Pure speculation on my part but Dan McFarland said this in the Independent today:

"So, to get these signings is massive. Without Jamie, we have not had a first-choice tight-head so to speak. We've had Rodney (Ah You), who was extremely young and inexperienced and Ronan has stepped up in the last while, which has been great.

"But it will be great to have Nathan's experience. He is 30-odd, we haven't had a prop that age for a while, he has captained his province (Waikato) in New Zealand and he has experienced top-level rugby with Leinster. It means we are well covered next season in a critical position.

Maybe it's just the way I'm reading into it, but by naming Dave Ah You specifically and giving him a bit of a free pass I can't help but think he'll be kept on for next year.

feck it got deleted. was a laugh while it was there. got a few bites on twitter aswell.

bit like the connacht rugby facebook page, you ask about a rumour ie parks or white then it gets deleted then it happens. fingers crossed

Hey, I heard Benson Stanley might be comi..... Sorry, wrong year :d

It's on wikipedia. It has to be true :whistle:

I wish people would stop starting rumours like these. No matter how much I know they are far fetched and will come to nothing in the end I still can't help myself getting my hopes up and then dashed when they come to nothing.

Complete pisstake, obviously a few got together to put this up probably the Connacht squad! :lol:

That would be amazing but I'll believe it when I see it.

woo look at the bottom of international on this page en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luke_Fitzgerald

So where are we squad-wise for next year?

I make it (asterisks denote I'm uncertain sbout status) something like....

1: Wilkinson, Buckley*
2: Reynecke, Flavin
3: Loughney, White, Maguire

Lock: McCarthy, Swift, Nolan*
Lock/Flanker: Browne*, Gannon, Kearney

6: Muldoon, Anderson
7: O'Connor, Faloon, Grace
8: Naoupo, McKeon

9: Murphy, O'Donohoe, Moore
10: Parks, O'Connor, Nikora, Jarvis*

Centre: Griffin, McSharry, Tonetti
Wing: O'Halloran, Vainkolo, McCrea, Touhy, Loxton*
Fullback: Duffy

Leaving???? Ofisa*, Rogers*, Ah You*, Fa'afili*

Any updates/corrections/omissions?

cud be trying a ruddock on it and trying to force more game time.

but his reality is that at 104kg(weight at start of season) he is too light to push out three international locks at munster. he needs to add 6 to 10kg and back it up with performance(nagle too) before he can expect a start even in pro12 regularly. managing weight gain like that isnt easy.
qualter at connacht is a good example of the pitfalls. he looked very promising in his first two seasuns on u20s team but this season he lookrd imobile and sluggish. he is now listed as 114kg.
while the weight isnt that important in individual performance it is for the scrum and thats vital for any 2nd row to make it .

after all they always said you needed a wheelbarrow to get neil francis from ruck to ruck but you rarely went backwards in scrum with his shoulder to ure arse.(peter clohessy said that aparently).

Did anyone see that Dave Foley at Munster turned a two year contract for a one year? It means he's thinking of packing in Rugby or he's tired of going nowhere and might leave next year. I know were strong in his position but still think we should keep a close eye on him. It's those players with hunger that make the biggest impacts.

Pleased with the Faloon signing. This is a step up in terms of signing Irish lads. He proved he was good enough at Ulster, was unlucky to fall down the pecking order. Good no.7. JOC is starting to wind down, not to say we won't get a couple of more good years out of him but he can't be expected to play the majority of games these days. We are starting to get there in terms of building a more competitive side, a decent back up prop, a hooker, scrum half and centre and I'd be happy with where we are heading. Hooker and Scrum Half would be my two priorities though.

get bob casey for a season!!!
now theres a thought!

Can only understand this if he plans to retire after the year. Too bad, it would have been nice to have him.

yea even from a purely season ticket sales point of view his signature would have been gold dust, before we even take into account what he wud have brought to the team.

Shows the high regard for him munster fans are rejoicing his signature. his demotion down the pecking order and subsequent farming out hasnt been popular!

rossie wrote: Peter stringer has signed a one year extention with Munster so for those of us that were wishing him here the dream is over! pity.

Not good for us or Stringer really, pretty much accepting that he is second and possible third string behind Murray and Williams for the sake of a years contract. Sad really, but sure it's his choice...