Connacht 14 - 17 Llanelli
By Sea_point
January 10 2009
Well the post match analysis is in full swing of another match for which Connacht were in pole position to claim full points, but that slipped away again in the last quarter. It's pretty understandable that there's a certain amount of frustration amongst the team and supporters as we are starting to show a lot more consistency of performance without quite getting the results our efforts deserve.
January 10 2009
Well the post match analysis is in full swing of another match for which Connacht were in pole position to claim full points, but that slipped away again in the last quarter. It's pretty understandable that there's a certain amount of frustration amongst the team and supporters as we are starting to show a lot more consistency of performance without quite getting the results our efforts deserve.
When we look back at last nights game, the obvious area of regret will most likely be the missed points from the boot of Ian Keatley. Failing to convert his own try, and missed penalties at critical times (after 33 mins of the first half, and with four minutes left also) really damaged Connacht's ability to close out the game early. The snatched drop goal attempts are great if they come off, but they are not as bankable scoring opportunities in the heat of battle when pressure levels are highest,
But not for a moment do I think anyone really blames Keats for missing a few kicks, all kickers miss kicks from time to time it can often come down to excessive level of adrenalin in the body or an unexpected gust of wind. Obviously being in the UK I was restricted to the few minutes coverage that GBFM gave last night which was EXTREMELY frustrating, and I didn't see any of the action so I can only go on what was said in the commentary last night and the feedback from those on here who actually attended. It seems that from a position of strength on the scoreboard early in the second half Llanelli made a few changes and raised their game and then we proceeded to dig ourselves into a hole yet again with some really poor defensive kicking.
Matters definitely weren't aided by the fact that we didn't freshen up our on pitch personell as the game headed into what was always going to be a challenging last quarter. The question has to be asked that when you are coming second best on the field and trying to defend a lead why our coaching team didn't look to make some changes and add fresh legs especially as the core players have given everything in the last two weeks against Inter-provincial fixtures. Llanelli used their entire replacements bench to swing th momentum of the game their way while Connacht swopped second rows with Mike Swift coming on for Mike McCarthy. Where is the rationale in that.....???
Bottom line: the game against Irish next weekend isn't critical for our progress to the next round of the European Challenge Cup, victory at home against Dax should be enough to secure progress. But the notion that we put out a second string side against Irish cannot now be contemplated. If we were to risk such an action and be thrashed in the process the effect on the squad I suspect would be devastating for morale. We must go into the game next week with the attitude that we are there to win and nothing less, if the team are to perform on the day then they have to go in with this attitude....
Connacht Rugby:
15. Gavin Duffy
14. Fionn Carr
13. Niva Ta'auso
12. Keith Matthews
11. Liam Bibo
10. Ian Keatley
9. Frank Murphy
1. Brett Wilkinson
2. Sean Cronin
3. Robbie Morris
4. Mike McCarthy
5. Andrew Farley
6. John Muldoon
7. Ray Ofisa Treviranus
8. Colm Rigney
Replacements:
16. Adrian Flavin
17. Ronan Loughney
18. Michael Swift
19. Andrew Browne
20. Kieran Campbell
21. Andy Dunne
22. Mel Deane
Scarlets:
15. Morgan Stoddart
14. Darren Daniel
13. Regan King
12. Jonathan Davies
11. Gareth Morris
10. Rhys Priestland
9. Martin Roberts
1. Phil John
2. Matthew Rees
3. Deacon Manu
4. Dominic Day
5. Vernon Cooper
6. Simon Easterby
7. Johnathan Edwards
8. David Lyons
Replacements:
16. Iestyn Thomas
17. Ken Owens
18. Lou Reed
19. Dafydd Jones
20. Gavin Cattle
21. Stephen Jones
22. Yannick Ngog
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| 10 Jan, 2009 18:18 | Report |
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Connacht Rugby Supporters (IP Logged) Unregistered User |
Connacht 14 - 17 Llanelli
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| 10 Jan, 2009 21:57 | Report |
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seanin4711 (IP Logged) Registered User |
Date Joined: Apr, 2007 Location: Posts: 183 |
Re: Connacht 14 - 17 Llanelli
keatley great on one hand and not so good later on with decision making,had a penalty missed it and should have kicked the corner for a chance of a win!
But we should have never been in that position at that stage of the game!
Ref and touch judges were atrocious!!!
IRFU officals must have a look at themselves they were terrible!
Connacht why oh why cant you play for the full 80 minutes???
another season in the toilet and Michael Bradley still at the helm of mediocrity!
The support is there the connacht branch are getting their mits in the money but there is still no end product(getting off the foot of the table would be a huge step in the right direction for me).
where to from here?
Keatley was a one man show from the back line where are the rest of them???
We need to score tries end of story!!!
heres to next season!!!
slan
sean
But we should have never been in that position at that stage of the game!
Ref and touch judges were atrocious!!!
IRFU officals must have a look at themselves they were terrible!
Connacht why oh why cant you play for the full 80 minutes???
another season in the toilet and Michael Bradley still at the helm of mediocrity!
The support is there the connacht branch are getting their mits in the money but there is still no end product(getting off the foot of the table would be a huge step in the right direction for me).
where to from here?
Keatley was a one man show from the back line where are the rest of them???
We need to score tries end of story!!!
heres to next season!!!
slan
sean
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| 10 Jan, 2009 23:10 | Report |
|
Borders no.2 (IP Logged) Registered User |
Date Joined: Mar, 2007 Location: Posts: 2781 |
Re: Connacht 14 - 17 Llanelli
Its such mixed feelings.On one hand I was very pleased with a lot of what I saw last night.Also throughout the season our performance level at times has suggested we should be operating at a higher level.
There is a lot more for Connacht to take from the season so far than there was at this stage last season but still despite all the plaudits earned for the 2 superb provincial victories we have not followed those wins with wins in our next ml matches.
Ultimately its a results business and we haven't delivered the results.Now we will still probably finish with a total this season that would have got us a hc spot last season but the ml has moved on.
This thing of targeting matches was badly exposed as well.Edinburgh and Ulster were no doubt 2 targeted matches and we got 0 points out of those 2.When you so publicly state that we have been targeting this game it is a huge blow to morale to lose it.Ok we don't have the squad to deal with a run of 10/11 games is successive weeks but some sensible mixing and matching early in the season would have ensured we didn't suffer hammerings which gave a stick for others to beat us with.
The important thing at this stage is we don't let this squad come apart.There is a solid base to work from but we all realise we need a number of good signings to be competitive as a squad.
For now we have to make sure we qualify for the last 8 of the challenge cup.If we can get the best patches of our season out of the team on an 80 minute basis we have no need to fear the likes of Northampton or whoever away in the quarters.
We need to keep belting away in the ml.It looks an impossible situation now but situations can change and maybe someone may come back towards us heading towards the final few games.
Its a long shot at this stage but I think we have just got to forget the others and just set a target of points for ourselves at this stage to reach and if that means we pass someone out great.If it doesn't we realise there has been an improvement and that we need to work well in the transfer market again.
There is a lot more for Connacht to take from the season so far than there was at this stage last season but still despite all the plaudits earned for the 2 superb provincial victories we have not followed those wins with wins in our next ml matches.
Ultimately its a results business and we haven't delivered the results.Now we will still probably finish with a total this season that would have got us a hc spot last season but the ml has moved on.
This thing of targeting matches was badly exposed as well.Edinburgh and Ulster were no doubt 2 targeted matches and we got 0 points out of those 2.When you so publicly state that we have been targeting this game it is a huge blow to morale to lose it.Ok we don't have the squad to deal with a run of 10/11 games is successive weeks but some sensible mixing and matching early in the season would have ensured we didn't suffer hammerings which gave a stick for others to beat us with.
The important thing at this stage is we don't let this squad come apart.There is a solid base to work from but we all realise we need a number of good signings to be competitive as a squad.
For now we have to make sure we qualify for the last 8 of the challenge cup.If we can get the best patches of our season out of the team on an 80 minute basis we have no need to fear the likes of Northampton or whoever away in the quarters.
We need to keep belting away in the ml.It looks an impossible situation now but situations can change and maybe someone may come back towards us heading towards the final few games.
Its a long shot at this stage but I think we have just got to forget the others and just set a target of points for ourselves at this stage to reach and if that means we pass someone out great.If it doesn't we realise there has been an improvement and that we need to work well in the transfer market again.
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| 11 Jan, 2009 16:39 | Report |
|
RogueXV (IP Logged) Registered User |
Date Joined: Jul, 2006 Location: Posts: 1633 |
Re: Connacht 14 - 17 Llanelli
Yeah, I wouldn't get on Keatley for the missed kicks. Sure it's easy to say if Connacht had those points they would have won the game, but like Seanin said they should have had a large enough lead by the time the last quarter rolled around that they could have picked Keatley up.
The bigger problem as Joe Healy mentioned after the Leinster game and LTTD said on these boards, was that Connacht are failing to find touch with their kicks too often. This is especially crucial later in games when you are protecting a lead. At that point you want to pin the other team back and make them really work to gain yardage.
As for Bradley and the use of his bench, we've seen it before. It makes you wonder about his philosophy on subs. Is he holding on to the old school thought that subs are only for injuries and maybe relieving players that are dead tired? Does he have no faith in his replacements? Admittedly Connacht don't have the luxury of springing a Stephen Jones from their bench, but there is enough quality there to come on and see out the last 10,15 or even 20 minutes of a game. Keiran Campbell of course was the most glaring example of this. Here is a veteran player that I am assuming was brought to Connacht just for this type of situation. Murphy is having an off day and the game is getting down to the crucial period, it's time to make a change Mick.
I've said this before, I fully expect Cardiff to put themselves right and pass up the Dragons but for the moment they are the one team within reach so the ML isn't quite dusted yet. As BN2 said they should probably not worry about the table at this point and just go out and put in strong performances and see where that leaves them come April.
S_P, you're probably right about the LI game. My hope would be that they can put in a strong first half performance that would build some confidence and then at the 50 minute mark Bradley would use his bench and start calling players ashore.
The bigger problem as Joe Healy mentioned after the Leinster game and LTTD said on these boards, was that Connacht are failing to find touch with their kicks too often. This is especially crucial later in games when you are protecting a lead. At that point you want to pin the other team back and make them really work to gain yardage.
As for Bradley and the use of his bench, we've seen it before. It makes you wonder about his philosophy on subs. Is he holding on to the old school thought that subs are only for injuries and maybe relieving players that are dead tired? Does he have no faith in his replacements? Admittedly Connacht don't have the luxury of springing a Stephen Jones from their bench, but there is enough quality there to come on and see out the last 10,15 or even 20 minutes of a game. Keiran Campbell of course was the most glaring example of this. Here is a veteran player that I am assuming was brought to Connacht just for this type of situation. Murphy is having an off day and the game is getting down to the crucial period, it's time to make a change Mick.
I've said this before, I fully expect Cardiff to put themselves right and pass up the Dragons but for the moment they are the one team within reach so the ML isn't quite dusted yet. As BN2 said they should probably not worry about the table at this point and just go out and put in strong performances and see where that leaves them come April.
S_P, you're probably right about the LI game. My hope would be that they can put in a strong first half performance that would build some confidence and then at the 50 minute mark Bradley would use his bench and start calling players ashore.
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| 12 Jan, 2009 18:09 | Report |
|
lgwt@castlebar (IP Logged) Registered User |
Date Joined: Aug, 2006 Location: Posts: 2447 |
Re: Connacht 14 - 17 Llanelli
I agree with all of the above. We cannot blame any one player (Keatley) as we just didn't put up enough points in the first half we were were dominant in both possession and territory. A 6-3 lead was nowhere near good enough.
Officials were poor again, missing a lot of things very visible to the crowd (which was a healthy 2,063 - only 154 fewer than Glasgow Warriors attracted for their home tie to Dragons) but this doesn't cure all of our ills either. Regretably I noted to friends around me at the S_G that our pack was starting to tire. Less than ten minutes later we were behind. Some of the touch kicking was dodgy as metioned.
I wonder at the wisdom in terms of attacking play if Ta'uso and Matthews are our best pairing - are they too similar. Looking forward to Roberts return - some game time in Raeding perhaps? Also what has happened to Danny?
Officials were poor again, missing a lot of things very visible to the crowd (which was a healthy 2,063 - only 154 fewer than Glasgow Warriors attracted for their home tie to Dragons) but this doesn't cure all of our ills either. Regretably I noted to friends around me at the S_G that our pack was starting to tire. Less than ten minutes later we were behind. Some of the touch kicking was dodgy as metioned.
I wonder at the wisdom in terms of attacking play if Ta'uso and Matthews are our best pairing - are they too similar. Looking forward to Roberts return - some game time in Raeding perhaps? Also what has happened to Danny?
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