Connacht 2018-19

[cormac]

I assume the Paul Boyle who's playing 8 for Connacht is the same Paul Boyle who played for Leinster A a couple of seasons ago?

[Oldschool]

Stating the obvious but Jack Carty's place kicking is going to cost Connacht.

[dropkick]

I assume the Paul Boyle who's playing 8 for Connacht is the same Paul Boyle who played for Leinster A a couple of seasons ago?

Saw him for the Ireland U20s last year. He captained the side but looked fairly ordinary and it wasn't a surprise to me when Leinster didn't offer him an academy place.


Just goes to show the different ceilings those players can have. Boyle came through the club route if I'm not mistaken. He might have been playing catch up to schools players. The improvements hes made in a year is very impressive.


Connacht playing some great stuff so far. They look up for it this season.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I thought he was good for the 20's, just very unlucky that we have so many players there already.

[Dave Cahill]

Connacht (v Edinburgh):

15. Tiernan O’Halloran
14. Niyi Adeolokun
13. Eoin Griffin
12. Kyle Godwin
11. Matt Healy
10. Jack Carty
9. Kieran Marmion

1. Conán O’Donnell
2. Dave Heffernan
3. Finlay Bealham
4. Gavin Thornbury
5. Ultan Dillane
6. Sean O’Brien
7. Jarrad Butler (captain)
8. Paul Boyle

Replacements

16. Shane Delahunt
17. Peter McCabe
18. Dominic Robertson-McCoy
19. James Cannon
20. Colby Fainga’a
21. Caolin Blade
22. Craig Ronaldson
23. Bundee Aki

[Oldschool]

Connacht at Edinburgh are finding it tough going but are giving it everything.

[domhnallj]

Connacht at Edinburgh are finding it tough going but are giving it everything.

Miles better than the Munster game

[Ruckedtobits]

Great result at the Sportsground. Really good performances from the entire Squad but Bundee is some operator and Sean O'Brien II is playing like the original

Carty has matured in a real solid, Elwood-like, out-half. Looks for opportunities for others and executes well. Blade produced another nice cameo. These guys have a very good bench in key positions.

[blockhead]

Great result at the Sportsground. Really good performances from the entire Squad but Bundee is some operator and Sean O'Brien II is playing like the original

Carty has matured in a real solid, Elwood-like, out-half. Looks for opportunities for others and executes well. Blade produced another nice cameo. These guys have a very good bench in key positions.

Regarding Bundee. Did anyone else see the incident in the 1st half, a scuffle for the ball after the whistle, Bundee wrestles the ball off a Scarlets player, stares at him and then throws the ball with force at the Scarlets player? I thought for sure he was going to get a card. But the ref did nothing and the Scarlets players did not protest too much either tbh.

[scentofgunpowder]

Great result at the Sportsground. Really good performances from the entire Squad but Bundee is some operator and Sean O'Brien II is playing like the original

Carty has matured in a real solid, Elwood-like, out-half. Looks for opportunities for others and executes well. Blade produced another nice cameo. These guys have a very good bench in key positions.

Regarding Bundee. Did anyone else see the incident in the 1st half, a scuffle for the ball after the whistle, Bundee wrestles the ball off a Scarlets player, stares at him and then throws the ball with force at the Scarlets player? I thought for sure he was going to get a card. But the ref did nothing and the Scarlets players did not protest too much either tbh.

Marched us back 10 metres IIRC.

[Laighin Break]

Bit of a sly dig from Cullen(?):

"We know Connacht and the intent that they come with. They’ve a lot of players that have come through the Leinster system at different stages, so we know that they’re always very, very motivated when they play against us."

http://www.the42.ie/cian-healy-leinster ... 1-Sep2018/

[fourthirtythree]

No. Not Cullen's way to send in a sly dig like that. It's true, and they are. Cullen played against Connacht teams in the old days when they'd roll over against Dragons but come out all guns blazing for us. That's all.

Thought Bundee was outstanding the other night, really hard to deal with. Our midfield defence hasn't been that great so he's a real test coming up.

[Aird]

None of the Provinces relish playing Connacht especially at the Show Ground as they are always expected to win but the players and coaches all know that this is a potential banana skin.

If they win the fans attitude is sure it was only Connacht you beat and if they lose then they never should have been beaten by Connacht. Many of The Fans in the other provincesmay have a soft spot for Connacht when they are playing one of the other Pro 14 teams but not when it comes to their own Province.
Personally I dread the day when eventually after over 50 years they get a victory at the Kingspan. They have come close in the past but so far Ulster have held out.

[tomthefan]

None of the Provinces relish playing Connacht especially at the Show Ground as they are always expected to win but the players and coaches all know that this is a potential banana skin.

If they win the fans attitude is sure it was only Connacht you beat and if they lose then they never should have been beaten by Connacht. Many of The Fans in the other provincesmay have a soft spot for Connacht when they are playing one of the other Pro 14 teams but not when it comes to their own Province.
Personally I dread the day when eventually after over 50 years they get a victory at the Kingspan. They have come close in the past but so far Ulster have held out.

Short term pain Aird but it'll be a weight off your shoulders. Those type of records become the proverbial millstone for all concerned. It's no wonder the scots gave the all blacks a fright last year so soon after ireland beating them for the first time

[BlueBlue]

None of the Provinces relish playing Connacht especially at the Show Ground as they are always expected to win but the players and coaches all know that this is a potential banana skin.

If they win the fans attitude is sure it was only Connacht you beat and if they lose then they never should have been beaten by Connacht. Many of The Fans in the other provincesmay have a soft spot for Connacht when they are playing one of the other Pro 14 teams but not when it comes to their own Province.
Personally I dread the day when eventually after over 50 years they get a victory at the Kingspan. They have come close in the past but so far Ulster have held out.

Short term pain Aird but it'll be a weight off your shoulders. Those type of records become the proverbial millstone for all concerned. It's no wonder the scots gave the all blacks a fright last year so soon after ireland beating them for the first time

Connacht still have a mental block when it comes to Ulster. There were years when a Connacht team had Ulster in the table, and in a position to take the European cup spot, they just couldn't close the deal and the 8 point swing was massive in the context of the league table.

[tomthefan]

I presume Cian Healy will be playing this weekend!

[Schumi]

I presume Cian Healy will be playing this weekend!

He's on kicking duty.

[BlueBlue]

I presume Cian Healy will be playing this weekend!

He's on kicking duty.

And if he was, sure it wouldn't be disrespectful to anyone.

[Ruckedtobits]

Last weekend I wondered about the improvement in the Connacht scrum against Leinster. They never quite dominated us but Bealham caused Cian some inconvenience and Buckley appears to do the same on the tight-head side without any direct result.

Tonight's performance against a much more callow pair of props, albeit with king Rory in the middle, was a clear demonstration as to just how much improved is that Green scrum.

If Jimmy Duffy is the main reason behind that improvement, Ireland may well have found Greg Feek's home-grown successor. Furthermore, Bealham has now demonstrated that he is clearly the best tight-head outside Leinster and Buckley the best loose-head outside our Province.

However, overall, the technical excellence of the Connacht scrum and maul will serve them very well in their Pro14 Season.

Finally, what about Timoney's speed in the 80th minutes of a fast intense game. There's no other Irish back-row who could run away from Bundee Aki and Adyoluken whilst in possession and being hunted down. Very impressive.

[Icarus]

Bravo. The last time Connacht won in Ravenhill the Beatles were hardly known outside Liverpool.