Connacht 15/16

[Neill_M]

Connacht v Glasgow TG4/BBC Scotland #supersaturday

Connacht: 15 Tiernan O'Halloran 14 Niyi Adeolokun 13 Robbie Henshaw 12 Bundee Aki 11 Matt Healy 10 AJ MacGinty 9 Kieran Marmion 1 Ronan Loughney 2 Tom McCartney 3 Finlay Bealham 4 Ultan Dillane 5 Aly Muldowney 6 Sean O'Brien 7 Jake Heenan
8 John Muldoon (c)

16 Dave Heffernan 17 JP Cooney 18 Rodney Ah You 19 Quinn Roux 20 Eoin McKeon 21 John Cooney 22 Shane O'Leary 23 Peter Robb

Injured/Unavailable: Denis Buckley, Nathan White, Conan O'Donnell, Andrew Browne, Ben Marshall, Nepia Fox-Matamua, Eoghan Masterson, Ian Porter, Craig Ronaldson, Dave McSharry, Danie Poolman, Darragh Leader, Ciaran Gaffney.

Glasgow Warriors:15 Stuart Hogg 14 Tommy Seymour 13 Alex Dunbar 12 Peter Horne 11 Lee Jones 10 Finn Russell 9 Ali Price
1 Gordon Reid 2 Fraser Brown 3 Sila Puafisi 4 Leone Nakarawa 5 Jonny Gray (C) 6 Robert Harley 7 Ryan Wilson 8 Josh Strauss

16 Pat MacArthur 17 Jerry Yanuyanutawa 18 Zander Fagerson 19 Tim Swinson 20 Simone Favaro 21 Grayson Hart 22 Mark Bennett 23 Sean Lamont

Not available due to injury: Alex Allan (concussion), Junior Bulumakau (foot), Rory Clegg (ankle), Jarrod Firth (concussion), Ryan Grant (arm), Sam Johnson (hamstring), Henry Pyrgos (neck), Fergus Scott (shoulder) and Richie Vernon (shoulder).

Dave on the bench for Connacht - weather forecast for Galway on Sat is grim - doesn't really suit either side as both like to play decent rugby.

[Spiffsson]

Well done the Westies v. Glasgow. Got the vital home draw in the semis.

Just caught the last 10 min after the Ulster game on a stream with bunch of one-eyed, totally biased Jock commentators, the worst being ex-international John Beattie.

[Snipe Watson]

It's a splendid day for Connacht.

[Loki]

huge congrats to the Westies. An Ulster-Connacht final in Murrayfield would be a great thing!

[namron]

That would be splendid . A dream final !

[BaggyTrousers]

Well done the Westies v. Glasgow. Got the vital home draw in the semis.

Just caught the last 10 min after the Ulster game on a stream with bunch of one-eyed, totally biased Jock commentators, the worst being ex-international John Beattie.

Aye I watched it on that as well, makes Jiffy and the Welsh guys seem impartial.

[UlsterNo9]

I would imagine the Weegies will cite Aly Muldowney on Monday morning for his stamp on the lead up to the Puafisi red card. The ref deemed it an offence he would only of punished with a penalty at the time but you can clearly see Muldowney look and then aim his boot right into the side of Nakawara.

I'm not saying I would punish it but in this age of modern rugby were you cannot ruck with the boot and considering it was nowhere near the ball I'd say he will get a ban.

Puafisi was an idiot and clearly the boot of Muldowney was the catalyst for his actions.

[DavidWolfe]

It's been a truly marvellous season for Connacht but we can't ignore the fact that this is a season after a tiring World Cup

[Neill_M]

At The Sportsground, 6.30pm Live on Sky Sports/TG4/BBC ALBA and BBC Sport Scotland
Referee: Marius Mitrea (FIR, 53rd competition game)
Assistant Referees: Nigel Owens (WRU) Stefano Penne (FIR)
Citing Commissioner: Gwyn Bowden (WRU)
TMO: Carlo Damasco (FIR)

[BaggyTrousers]

It's been a truly marvellous season for Connacht but we can't ignore the fact that this is a season after a tiring World Cup

Shameful post Mr Wolfe. You are in need of my brand of specialist help so:

- Only 6 rounds of the league had been played when the RWC ended.
- At that stage Scaaaaaaaaaaaalets were top of the table, Connacht were 2nd. Connacht finished 2nd.
- Furthermore Connacht had had a pretty easy fixture list during the RWC and had most of their big games still to play.
- Few, inducing me when I posted originally, will remember that Connacht lost 4 games in succession, they lost in the 2nd game of the season by a point in Glasgow, after the letdown of the Dec/early Jan "collapse", they only lost 2 more games.
- Whilst the rest of Ireland was dumped out of Europe at the group stages, Connacht fought on to a semi-final in the PP whilst maintaining their league form.
- Connacht have had as severe an injury hit campaign as any team, that they battled through it is a credit not only to the coaching team but to the confidence that unheralded players have shown in simply fitting into the system & allowing nothing to detract from the gameplan.
- Connacht, I salute you.


Connacht's achievement in "not collapsing" after the RWC is significant & should not be devalued in any way, shape or form. It is a credit to all involved.

G'wan Connacht, you can do it.

The Final I prefer Ulster v Connacht
The Final I'd accept Ulster v Weegies or Leinster v Connacht
The Final I fear Weegies v Mexico

[Russ]

Scaaaaletts are a dry ball team

[ruckover]

Scaaaaletts are a dry ball team

Doesn't matter how dry the ball is, the Scaaaaalets are useless either way.

[Shan]

It would be an awful let-down if Connacht don't get to the final now. Really hope they can pull one more massive performance out of the bag and send Glasgow home to cry.

[Neill_M]

Pat Lam being linked with the Baaath job. Admits there are release clauses in his contract - timing could be better For Connacht's sake, hopefully just press speculation, slow news week etc....

http://www.the42.ie/pat-lam-connacht-ba ... 3-May2016/

[Spiffsson]

Pat Lam being linked with the Baaath job. Admits there are release clauses in his contract - timing could be better For Connacht's sake, hopefully just press speculation, slow news week etc....

http://www.the42.ie/pat-lam-connacht-ba ... 3-May2016/

He'd be a great man for the job, given Bath's playing pool and Pat's coaching philosophy.