Connacht 15/16

[BR]

All for including lesser leagues in the comp, but that whole thing is ridiculous. European Cup needs to be played in Europe.

[Snipe Watson]

All for including lesser leagues in the comp, but that whole thing is ridiculous. European Cup needs to be played in Europe.

Apparently Australia are entering the Eurovision Song Contest. Geography's not what it was in my day.

[BaggyTrousers]

Oz is just past Israel isn't it? No bother, are they sending Kylie 's ringpiece over to win the day?

[Shan]

After a tough week for Connacht because of that match in Siberia and the delays in getting back home from there it was fantastic to see them beat Brive this weekend.

They are really on a roll at the moment and hopefully it will continue for them. At this rate they are putting up a challenge to the other three provinces.

[Neill_M]

Caaardiff Blues v Connacht Fri 19:05 BBCW/TG4

15 Rhys Patchell, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Rey Lee-Lo, 12 Gavin Evans, 11 Tom James, 10 Jarrod Evans, 9 Lloyd Williams; 1 Gethin Jenkins (c), 2 Ethan Lewis, 3 Taufa'ao Filise, 4 Jarrad Hoeata, 5 Lou Reed, 6 Macauley Cook, 7 Josh Turnbull, 8 Manoa Vosawai

Replacements: 16 Kristian Dacey, 17 Sam Hobbs, 18 Craig Mitchell, 19 James Down, 20 Cam Dolan, 21 Tavis Knoyle, 22 Garyn Smith, 23 Dan Fish

15. Tiernan O'Halloran, 14. Darragh Leader, 13. Bundee Aki, 12. Craig Ronaldson, 11. Matt Healy, 10. Jack Carty, 9. Ian Porter, 1. Ronan Loughney, 2. Dave Heffernan, 3. Rodney Ah You, 4. Quinn Roux, 5. Aly Muldowney, 6. John Muldoon (captain), 7. James Connolly, 8. Eoin McKeon

16. Jason Harris-Wright, 17. Conan O'Donnell, 18. Finlay Bealham, 19. George Naoupu, 20. Sean O'Brien, 21. Kieran Marmion, 22. Peter Robb, 23. Rory Parata

Unavailable/Injured: Tom McCartney, Denis Buckley, JP Cooney, Andrew Browne, Ben Marshall, Nepia Fox-Matamua, Jake Heenan, Eoghan Masterson, John Cooney, AJ MacGinty*, Fionn Carr, Danie Poolman, Robbie Henshaw, Conor Finn, Api Pewhairangi.

*AJ MacGinty suffered a meniscal tear to his knee during the game against Munster. He underwent arthroscopic surgery on Thursday and is facing 3 - 4 weeks of recovery

[Rooster]

A few key reasons why the Westies have improved

It’s very easy to become obsessed with game plans, strategy and ‘bigger picture’ factors in rugby, but they are redundant if your players aren’t skillful enough to execute them with accuracy. The core skills are at the ‘core’ of the game for a reason.

Tactics are meaningless without the ability to catch and pass, fix defenders, field high ball, tackle effectively one-on-one, jackal, kick accurately, scrummage, lift, jump, and so on.

http://www.the42.ie/connacht-munster-an ... 6-Dec2015/

[HwoodMike2umate]

2 of us in the Main Stand Terrace on 26.12.2015. Anyone joining us?

[namron]

Thanks for the heads up Mike

[Neill_M]

Westies down to 23 fit players in their Euro squad - have a hooker covering the backrow - playing Newcastle Fri night.

15 Tiernan O’Halloran (captain) 14 Niyi Adeolokun 13 Rory Parata 12 Peter Robb 11 Matt Healy 10 Jack Carty 9 Caolin Blade 1 Finlay Bealham 2 Jason Harris-Wright 3 Nathan White 4 Ultan Dillane 5 Aly Muldowney 6 Sean O’Brien 7 James Connolly 8 George Naoupu

16 Shane Delahunt 17 Conan O’Donnell 18 Rodney Ah You 19 Danny Qualter 20 Dave Heffernan 21 Ian Porter 22 Shane O’Leary 23 Danie Poolman

Unavailable through injury from European registered Squad: Tom McCartney, Denis Buckley, Ronan Loughney, Andrew Browne, Ben Marshall, Quinn Roux, Nepia Fox-Matamua (deregistered), Eoghan Masterson, John Muldoon, Eoin McKeon, John Cooney, Kieran Marmion, AJ MacGinty, Bundee Aki, Craig Ronaldson, Robbie Henshaw, Fionn Carr, Darragh Leader.

Other squad unavailability: JP Cooney, Jake Heenan, Conor Finn

[BaggyTrousers]

Great to see trainee Ulsterman Dave Ah Feck just makes the 23 on the bench when no 24th man was available.

[BaggyTrousers]

And this weekend it's worse again as Connacht can only name 22 players for their trip to Newcastle in the Soupa Doupa - Weak Section encounter.

Down to the last men standing but they may well win again. G'wan the Weshties.

[Neill_M]

Beat 29 5 at Newcastle (5T), not a major surprise given their injury situation.

[Joe Schmo]

Connacht were holding five or six players back from that squad, Marmion, Connolly, Aki and a few others who were either fit or very minor niggles and so not risked. Connacht will be taking the up coming inter pro very seriously and rightly so. They've a great chance to finish in a sdc spot for next year so makes sense.

[BaggyTrousers]

Beat 29 5 at Newcastle (5T), not a major surprise given their injury situation.

5-5 at HT penalty try & another try killed them in the first 5 minutes of the second half.

Good time to be playing them next?

[Neill_M]

Beat 29 5 at Newcastle (5T), not a major surprise given their injury situation.

5-5 at HT penalty try & another try killed them in the first 5 minutes of the second half.

Good time to be playing them next?

Depends on how bad their injury situation really is. Where they holding a few back today as already suggested for the 2 inter pros or did they have their best possible side out today and the injury situation is beyond serious?