Crojket, what's the tradition with the bread?
I saw on TV recently a Ukrainian couple getting married in the UK and they had something similar...

connachtexile wrote: Looking at the highlights Ah You seemed to have got killed in the scrum and our defence was very soft. I know that these guys haven't played a lot together but knowing which man is yours and not drifting off is fairly basic stuff. Was impressed with the support lines that Fifita was running though something our backrow has being guilty of not doing in some games. Thanks for putting it up Croket.

He wasn't alone then, there's a photo [5/44] on the Connacht FB page of Rodney holding his own side while Cooney has completely face planted...

www.facebook.com/Connachtrugby

Looking at the highlights Ah You seemed to have got killed in the scrum and our defence was very soft. I know that these guys haven't played a lot together but knowing which man is yours and not drifting off is fairly basic stuff. Was impressed with the support lines that Fifita was running though something our backrow has being guilty of not doing in some games. Thanks for putting it up Croket.

Game highlights (go to 4:30)

Did anyone check out the Leinster A selection for the Bristol game in the B&I Cup? Leinster won 30-26 with Fionn Carr scoring. That said according to reports he had a very mixed game doing some superb stuff mixed with some terrible passing.

Anyway Danny Kenny who played for us against Enisey was on the Leinster A team. He only played 4 mins so you really can't gauge a player on that performance but it shows he's there abouts at the top of the skill level in the AIL and young to. Think he's someone Connacht should/might take a punt on at least giving him a trial and seeing how he does in a friendly next season.

Did anyone see how he did against Enisey? Did he stand out? What about Earle or Bruce?

Andrew Conway; Andrew Boyle (Sam Coghlan Murray, 70), Andrew Goodman, Noel Reid, Fionn Carr; Cathal Marsh (Colm O'Shea, 74), Luke McGrath (John Cooney, 62); James Tracy, Aaron Dundon (Thomas Sexton, 70), Michael Bent, Tom Denton (Tadhg Beirne, 57), Mark Flanagan, Ben Marshall, Rhys Ruddock CAPTAIN (Daniel Kenny, 76), Leo Auva'a

Replacement not used: Martin Moore

rossie wrote: 77 was on wing.

Surprising, usually 77 is wear by Anton Rudoy

Surprising, usually 77 is wearing by Anton Rudoy

So, I guess it was Simplikevich. He is not unknown by Ireland

swf.tubechop.com/tubechop.swf?vurl=m09Db...&end=306&cid=1085424

77 was on wing.

rossie wrote: Entertaining game. Russians really powerful and well drilled. Ran some lovely lines of support for each other. Their giant winger wearing 77 on his back is a class player.
Lovely sunny day and a lot of chatting going on so no detailed report unfortunately.
Was very impressed by healy. Really agressive in tackle, quick and runs good support lines. He will do fine as 4th winger. Finn at 12 is solid defender and can play too. Heffernans throwing is shite and wont do as 3rd choice this season imo. Dynamic around park though. Good on ground too and has hands. Fafita tackled and carried well but looked lost at times
butterworth got injured early so cant rate. Walsh at sh struggled a bit with physicality imo but tried hard. Id worry about him also as 3rd choice. Carty is a decent 10. He has good kicking game and passes well. Bit light defensively imo.
Cooney and dave did ok in scrum. Cooney better than dave imo. Some of defence poor in general though.

Enisei once again impressed me with their physicality and some of their attacking play. Entertaining game, good weather and new Connacht management in attendance along with some vocal Russian support.

Connacht were a mixed bag. Basics let them down too often, poor on restarts, at least 4 linouts overthrown, twice driven off our own ball on scrums on their 22 which directly lead to 10 points, I'd agree Cooney was the better of the two props but we were in trouble in the scrum most of the day failing to hold attackers in the tackle, fell off far far too many tackles.

Positives were that some of our attacking play was good, we made some good breaks and finished some off them off, like rossie I thought Matt Healy performed well, I thought Butterworth started well but went off injured after about 20 minutes. Carty did fairly well.

There is plenty of raw talent in this group of players but today was a lesson that if they want to make the grade at senior level, the basics have to be performed to a high level on a consistent basis.

Plenty of work needed but there is potential in some of these players.

n°77 was a winger or a flanker? (he scored the first russian try or the last?)

Thanks for your report!

Entertaining game. Russians really powerful and well drilled. Ran some lovely lines of support for each other. Their giant winger wearing 77 on his back is a class player.
Lovely sunny day and a lot of chatting going on so no detailed report unfortunately.
Was very impressed by healy. Really agressive in tackle, quick and runs good support lines. He will do fine as 4th winger. Finn at 12 is solid defender and can play too. Heffernans throwing is shite and wont do as 3rd choice this season imo. Dynamic around park though. Good on ground too and has hands. Fafita tackled and carried well but looked lost at times
butterworth got injured early so cant rate. Walsh at sh struggled a bit with physicality imo but tried hard. Id worry about him also as 3rd choice. Carty is a decent 10. He has good kicking game and passes well. Bit light defensively imo.
Cooney and dave did ok in scrum. Cooney better than dave imo. Some of defence poor in general though.

Gamesheet :

Enisey-STM
5 tries : Simplikevich (3), Temnov (28), Scherban (39), Bambry (47), Rudoy (66)
4 conversions : Bambry (28, 39, 47, 66)
2 penalties : Bambry (36, 80)

Connacht Eagles
3 tries : Fifita (25), Healy (32), Ah You (50)
3 conversions : Carty (26, 32, 50)
1 penalty : Carty (20)

Half time : Connacht Eagles 17 - 22 Enisey-STM

Full time : Connacht Eagles 24 - 39 Enisey-STM

nine Russian internationals in the starting Enisei STM side

After a season dominating Russian domestic competitions, Enisei STM return to Ireland for games with the Connacht Eagles and Munster 'A'.

The "Heavy Machine" from Krasnoyarsk are full of Russian internationals, including RWC wing sensation Denis Simplekivch. The backline is orchestrated by former Ballanahinch player, Ryan Bambry, who looks set to declare for Russia later this season.

After last year's fixture with Connacht, Moldovan international Dima Arhip signed with the Ospreys and debuted in the Heineken Cup. Keep an eye on his younger brother Viktor who is a rising star too.

Baranovs from Latvia is a livewire utility back who has impressed each time in Ireland, but Enisei's dynamic power game is based around Kazakhstan international, Anton Rudoy in the back row and the "Horse" will look to get momentum going forward for the team.

Enisei STM

15. Ramil Gaysin
14. Denis Simplikevich
13. Iuriy Gostugher
12. Yarolslav Rechev
11. Igor Kurashov
10. Ryan Bambry
9. Aleksey Scherban

1. Vladimir Botvinnikov
2. Valeriy Isnobiladze
3. Evgeniy Pronenko
4. Uldis Saulite
5. Pavel Butenko
6. Andrey Temnov
7. Nikolay Serkov
8. Anton Rudoy

Replacements:

16. Sergey Novoselov
17. Aleksand Bezverkhov
18. Sergey Belenkov
19. Innokentiy Zykov
20. Nikta Medikov
21. Rati Urushadze
22. Aleksey Toltykh
23. Pavel Novikob

connachtexile wrote: Give a review of the game as there's a few guys I'd like to see how they do. Also does anyone about this lad Steve Bruce? No football jokes please.

I saw a S Bruce at scrum half for Corinthians last weekend. Probably him don't know anything about him though.

steve bruce, heard of him before, i believe he spent time in manchester before and has a son, named alex bruce who played 30 games for leeds united, played underage for the republic of ireland football team and made 2 senior games for them too.
after they found out he was no good, he decided to declare himself for the north

Your dead to me Swift4prez

99% i'll be going and i'll more then likely write a bit when i come home.

lucky for me its not on at the same time as any irish team in the amlin/heineken or it would of been a hard choice. cant beat live rugby tho.

steve bruce, heard of him before, i believe he spent time in manchester before and has a son, named alex bruce who played 30 games for leeds united, played underage for the republic of ireland football team and made 2 senior games for them too.
after they found out he was no good, he decided to declare himself for the north :evil: