swifty is ill. But no word on mark. Its all in the news letter if your signed up to the email for it

Wow. Lots to discuss there.

Great to see Loxton making the squad, but what has happened to McCrea?  Is he being rested or has he picked up a knock. Same with Switfy, rest or knock? Congrats to Mick Kearney on his selection, too.

And Dave's in the front row! Superb, I thought he was injured. Great to see he's ok.

Happy for NOC to start (and who thought I'd ever say that!)  ???

Very happy to see Razor at 8 and Mul at 6, I was worried Eric was going to go the other way.

we have a serious squad now. Look at names who aren't on the bench and injured. Swift nikora grace george and rodney. I hope this makes them run into the ground at training to get a place in the 23. Good thing too is if a player is not giving 100% he can easily be dropped and a player just as good can replace him

Team for tomorrow night:

15 Gavin Duffy (C)
14 Brian Tuohy
13 Eoin Griffin
12 Henry Fa'afili
11 Tiernan O'Halloran
10 Niall O'Connor
9 Frank Murphy
1 Brett Wilkinson
2 Ethienne Reynecke
3 Rodney Ah You
4 Dave Gannon
5 Mike McCarthy
6 John Muldoon
7 Johnny O'Connor
8 Ray Ofisa

16 Adrian Flavin
17 Ronan Loughney
18 Dylan Rogers
19 Mick Kearney
20 TJ Anderson
21 Paul O'Donohoe
22 Mathew Jarvis
23 James Loxton

Wilkinson, Gannon, O'Connor and Tuohy getting their first start of the season.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but does this look like we have some squad depth?

No pleasing some people, we were moaning about the Italian ref the other week. Nationality should not come into it, the Ref should be non biased regardless of his origin of birth. Our Irish Refs are not up to much if you ask me.

Do we need to get our ref excuses in before the game has even kicked off?

Fair enough being biased as a fan, that's half the fun, but the refs aren't there to cheat us out of a result. Conspiracy theories are best left to Dan Brown fans. 

In fairness I think its an issue to do with the credibility of the league as opposed to getting excuses in early. Similarly another issue is the home touchjudges. People go on about expense but I think its one major issue holding the league back that we can't get decent officials for most games or indeed neutral refs. Its not a major expense relative to the perception of the league being run like some sort of amateur pre-season friendly tournament. I'm sure refs are out there doing there best and treating both teams as equals but its an broader issue for the league to look at.

Do we need to get our ref excuses in before the game has even kicked off?

Fair enough being biased as a fan, that's half the fun, but the refs aren't there to cheat us out of a result. Conspiracy theories are best left to Dan Brown fans. 

I don't think it really matters what nationality the ref is these days - we tend to get screwed by most of the them anyway 

Rolland is the worst of the bunch... he still owes us big time from the game at home against Ulster last year

I don't think it really matters what nationality the ref is these days - we tend to get screwed by most of the them anyway 

Having a Welsh ref is an absolute farce, its not like there are tons of NH refs brought down to the World Cup. Good to see 2 Irish refs which will hopefully keep the ref honest anyways, and the 50:50 decisions are down to the crowd to highlight. Its one of the games which in the Bradley era would be seriously targeted, even without George, we have plenty firepower in our backrow to grind out a win.

Interesting looking at the current table in Bulls post, that the bottom of the table are teams hit hard by world cup call ups, Italians, Scottish and you could stick Leinster into that bracket. This compounds the need for a win, the mental edge a top table position going into later Pro 12 and Heineken Cup games will be priceless.

it was some game last year opening day and very sunny for a evening game. 40 points was very good. I hope we will get more than the last two meeting together. 2800will be needed for that but since the season tickets are sold why not show up. Its already paid for. Dont like how its a welsh ref.

Missed the game last year, as I was at Electric Picnic. I was gobsmacked when I heard the result on the Saturday evening.
Not too worried about the Welsh ref. If the touch judges see that we're getting d*cked by the ref, hopefully they'll get involved.

Anyone, come on the Cows, Moooooo

it was some game last year opening day and very sunny for a evening game. 40 points was very good. I hope we will get more than the last two meeting together. 2800will be needed for that but since the season tickets are sold why not show up. Its already paid for. Dont like how its a welsh ref.

Previous Meetings At SG
4/9/10 Connacht Rugby 40 - 17 Newport Gwent Dragons 1,371
17/3/10 Connacht Rugby 16 - 3 Newport Gwent Dragons 1,485

Im certain we will top over 2,500

The last six encounters between the two teams have all been won by the home side on the day, whilst Dragons' only previous victory on Connacht soil came on their very first visit in May 2004. This is very simillar to the last home game we played in against the scarlets

Referee: welsh ref??????????????????? is there no scottish ref around?
Leighton Hodges (WRU, 7th competition game)
Assistant Referees: Leo Colgan, Olly Hodges (both IRFU)
Citing Commissioner: Eddie Walsh (IRFU) good man eddie make sure you have something to report


1  Munster 3 - 13
2  Ulster Rugby 3 - 12
3  Ospreys 3 - 12
4  Cardiff Blues 3 - 10
5  Connacht Rugby 3 - 9 (stayed put from previous week)
6  Scarlets 3 - 5
7  Leinster 3 - 5
8  Edinburgh 3 - 5
9  Newport Gwent Dragons 3 - 4 (were bottom but last weeks win over airone saw them jump up)
10 Glasgow Warriors 3 - 4
11 Benetton Treviso 3 - 2
12 Aironi Rugby 3 - 1

Missing this cos of work   

We have a good record against the Dragons in Galway but they always have the edge on us over the season. Saw bits of them against Munster and Leinster, played well in patches but were ultimately blown away when Leinster and Munster got moving. Munsters indiscipline at home to them almost yielded Dragons an unlikely bp.

Really is must win. We are a long way off talking bonus points in a game like this given trys are proving hard to come by. George is a big loss and going by the Examiner today could be out for up to 4 months in worst case scenario, definitely 4 weeks. John Muldoon will need to step up his game with George out, would prefer him at 6 but will probably start at 8.

Eoghan Grace played with Buccaneers last weekend so may come into contention which would be a boost. Nikora apparently suffered another setback and won't be back for at least another month. It'll be interesting to see if Stewart Maguire is picked at tight head, probably Rogers but I'd like to see Maguire get a chance to prove himself.

Andrew Browne must be close to a comeback too I'd imagine?

Dragons are one of the sides we'd be hoping to finish above, therefore a win of any sort would be satisfactory and a win by 8 or more and we should be more than happy.

I agree with Ummm and Diom here, get the win first, worry about the bonus point last!