There was some debate earlier on when TG4 have scheduled this for....

TG4 have 2 rugby show tonight - Connacht 1st half at 1800, Connacht 2nd half plus Munster at 19:00, with the Nuacht in between. Nearly got caught out when Skyplus-ing the game.

At the risk of boring you all tears I wanted to pick up rossies post (and just to say Facecutter with that kind of reckless spending policy I am sure there is a job for you in the treasury somewhere).

It does appear to us on the outside of the camp that there are some players in this squad that eric just doesnt rate and Moore appears to be one of them.
- You are assuming that Elwood has some sort of personality defect rather than then slightly more logical assumption that Moore could be injured.

EE is after setting himself up for some serious flak if this team and individuals in it are shown up again.
- Again I do not see it like this which is the point I was trying to make all along, what options did Elwood have given the present injury crisis? Jarvis for Nikora and McCrea for Fets was always going to be a much bigger call than picking the strongest available team for what we all agree is a must win game.

to argue that fetu deserves another chance because he prob will get a chance to run with the ball in the Parma sun is conveniently ignoring some important facts -
- Not trying to ignore any facts, yes we know he had a shocking game last week but he has the highest ability on his day then any other winger in the squad. To repeat Elwood is only guilty of selecting his strongest team that is currently available.

1. he struggles under the high ball at the best of times and will be targetted.
- So does Matanavu at Toulouse but are you telling me you would not have him in the team if we could afford it. Granted two wrongs don’t make a right but I think you get the point I am trying to make.
2. We tend to kick the ball more than run it and do it badly a lot of the time.
- Not sure how this is relevant as a fair share of our tries will come from broken play where someone like Fets could be lethal.
3. When we do go wide we tend to turn it over by either knocking on in contact or not having enough support at the break down. point 2 and 3 are not fetus fault but will limit his opportunity to have a positive influence thus highlighting his deficiencies in point 1.
- Ok but I am only arguing that Elwood has picked his strongest available team and choosing McCrea does not stop us from turning the ball over.

I agree in theory with the kicking game as our pack is decent when kept on the front foot but the execution leaves a lot to be desired a lot of the time. Nikora and Duffy need to start delivering in this regard.The chase has to be much better also and this aspect imo highlights a teams attitude.
- Agreed

I remember stringer regularly having a go at the backs when they well slack in this regard and to be fair he always lead the chase when on the pitch.
- A lot for young KM to live up to at this very early stage of his career but certainly hope he can develop this aspect of his game.

As swiftforprez was castigated for pointing out what we saw last week isnt new to us. it was normal for a large part of the season last year so people are right to voice concern and it wont be acceptable this season.
- I take it this comment is directed at me, swiftforprez I apologies if you feel I was being unfair I was just asking you to point out what alternatives were available to us.

Apart from the above i also worry about us at the lineout. Some of the workload has to be taken off Macca here and if that means moving Mul or george up the order so be it. Neither Reynecke of Flavin can be relied upon to go to the back with consistancy so imo solid mid lineout ball with a good maul is the way to secure ball and field position. Our best defensive lineout opperater from last season is on the bench but i appreciate that we may need swifts bulk in the scrum for first 50.
- Agreed when in Rome.... as it were.

Given our previous away form i wouldnt be over confident with this team but we live in hope.A realistic prediction if i do say so myself.


(N. No castigation was intended in the production of this post.

Big improvement needed from the backs but I think this is a winnable game. Would like to know what's going on with Moore, I remember seeing him in pre-season last year and thinking he looked very assured. I suppose we'll get a better look at him in the B&I cup. Will be watching the game in The Dáil Bar this evening, it clashes a bit with the football qualifier but they'll definitely have it on one of the TVs if anyone is having difficulty finding it on in town later.

I backed Fetu for the first try scorer !!!
Connacht win and with a try bonus too !!

Echo the thoughts of the previous posts

Eric has shown loyalty to alot of lads for an unnacceptable performance. That loyalty needs to be repaid

Bear in mind our next 4 fixtures are Scarlets(h) Glasgow (a) Leinster (h) Ulster (a). A loss here could be catastrophic for our season as we could be staring down the barrel of another wretched run of defeats. A win will give us confidence and momentum for the upcoming games, and we can then use our depth and integrate the likes of White, Parks, Poolman, Harris Wright and Browne into the team.

It may only be week 2 but this is a massive game in our season.

I hope the squad repays Eric's faith in them, good luck !!!

Best of luck to Eric for backing this team again. I don't agree with him but he's given this 15 the chance to put it right.

We can pussy foot around it all we want but especially after last Saturday anything other than a victory tomorrow evening will be unacceptable.

mary hinge wrote: By the way, why is Moore dropped off the bench to be replaced by Murphy? Is he injured?

Yes. He only made the bench last week as he was the "least injured" of the senior scrum halves.

i feel i need to comment here rather than like (thank you) it.
that is the best post i have seen on this forum

It does appear to us on the outside of the camp that there are some players in this squad that eric just doesnt rate and Moore appears to be one of them.

EE is after setting himself up for some serious flak if this team and individuals in it are shown up again. to argue that fetu deserves another chance because he prob will get a chance to run with the ball in the Parma sun is conveniently ignoring some important facts-
1. he struggles under the high ball at the best of times and will be targetted.
2. We tend to kick the ball more than run it and do it badly a lot of the time.
3. When we do go wide we tend to turn it over by either knocking on in contact or not having enough support at the break down.
point 2 and 3 are not fetus fault but will limit his opportunity to have a positive influence thus highlighting his deficiencies in point 1.
I agree in theory with the kicking game as our pack is decent when kept on the front foot but the execution leaves a lot to be desired a lot of the time. Nikora and Duffy need to start delivering in this regard.The chase has to be much better also and this aspect imo highlights a teams attitude. I remember stringer regularly having a go at the backs when they well slack in this regard and to be fair he always lead the chase when on the pitch.
As swiftforprez was castigated for pointing out what we saw last week isnt new to us. it was normal for a large part of the season last year so people are right to voice concern and it wont be acceptable this season.

Apart from the above i also worry about us at the lineout. Some of the workload has to be taken off Macca here and if that means moving Mul or george up the order so be it. Neither Reynecke of Flavin can be relied upon to go to the back with consistancy so imo solid mid lineout ball with a good maul is the way to secure ball and field position. Our best defensive lineout opperater from last season is on the bench but i appreciate that we may need swifts bulk in the scrum for first 50.

Given our previous away form i wouldnt be over confident with this team but we live in hope.

It's a brave call by Eric to leave Vainikolo and Nikora in place. Let's hope they deliver on the faith shown in them and perform in Italy. Another defeat with no changes in personnel will not be good for Eric.
By the way, why is Moore dropped off the bench to be replaced by Murphy? Is he injured?

connachtexile wrote: I don't see anyone calling for his head (yet) but we lost to the Cardiff 3rd string team at home so he's bound to get criticism for it.

He wasn't on the field of play. The 15 that took to the pitch last week were more than good enough to beat that Cardiff side, and they must carry the can for the defeat.

Regarding the no change, I suppose how could you drop anyone else as punishment for a poor performance if you weren't going to drop Fetu? And aside from making a point, why would you drop Fetu for a game to be played on fast ground in the mid twenties?

ummm, wrote: ON one hand I would have liked to have seen a couple of changes. But with injuries etc hands are tied.

Still, I much prefer to see an unchanged side than to see a Bradley era starting XV with 7 new players and three positional changes just because his astrologer said he should.

Think Brads will start to be found out this season personally, a repeat performance to last seasons in the Pro12 up to christmas and anything other than a faultess start to his HEC campaign and the Dirks will start to be sharpened in the Scottish capital...

The IMF wrote: What changes could be made though?

Drop Fets ok but as mentioned before on previous thread that smacks of shooting ourselves in the foot given the conditions for Friday.

Outside of that given the current injury list there does not appear to be a whole lot of changes that could be made.

Please correct me if I'm missing something obvious here. I am not trying to make excuses for Elwood but seriously was it really necessary to bring up the 'Elwood out' thread (indirectly) less than one week into the new season?

Eric's doing the right thing as far as I'm concerned, as I said before with injuries and IRFU dictat's the pre-season friendlies were played by what will most likely comprise the bulk of our bench/ Eagles side.

Last week was the first run out for what willbe the nucleus of our Pro12/HEC side, and one or two players underperformed. A good coach will have sat down on monday morning with those individuals and gone through what is expected of them. Then monitered their attitude during training and if it was good given them a chance for redemption in the next game, if it was bad then bench them or leave them out altogether.

If Fets & Eth's bag a brace of tries each and Miah nails every kick from outside his own 22 on Friday in a rousing vixctory, last Saturdays perfromacne will be completely forgetton about on here in the rush to praise them..

ON one hand I would have liked to have seen a couple of changes. But with injuries etc hands are tied.

Still, I much prefer to see an unchanged side than to see a Bradley era starting XV with 7 new players and three positional changes just because his astrologer said he should.

The IMF wrote:
Please correct me if I'm missing something obvious here. I am not trying to make excuses for Elwood but seriously was it really necessary to bring up the 'Elwood out' thread (indirectly) less than one week into the new season?

im not saying elwood out, just he needs to rethink. the first half vs cardiff our gameplan didnt work and wasnt changed. kicking the ball aimless, like last season, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnt. we need to be able to go to plan b, after a few mins if plan a doesnt work.
everyone here had high high hopes for this season, some said we will overtake munster. i hoped.
we nearly have the same squad, only players we lose with talent was ray, replaced with falloon, 'irelands next flanker'.
we havent just lost one game vs a poor cardiff side. we have lost 18 games out of 24 played, that 75% lose rate. 1 draw and 5 wins.
we cant be making exuse. there a pro side and we have hopes of a good team. we cant be afraid to call it as we see it.