Connacht 2022/23

[wixfjord]

On paper, it's a slightly disappointing appointment I would say.

He has an incredibly tough job ahead of him too. Talks of lots of players leaving at end of season, incl Marmion, Delahunt, TOH, Wooton according to Murray K.

They already have a thin squad and the URC is only getting tougher.

Best of luck to him, hopefully they can build a team around DTM, the Murrays, Forde, Prendergast and bring make some more shrewd signings while getting the Leinster contingent to drive the culture. We haven't seen enough from Josh Murphy, Dooley, Adam Byrne yet.

[ronk]

URC is impossible for Connacht. 1/3 of their calendar is against Irish teams.

If they lose their interpros and lose the 2 games in SA they're already down 8 losses.

To have success they need to either derail one or more of the provinces or sneak in to 8th place which probably hurts someone else.

[naraic]

Has anyone tallied up what the confirmed Connacht squad for next season looks like.

[scentofgunpowder]

Has anyone tallied up what the confirmed Connacht squad for next season looks like.

Loosehead

Denis Buckley (33) - Signed contract in 2021
Matthew Burke (26) - Signed 2 year contract in 2022
Peter Dooley (29) - Signed contract in 2022
Jordan Duggan (25) - Signed contract in 2021

Oisin Michel (21) - Academy year 1
Charlie Ward (23) - Academy year 3

Tighthead

Jack Aungier (24) - Signed contract in 2022
Finlay Bealham (31) - Signed 2 year contract in 2022
Sam Illo (22) - Signed 2 year contract in 2023
Dominic Robertson-McCoy (29) - Signed 1 year contract in 2022

Hooker

Eoin De Buitléar (21) - Signed 2 year contract in 2023
Shane Delahunt (29) - Signed contract in 2021
Dave Heffernan (32) - Signed 2 year contract in 2023
Dylan Tierney-Martin (24) - Signed 3 year contract in 2023


Lock

Oisin Dowling (26) - Signed contract in 2022
Leva Fifita (34) - Signed contract in 2021
Joe Joyce (29) - Signed contract in 2023
Darragh Murray (22) - Signed contract in 2022
Niall Murray (23) - Signed 2 year contract in 2023
Gavin Thornbury (29) - Signed contract in 2021

Back row

Ciaran Booth (23) - Signed contract in 2022
Paul Boyle (26) - Signed contract in 2021
Jarrad Butler (32) - Signed 2 year contract in 2022
Shamus Hurley-Langton (23) - Signed contract in 2022
Sean Masterson (25) - Signed contract in 2021
Oisin McCormack (22) - Signed contract in 2022
Josh Murphy (28) - Signed 2 year contract in 2022
Conor Oliver (27) - Signed 2 year contract in 2022
Cian Prendergast (23) - Signed 3 year contract in 2022

Donnacha Byrne (22) - Academy year 3
John Forde (20) - Academy year 1

Scrumhalf

Caolin Blade (29) - Signed 3 year contract in 2023
Kieran Marmion (31) - Signed 3 year contract in 2020
Colm Reilly (24) - Signed contract in 2021

Matthew Devine (21) - Academy year 1
Will Reilly (u23) - Academy year 2

Outhalf

Jack Carty (31) - Signed 3 year contract in 2022
Conor Fitzgerald (25) - Signed contract in 2021

Harry West (20) - Academy year 1

Centre

Bundee Aki (33) - Signed 3 year central contract in 2020
Shayne Bolton (23) - Signed contract in 2021
Tom Daly (30) - Signed 2 year contract in 2022
Tom Farrell (29) - Signed 2 year contract in 2022
Cathal Forde (21) - Signed contract in 2022
David Hawkshaw (24) - Signed 2 year contract in 2023
Byron Ralston (23) - Signed contract in 2022

John Devine (u21) - Academy year 1
Hugh Gavin (u20) - Academy year 1
Daniel Hawkshaw (21) - Academy year 1

Back 3

Adam Byrne (28) - Signed contract in 2022
Mack Hansen (25) - Signed 3 year contract in 2022
Shane Jennings (22) - Signed contract in 2022
Diarmuid Kilgallen (23) - Signed contract in 2022
Oran McNulty (23) - Signed 2 year contract in 2022
Tiernan O'Halloran (32) - Signed 1 year contract in 2022
John Porch (29) - Signed 2 year contract in 2023
Alex Wootton (29) - Signed contract in 2021

Shane Mallon (21) - Academy year 1
Chay Mullins (21) - Academy year 1
Josh O'Connor (22) - Academy year 2

*ages as at 01/09/2023

IN: Joe Joyce (Lock, Bristol Bears)
OUT: Grant Stewart (Hooker, TBC)

[scentofgunpowder]

Apparently Buckley has renewed for 2 years but not announced yet. Donnacha Byrne is off to Brasil. It's also possible that some of the deals signed last year were only for one year. I've seen it reported that Adam Byrne is out of contract, would surprise me as I would have thought he had a high enough profile to demand two but who knows.

Some very important business still to be done still. Looking at the respective squad depths, it seems one of Forde or Hawkshaw needs to play more 10 but both are better in at centre imo.

[StopTheLights]

You'd have to imagine some more signings will be announced in the coming weeks/months, plus I wouldn't be against some of the players moving on. No disrespect to them, they have all represented Connacht admirably in the last few seasons, but there is some exciting young talent coming through, and it also feels like the team is in need of a change of direction, with the end of Friend's tenure. I'm always dismissive of people who decry Connacht's record of producing native players. They simply do not have the population, school's competition, proximity of urban areas, to ever produce a large number of professional rugby players, unless rugby were to usurp GAA as the dominant sporting culture, which I think we can all agree is terribly unlikely.

Their role in Irish rugby should be as a release valve for all of the talent in Irish rugby at the moment, signing young players who've missed out on academy spots or senior contracts at the other provinces, as well as a key destination for IQ players abroad, and even for qualifying foreign players through residency. So their current squad make up makes total sense when viewed through that lens. For the other three provinces we are correct to expect them to produce the vast majority of their players through their academies, for Connacht, players of this origin are never going to be more than a welcome addition, to complement the players sourced via all the other avenues available to them.

To that end, I'm very excited to see players like Shane Mallon and Chay Mullins lining out for Connacht next season, with hopefully some interesting new signings. Of course for every signing like Mack Hansen you're going to have players which don't work out. But it's the ability to find these players and give them a chance which makes Connacht so valuable to the Irish system

[scentofgunpowder]

You'd have to imagine some more signings will be announced in the coming weeks/months, plus I wouldn't be against some of the players moving on. No disrespect to them, they have all represented Connacht admirably in the last few seasons, but there is some exciting young talent coming through, and it also feels like the team is in need of a change of direction, with the end of Friend's tenure. I'm always dismissive of people who decry Connacht's record of producing native players. They simply do not have the population, school's competition, proximity of urban areas, to ever produce a large number of professional rugby players, unless rugby were to usurp GAA as the dominant sporting culture, which I think we can all agree is terribly unlikely.

Their role in Irish rugby should be as a release valve for all of the talent in Irish rugby at the moment, signing young players who've missed out on academy spots or senior contracts at the other provinces, as well as a key destination for IQ players abroad, and even for qualifying foreign players through residency. So their current squad make up makes total sense when viewed through that lens. For the other three provinces we are correct to expect them to produce the vast majority of their players through their academies, for Connacht, players of this origin are never going to be more than a welcome addition, to complement the players sourced via all the other avenues available to them.

To that end, I'm very excited to see players like Shane Mallon and Chay Mullins lining out for Connacht next season, with hopefully some interesting new signings. Of course for every signing like Mack Hansen you're going to have players which don't work out. But it's the ability to find these players and give them a chance which makes Connacht so valuable to the Irish system

Who would you be comfortable with letting go? There's not much fat on the squad these days but we are probably a back row and 2-3 outside backs heavy at the moment. There are 15 Connacht born players in the senior squad currently, but 9 of those are 24 or younger. The 2001 age group has yielded 5 senior pros already which is a pretty exceptional output that I think even Leinster would be happy with. There's a really solid core there, some of whom will hopefully go on to become internationals.

With regards to your second paragraph, I think we are really starting to benefit from Leinster's overproduction. The availability of top tier prospects like David Hawkshaw is a real game changer. Cian Prendergast didn't make the cut at Leinster yet arrived out of the u20s essentially pro ready.

It will be interesting to see what further signings are made. I don't think there is much obvious need for squad depth, depending on departures. It would be really nice to bring in a standout NIQ, it's been a while.

[paddyor]

Depending on how things go with the Welsh players maybe not the best time to be going to the market.

[StopTheLights]

Who would you be comfortable with letting go? There's not much fat on the squad these days but we are probably a back row and 2-3 outside backs heavy at the moment. There are 15 Connacht born players in the senior squad currently, but 9 of those are 24 or younger. The 2001 age group has yielded 5 senior pros already which is a pretty exceptional output that I think even Leinster would be happy with. There's a really solid core there, some of whom will hopefully go on to become internationals.

With regards to your second paragraph, I think we are really starting to benefit from Leinster's overproduction. The availability of top tier prospects like David Hawkshaw is a real game changer. Cian Prendergast didn't make the cut at Leinster yet arrived out of the u20s essentially pro ready.

It will be interesting to see what further signings are made. I don't think there is much obvious need for squad depth, depending on departures. It would be really nice to bring in a standout NIQ, it's been a while.

It's not so much an issue with any particular player, rather I just think Connacht's ability to recruit from multiple sources necessitates a higher turnover of players than teams that recruit primarily through their academy pipeline. If you look at Connacht's recent Irish internationals, Bealham, Aki, Hansen, Prendergast, none of them came through Connacht's academy, which I see as a sign that Connacht's system is working, as opposed to a critique of their academy structure. It's possible we would have never seen any of these players in green had it not been for the unique position Connacht is in relative to the other provinces. So I would hope that Connacht are actively recruiting for next season using similar methods, and could hopefully turn up a few gems. I know there were suggestions that Sean O'Brien was signing with Connacht after finishing up with the Leinster academy, that's exactly the kind of signing that Connacht can, and should, make.

You're right that there is actually a high number of young Connacht born players in the squad at the moment, which is great for the club. But also I don't think it's any less of an achievement should someone like Shayne Bolton make an Irish team over the course of his career, compared with someone like Shane Jennings. Speaking of the latter, I would love to see him line out for Connacht before the end of the season, considering the success is 20s running mate, Forde, has had recently.

I also agree with your assessment thought that there isn't too much fat on the squad at the moment either. Definitely there's a few too few opportunities in the outside backs at the minute, and you'd wonder whether they might be happy to lose someone there, if they rate some of the others higher.

[betty swallocks]

Who would you be comfortable with letting go? There's not much fat on the squad these days but we are probably a back row and 2-3 outside backs heavy at the moment. There are 15 Connacht born players in the senior squad currently, but 9 of those are 24 or younger. The 2001 age group has yielded 5 senior pros already which is a pretty exceptional output that I think even Leinster would be happy with. There's a really solid core there, some of whom will hopefully go on to become internationals.

With regards to your second paragraph, I think we are really starting to benefit from Leinster's overproduction. The availability of top tier prospects like David Hawkshaw is a real game changer. Cian Prendergast didn't make the cut at Leinster yet arrived out of the u20s essentially pro ready.

It will be interesting to see what further signings are made. I don't think there is much obvious need for squad depth, depending on departures. It would be really nice to bring in a standout NIQ, it's been a while.

It's not so much an issue with any particular player, rather I just think Connacht's ability to recruit from multiple sources necessitates a higher turnover of players than teams that recruit primarily through their academy pipeline. If you look at Connacht's recent Irish internationals, Bealham, Aki, Hansen, Prendergast, none of them came through Connacht's academy, which I see as a sign that Connacht's system is working, as opposed to a critique of their academy structure. It's possible we would have never seen any of these players in green had it not been for the unique position Connacht is in relative to the other provinces. So I would hope that Connacht are actively recruiting for next season using similar methods, and could hopefully turn up a few gems. I know there were suggestions that Sean O'Brien was signing with Connacht after finishing up with the Leinster academy, that's exactly the kind of signing that Connacht can, and should, make.

You're right that there is actually a high number of young Connacht born players in the squad at the moment, which is great for the club. But also I don't think it's any less of an achievement should someone like Shayne Bolton make an Irish team over the course of his career, compared with someone like Shane Jennings. Speaking of the latter, I would love to see him line out for Connacht before the end of the season, considering the success is 20s running mate, Forde, has had recently.

I also agree with your assessment thought that there isn't too much fat on the squad at the moment either. Definitely there's a few too few opportunities in the outside backs at the minute, and you'd wonder whether they might be happy to lose someone there, if they rate some of the others higher.

It looks like TOH will retire, with Wootton, Bolton, Fitzgerald, Robertson-McCoy, Fifita, Delahunt, and Marmion moving on. Joyce from Bristol, Leinster's Sean O'Brien are coming in with Chay Mullins likely to get much increased playing time in the back three. At least one hooker, a ball-carrying No8 to compete in that position with Paul Boyle, a scrum half, and a young 10 to compete/provide back-up to Carty/Hawkshaw will be required.

[StopTheLights]

It looks like TOH will retire, with Wootton, Bolton, Fitzgerald, Robertson-McCoy, Fifita, Delahunt, and Marmion moving on. Joyce from Bristol, Leinster's Sean O'Brien are coming in with Chay Mullins likely to get much increased playing time in the back three. At least one hooker, a ball-carrying No8 to compete in that position with Paul Boyle, a scrum half, and a young 10 to compete/provide back-up to Carty/Hawkshaw will be required.

A case can be made for re-signing any of these players, but all in all I think Connacht will be comfortable enough with that turnover. They currently have three scrumhalves in the academy, so you would imagine that they must rate one of them highly enough to soak up some of those minutes. Hooker is certainly somewhere they'll need to make a signing, I'm sure they'd be chomping at the bit to get their hands on Lee Barron, but once John Porch qualifies for Ireland later this year, they'll have zero NIQ players next season, which suggests they may be in the market for someone.

[ronk]

Who would you be comfortable with letting go? There's not much fat on the squad these days but we are probably a back row and 2-3 outside backs heavy at the moment. There are 15 Connacht born players in the senior squad currently, but 9 of those are 24 or younger. The 2001 age group has yielded 5 senior pros already which is a pretty exceptional output that I think even Leinster would be happy with. There's a really solid core there, some of whom will hopefully go on to become internationals.

With regards to your second paragraph, I think we are really starting to benefit from Leinster's overproduction. The availability of top tier prospects like David Hawkshaw is a real game changer. Cian Prendergast didn't make the cut at Leinster yet arrived out of the u20s essentially pro ready.

It will be interesting to see what further signings are made. I don't think there is much obvious need for squad depth, depending on departures. It would be really nice to bring in a standout NIQ, it's been a while.

It's not so much an issue with any particular player, rather I just think Connacht's ability to recruit from multiple sources necessitates a higher turnover of players than teams that recruit primarily through their academy pipeline. If you look at Connacht's recent Irish internationals, Bealham, Aki, Hansen, Prendergast, none of them came through Connacht's academy, which I see as a sign that Connacht's system is working, as opposed to a critique of their academy structure. It's possible we would have never seen any of these players in green had it not been for the unique position Connacht is in relative to the other provinces. So I would hope that Connacht are actively recruiting for next season using similar methods, and could hopefully turn up a few gems. I know there were suggestions that Sean O'Brien was signing with Connacht after finishing up with the Leinster academy, that's exactly the kind of signing that Connacht can, and should, make.

You're right that there is actually a high number of young Connacht born players in the squad at the moment, which is great for the club. But also I don't think it's any less of an achievement should someone like Shayne Bolton make an Irish team over the course of his career, compared with someone like Shane Jennings. Speaking of the latter, I would love to see him line out for Connacht before the end of the season, considering the success is 20s running mate, Forde, has had recently.

I also agree with your assessment thought that there isn't too much fat on the squad at the moment either. Definitely there's a few too few opportunities in the outside backs at the minute, and you'd wonder whether they might be happy to lose someone there, if they rate some of the others higher.

That's cherry picking. What about Blade, Carty, Heffernan.

And Henshaw broke through there.

Their academy is still the engine that will drive major improvement there. There's only so good you'll ever be feeding off the scraps of other provinces (&the IQ system), even if they unearth (& polish) gems like Prendergast and Hansen.

Guys like Dowling will contribute and may bring standards and good habits. The Murray brothers are needed to bring them on a level.

Casting Connacht as a way to subsidise a few careers for players who didn't quite make it does them a disservice and also takes away their agency. If their level of success is defined only by Nucifora, then why would anyone else try.

Everyone needs an academy.

[wixfjord]

Charlie Tector would be one I'd look at if I were Connacht.

Behind a big backlog in Leinster and with Prendergast coming behind him.

He's clearly a big talent and Connacht are very light on good 10s.

[ronk]

Charlie Tector would be one I'd look at if I were Connacht.

Behind a big backlog in Leinster and with Prendergast coming behind him.

He's clearly a big talent and Connacht are very light on good 10s.

Leinster have 3 or 4 senior outhalves. Sexton is likely to retire after the RWC. Ross Byrne plays a lot but is likely to be in all the international squads. Harry Byrne and Frawley have been injured a lot, and Frawley plays 12 mostly lately. Tector is not doing too badly for gametime as a 20 YO.

If he goes to Connacht. He's behind club captain Carty who is out of the international picture and plays loads.

And then he's competing with Fitzgerald, Hawkshaw, Forde anyway. So is he really any better off?

[wixfjord]

Charlie Tector would be one I'd look at if I were Connacht.

Behind a big backlog in Leinster and with Prendergast coming behind him.

He's clearly a big talent and Connacht are very light on good 10s.

Leinster have 3 or 4 senior outhalves. Sexton is likely to retire after the RWC. Ross Byrne plays a lot but is likely to be in all the international squads. Harry Byrne and Frawley have been injured a lot, and Frawley plays 12 mostly lately. Tector is not doing too badly for gametime as a 20 YO.

If he goes to Connacht. He's behind club captain Carty who is out of the international picture and plays loads.

And then he's competing with Fitzgerald, Hawkshaw, Forde anyway. So is he really any better off?

That's one way of looking at it.

Another is that Carty isn't great and seems to be getting worse, Fitzgerald definitely isn't great, Forde & Hawkshaw are 12s rather than 10.
He'll be stuck behind Ross, Frawley & Harry and likely Prendergast soon.

So the pathway in Connacht if you're optimistic and want to back yourself there should be more immediate chances there and certainly chances to get into 23s for big games, which he's miles away from in Leinster.

I'm not saying 'Tector should move' though.
I'm saying 'Connacht should look at him'.

[ronk]

Carty played 80 minutes in all 12 of his games this season aside from 10 minutes for his yellow card.

He had 20 starts last season and generally didn't sub off earlier than the 70th minute unless he was injured.

His 1 sub appearance for Connacht was 7 minutes on the SA tour when he wasn't even replacing Fitzgerald with the other backline sub used already.

It's easy to say that we don't rate Burns or Carty, but they both play almost all day every day and will be tough to shift. Connacht aren't going to give serious consideration to signing Tector to drop Carty.

Tectors best chance if he went to Connacht would be hoping that Carty ships an injury. But he can actually in Leinster, for now at least. In a year or two as the post Sexton era settles then the maths may change. But for now he's an academy outhalf with academy outhalf chances in Connacht.

[wixfjord]

Connacht aren't going to give serious consideration to signing Tector to drop Carty.

Tectors best chance if he went to Connacht would be hoping that Carty ships an injury. But he can actually in Leinster, for now at least. In a year or two as the post Sexton era settles then the maths may change. But for now he's an academy outhalf with academy outhalf chances in Connacht.

I didn't say they should.

In any case the maths would be far more favourable to him now in Connacht than it is in Leinster.

And going back to the point I actually made, he'd be a good person for Connacht to approach.

[ronk]

Connacht aren't going to give serious consideration to signing Tector to drop Carty.

Tectors best chance if he went to Connacht would be hoping that Carty ships an injury. But he can actually in Leinster, for now at least. In a year or two as the post Sexton era settles then the maths may change. But for now he's an academy outhalf with academy outhalf chances in Connacht.

I didn't say they should.

In any case the maths would be far more favourable to him now in Connacht than it is in Leinster.

And going back to the point I actually made, he'd be a good person for Connacht to approach.

Then what was the point of saying this "Another is that Carty isn't great and seems to be getting worse".

Is there another way to connect that to Connacht should approach Tector other than implying that Tector should think that a Connacht approach would be considering him on that basis? If there is it's not the obvious reading.

Tector is already playing for Leinster because 2 outhalves are off with Ireland. And there's a big opportunity opening up for next season. If Tector were to go to Connacht he'd be leaving a gap in the Leinster squad, and they'd have to accelerate Prendergast into it or make a signing.

If he moves to Connacht he might get equivalent gametime elsewhere, but he certainly won't get the same gametime in the shadow of the international windows, i.e. he might regress.

[betty swallocks]

Connacht aren't going to give serious consideration to signing Tector to drop Carty.

Tectors best chance if he went to Connacht would be hoping that Carty ships an injury. But he can actually in Leinster, for now at least. In a year or two as the post Sexton era settles then the maths may change. But for now he's an academy outhalf with academy outhalf chances in Connacht.

I didn't say they should.

In any case the maths would be far more favourable to him now in Connacht than it is in Leinster.

And going back to the point I actually made, he'd be a good person for Connacht to approach.

Tector is an option to replace Fitzgerald, but Sam Prendergast is more likely to be targeted.

[Xanthippe]

Connacht aren't going to give serious consideration to signing Tector to drop Carty.

Tectors best chance if he went to Connacht would be hoping that Carty ships an injury. But he can actually in Leinster, for now at least. In a year or two as the post Sexton era settles then the maths may change. But for now he's an academy outhalf with academy outhalf chances in Connacht.

I didn't say they should.

In any case the maths would be far more favourable to him now in Connacht than it is in Leinster.

And going back to the point I actually made, he'd be a good person for Connacht to approach.

Tector is an option to replace Fitzgerald, but Sam Prendergast is more likely to be targeted.

To me it's a no-brainer - with his brother already there and doing well Prendergast is the more obvious one to target