Buckley & White (as Brett and Loughs back late due to the tour), george, mul, and tiernan at 11,14 or 15 - but otherwise who knows?

So who will be in the starting 15 against Cardiff???

Hold on, Tiernan is listed as fullback? He needs to playing everyweek at his age, not rotating with Gav

Great to see JP Cooney!

1st team squad (full and development contracts) announced, 40 in all:

www.connachtrugby.ie/2012080282911/talen...to-shine-at-connacht

Connacht Rugby squad 2012/13

Props:

Brett Wilkinson, Ronan Loughney, Denis Buckley, Rodney Ah You, Nathan White, JP Cooney

Hookers:

Adrian Flavin, Ethienne Reynecke, Jason Harris Wright

2nd Rows:

Michael Swift, Mike McCarthy, Andrew Browne, Dave Nolan, Dave Gannon, Mick Kearney

Back Rows:

John Muldoon, Johnny O’Connor, Willie Faloon, TJ Anderson, Eoghan Grace, Eoin McKeon, George Naoupu

Scrum-halves:

Frank Murphy, Dave Moore, Paul O’Donohoe

Out-halves:

Miah Nikora, Matthew Jarvis, Dan Parks

Centres:

Eoin Griffin, Kyle Tonetti, Danie Poolman, Dave McSharry, Brian Murphy, Mata Fafita

Wingers:

Mark McCrea, Fetu’u Vainikolo, James Loxton, Matt Healy

Fullbacks:

Gavin Duffy, Tiernan O’Halloran

Players out:

Ray Ofisa, Henry Fa’afili, Brian Tuohy, Dermot Murphy, Jamie Stephens, Keith Matthews, Dylan Rogers, Stewart Maguire

connachtexile wrote:

I havent seen any photos etc of him in connacht gear and you would imagine that branch would be eager to use his image to push the season ticket sales. I lookin forward to seeing him in connacht gear so if anyone has pics or knows anything let us know, thks.

Have you tried Dundrum shopping Centre? :whistle:

Seems to be where all the good stuff is being shown off first alright!!