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:

rossie wrote: Does anyone know if Dan Parks has arrived yet?

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.

pics? Is there something you'd like to share rossie? sorry T couldnt resist!

Does anyone know if garryowen prop jp cooney has signed for connacht.

He has played senior for garryowen for over 2 years and is only 23.

He has impressed with the side but hasnt got a look in with munster.

Rumours are that connacht were looking at him this year and last

GTTC wrote: Yeah, he arrived during the volvo. Have met him a few times. Sound guy. Says he is loving Galway.

Name dropper..........or is that Stalker....:whistle:.. ..

Yeah, he arrived during the volvo. Have met him a few times. Sound guy. Says he is loving Galway.

Does anyone know if Dan Parks has arrived yet?

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.

connachta wrote: looks great! Anyway the more we are the best it is but... isn't there a little winger surplus?? : TOH, Vaini, Mc Crea, Loxton, Poolman, Connor Finn and now Matt Healy + Layden, Mc Auley and Tonetti used to cover here...

I don't think so. I'm glad to see we are preparing for whats going to be a tough season. I want us to be ready with our squad for the start of the season, rather than picking up a few injuries and then going scouting around in the middle of the season looking for some 3rd rate backup as has happened over countless seasons.

For me Vainikolo and O'Halloran are our wingers but after that there isn't huge depth in the short term. We lost a decent try scorer in Tuohy, his defence might have been suspect but he seemed to always have a decent ratio of tries / games to his name at the end of the season.

We have hardly seen Loxton yet and I doubt we'll see much of him outside B&I Cup at least until later in the season, McCrea has potential but has it all to prove, I'm ignoring the Poolman situation in terms of wing/centre, Conor Finn will be playing B&I Cup this season I'd imagine.

Tonetti should be left in the centre bar an emergency, full back is Laydens best position from what I've seen, don't know enough about McAuley but he also seems to be regarded as a full back.

Its a short term signing I'd imagine and I'd imagine a fairly low cost/risk one too, he may work out or may not, I think these kind of signings are the way to go for Connacht within reason, bring in a couple of lads who show promise in the AIL under the radar for a few months, have a look at them and then decide whether to offer them a contract. Also helps in future planning if say Vainikolo was leaving at the end of the season. As Connachtexile says I hope he gets more chance than the others from AIL did, for me it was Shane Monahan who was most hard done by and that has been shown at Rotherham and his subsequent move to Gloucester.

Poolman's a centre remember :lol:

I get your meaning. It strikes me as a surprise signing. It might be a short term contract ala a 3 months to see how he does or to cover an injury? I have hopes for him and judging from the video he runs some lovely lines. With himself and Murphy signed from the AIL it shows that EE is still looking for talent there which is a good thing. Hopefully these two guys have better luck than Fanning and Sweeney who I thought were unlucky to be let go.

looks great! Anyway the more we are the best it is but... isn't there a little winger surplus?? : TOH, Vaini, Mc Crea, Loxton, Poolman, Connor Finn and now Matt Healy + Layden, Mc Auley and Tonetti used to cover here...

BY THE look of it we have signed matt healy. connacht facebook has him playing rugby with kids at volvo ocean race, with gannon buckley moore and tonetti. id imagine its only 1st team players they would send there so i dont think he is in acedemy at 23.

www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150939...53561&type=1&theater

I think the case with White is a special one we know in this country that we are extremely shallow pool when it comes to props especially TH's. Letting a veteran TH go who already has one year down and (I'm assuming) has shown an interest in playing for Ireland was to good a possibility for the IRFU to give up. Yes he will be 33 when he qualifies but he should still have a year or two left in him at that stage internationally and that should give us enough time to bring more of the youngsters through. It also means Connacht get him for 2 straight years without him heading off to International fixtures which is also a plus. Overall its a win-win for everyone.

officially the rule is very straight forward. 4 niqs and one project for munster, leinster and ulster. 5 niqs and 1 project for connacht.

i find it really hard to believe that white is a project player on two counts.

1. age, he is 31 on 4th of sept.(project players should be in their early 20s).
2. If he has project status connacht would have 1 niq position left to fill and Henry could have stayed.

Imo he isnt a project which is why henry had to go and the branch made a case to irfu to extend quota and were refused extra niq but granted project. That theory makes the assumption that rodney has been extended which isnt certain as no announcement appears to have been made.

I agree with seapoint and connachta that poolman appears to be a winger and 13 at best. All references to him(apart from connacht statement) indicate this to be the case. He is billed as a winger who can cover 13 and we should consider him that until we see otherwise.

sea_point wrote:

connolly wrote: Anyone have an idea who this Alex o'Meara is just seen Callum o'Connell retweet him and i went into his page and his bio is "Connacht Rugby player from july. bring it on!!" i presume he is an academy player

He's from my current neck of the woods (Surrey) by the look of things, went to Johnny Wilkinson & Ugo Moyne's old alma mater Lord Wandsworths College (Public School in nearby Hampshire),

Hilarious name, like something from Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter.

In all seriousness, pleased to see us getting our academy to the level it needs to be at and supplementing the up and coming local talent with good players who might slip under the radar of the other provinces and outside the box signings like this lad and Marmion last year who can develop here and do a great job for us.

Getting players like these lads at this stage is vital as they will get used to the Connacht setup and buy into the Connacht system. It also means they have more scope for improvement and often the best players don't get selected for the academies for political reasons and so forth.

We want quality players here for the long term. I don't want to see another close season like last one where we lost the guts of our team and weren't able to replace them with the required quality and had to wait to see who Ulster and Leinster wouldn't be contracting for the following season. At that stage, we've seen more often than not once a players leaves after a few seasons of hanging around kicking his heels the best is gone out of him.

From now on hopefully we should see no more major squad turnovers, only incremental improvements with a handful of players coming and going each close season and the academy should be able to supplement us a lot more in the next 2/3 seasons.

ummm, wrote: Actually has he re-signed? When he came he had an 18 month contract. That would expire before the start of next season

That's right he arrived Nov/Dec 2010, so i'd imagine his old contract has already expired. I'd say we can take it if he's back traiing he's been re-signed.

Actually has he re-signed? When he came he had an 18 month contract. That would expire before the start of next season

ummm, wrote: But what are those rules? Ah You is also a project player, isn't he?

Case by case it looks like, Connacht make representations to IRFU-PAG, they decide.

White, Poolman are definate projects. they have been given three year deals

Don't know Rodneys contract situation, but he appears to be given every chance to become irish qualified