Connacht and Elwood.

[fuzzylogic]

Is it any wonder, Ulster, Munster and Leinster raid all their best players like Cronin, Keatley and Carr and replace them with the likes of Niall O'Connor, McCrea and Anderson.

[Snipe Watson]

Is it any wonder, Ulster, Munster and Leinster raid all their best players like Cronin, Keatley and Carr and replace them with the likes of Niall O'Connor, McCrea and Anderson.

?

[fuzzylogic]

by Snipe Watson » Sat Jan 07, 2012 10:18 pm

fuzzylogic wrote:
Is it any wonder, Ulster, Munster and Leinster raid all their best players like Cronin, Keatley and Carr and replace them with the likes of Niall O'Connor, McCrea and Anderson.

?

McComish . . . errr ok, maybe ive made better posts

[Snipe Watson]

by Snipe Watson » Sat Jan 07, 2012 10:18 pm

fuzzylogic wrote:
Is it any wonder, Ulster, Munster and Leinster raid all their best players like Cronin, Keatley and Carr and replace them with the likes of Niall O'Connor, McCrea and Anderson.

?

McComish . . . errr ok, maybe ive made better posts

"their best players" bit threw me.

[BaggyTrousers]

Is it any wonder, Ulster, Munster and Leinster raid all their best players like Cronin, Keatley and Carr and then don't even play them and replace them with the likes of Niall O'Connor, McCrea and Anderson.

Yes Fuzzmeister, trust you don't mind my little addition. The truth is they are taken as back up squad players for international & injury cover.

[Snipe Watson]

Is it any wonder, Ulster, Munster and Leinster raid all their best players like Cronin, Keatley and Carr and then don't even play them and replace them with the likes of Niall O'Connor, McCrea and Anderson.

Yes Fuzzmeister, trust you don't mind my little addition. The truth is they are taken as back up squad players for international & injury cover.

Up until recently Carr has been playing AIL.

Seriously, Wigglesworth and Browne could content themselves sorting out maximising the use of the players we've got rather than frigging up the NIQ thing.

Tax break means they cannot control the players to that extent. Wigglesworth needs to wake up and smell the coffee; Ireland is two jurisdictions. They want to micro manage, but it cannot work.

[porterbelly]

'The players are all good players & can compete at a top level. They are totally capable of winning for their region. There are diseases at bay..........'

Posted by Mr. Ezra Taylor, former Connacht player on the Connacht Facebook Page

By that he means Eric Elwood


He also makes it clear in his tweets to the players which go along the line of 'It's bull, you guys deserve better' and 'blame shouldn't be on you'.

Not a ringing endorsement for Elwood, and it would have some credence seeing as he's still in contact with most of the players.


Having said that, it's completely unprofessional from someone who hardly set the world alight in the green jersey, spent most of his time injured and getting barred from nightclubs

[Snipe Watson]

'The players are all good players & can compete at a top level. They are totally capable of winning for their region. There are diseases at bay..........'

Posted by Mr. Ezra Taylor, former Connacht player on the Connacht Facebook Page

By that he means Eric Elwood


He also makes it clear in his tweets to the players which go along the line of 'It's bull, you guys deserve better' and 'blame shouldn't be on you'.

Not a ringing endorsement for Elwood, and it would have some credence seeing as he's still in contact with most of the players.


Having said that, it's completely unprofessional from someone who hardly set the world alight in the green jersey, spent most of his time injured and getting barred from nightclubs

He speaks highly of you

[porterbelly]

By that he means Eric Elwood

Not a ringing endorsement for Elwood, and it would have some credence seeing as he's still in contact with most of the players.

Have to say I'm a bit disappointed by that have a lot of time for Elwood. Great players don't always make great coaches but it struck me that Elwood has a brain and I though he started well. That's why I was shocked you'd lost 13 on the bounce. Though Quinns riding high in the AP looked mighty relieved to beat you at their place.

Hope it picks up for you guys. Who knows, wouldn't bet against Leinster again this year so more Heiney next year might attract players who don do "tw@tter".

The jury is out about Elwood.

Connacht legend, no doubt about that, he has huge passion and commitment to the province. However, he is very hands on and doesn't let the other coaches get involved as much as their brief says they should. Billy Melrose, our former backs coach left for London irish during the summer, the reason believed to be largely to do with Elwood not giving him enough responsiblilty with the backs. The same seems to be the case with Billy Millard this season. We don't look like a team that's well coached. Because of the budget constraints and things that aren't in our favour, we need to be well drilled and essentially better than the sum of our parts. We haven't been that for much of the season.

[rumncoke]

Watched some of Aironi game Connaught look like a team caught in two game plans neither of which are working far to many simple needless errors at the moment of opportunity. Everybody seems to think its their fault and lose concentration waiting for the next one. Little monents of promise dashed on the brick wall of incompetence.

[SDK]

A reliable kicker would help. I've seen 3 different kickers in the recent matches and all of them only average kickers. A better kicker and they would have beaten Leinster recently.

[Jackie Brown]

A reliable kicker would help. I've seen 3 different kickers in the recent matches and all of them only average kickers. A better kicker and they would have beaten Leinster recently.

What about NOC? I hear he has a big boot on him...

[Harold7]

It doesn't look great for the Westies.n There are plenty of good players kicking their heels on the various provincial benches or having to settle for AIL that would be better used at Connacht. And I'm talking about players who only make their provincial benches when the internationals are away. If these guys were sent west it would force the other provinces to stick a few more kids on the bench from time to time and thus achieve what the IRFU want without having to feck around with the NIQ policy. Plus it would strengthen Connacht. For example why did Leinster need to sign Carr when they have Conway, Madigan (can play back three) and Kearney coming through?

Anyway back to Connacht one positive for them is that I believe their U20s won the Inter Pros this season and there seems to be a lot of them involved with the Irish U20s so hopefully a few of them make the grade out west.

[mikerob]

Being in the HEC has probably made the situation worse. In the ACC, Connacht could probably rely on winning 3 or maybe 4 of those games up to this point, but the HEC is tougher.

They were discussing Connacht's plight on the On the ball podcast last night and the feeling was that Billy Millard may have scored an own goal with his public criticism of the players. Yes, he was probably speaking from the heart but those sorts of things are usually kept within the changing room walls.

[scrum5]

It doesn't look great for the Westies.n There are plenty of good players kicking their heels on the various provincial benches or having to settle for AIL that would be better used at Connacht. And I'm talking about players who only make their provincial benches when the internationals are away. If these guys were sent west it would force the other provinces to stick a few more kids on the bench from time to time and thus achieve what the IRFU want without having to feck around with the NIQ policy. Plus it would strengthen Connacht. For example why did Leinster need to sign Carr when they have Conway, Madigan (can play back three) and Kearney coming through?

Anyway back to Connacht one positive for them is that I believe their U20s won the Inter Pros this season and there seems to be a lot of them involved with the Irish U20s so hopefully a few of them make the grade out west.

The truth is The IRFU don't care about Connacht , Keatley, Carr, Hagan and Cronin shouldn't have been allowed to leave Connacht and warm the benches at Leinster and Munster...