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6 years 8 months ago #56105

Keane must see something in Carty too as he'll start the season as pretty much undisputed no. 10 given the experience levels of the backups.

Carty - 81 caps/63 starts across league and Europe.
Crosbie - 5 caps/2 starts (Pro12) plus some B&I Cup.
Deegan - 9 caps/8 starts in ANRC plus club rugby with Randwick.

Great opportunity for Jack with Keane and Carolan clearly backing him, but on the other hand it really is p*ss or get off the pot time.

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6 years 8 months ago #56106

Disappointing. Refuse to believe Carty will be our starting 10 this year. Maybe Ronaldson?

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6 years 8 months ago #56107

Betty Swallocks wrote: Disappointing. Refuse to believe Carty will be our starting 10 this year. Maybe Ronaldson?


You can refuse to believe but I don't think that will change things.

it's vital that the backup 10 challenge Carty, but I don't see it as likely that Ronaldson will be in the picture for 10.

He has 7 starts at 10 (W3 L4) for Connacht, and 38 starts at 12. Last time he started at 10 was against Cardiff(a) in March 2015. Aki is our top centre, after that I don't see Robb or Griffin challenging Ronaldson for the other starting spot. Maybe Farrell could come good but it depends on how he pushes on.

Finally I don't see Keane coming in and deciding Ronaldson is a 10. At the Chiefs, he's used Beaver - like Ronaldson he's big, robust, skillful, can play 10, great footwork but isn't the quickest over the ground - exclusively as a 12, and moved McKenzie to 10 when Cruden is rested.

Last edit: 6 years 8 months ago by salmson.
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6 years 8 months ago #56109

Ronaldson played a lot of game as 10 before coming west. He can go back there
Relevant analysis about K.K though.
Disagree for Griffin AND Ili (don't forget) who could all push for n°13
Aki is nailed at n°12

Which means it's very possible we have

10) Carty/Crosbie/Deegan
12) Aki
13) Griffin/Ili

22) Ronaldson (Covering BOTH 10 And 12, depending who needs to be replaced)
23) Utility back : Ili/Kelleher/Leader

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6 years 8 months ago #56113

salmson wrote: Keane must see something in Carty too as he'll start the season as pretty much undisputed no. 10 given the experience levels of the backups.

Carty - 81 caps/63 starts across league and Europe.
Crosbie - 5 caps/2 starts (Pro12) plus some B&I Cup.
Deegan - 9 caps/8 starts in ANRC plus club rugby with Randwick.

Great opportunity for Jack with Keane and Carolan clearly backing him, but on the other hand it really is p*ss or get off the pot time.


Has Boshoff's departure been made official anywhere?

Not sure there's any proof Keane sees anything more in Carty than the rest of us. There's just not a ton of options at this late hour to bring in to unseat Jack straight up. I'm going to try and stay positive about Connacht's outhalf situation and maybe KK can bring something more out of Jack, but if he can't I see Connacht struggling again this season.

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6 years 8 months ago #56114

First of all this is yet to be confirmed but if John Fallon is going with it, he must have got the nod to run the story.

Anyway, I think we should give this guy a chance before he's written off. He played 10 at the under 20 world cup two years ago for Australia who finished 5th. Ok he hasn't made the breakthrough at Super Rugby yet but he's still only 22. We've made other signings in recent years that on paper didn't look great but who turned out to be good players for us.

We all wanted a top quality player recruited at 10 but it was obviously very late in the day when we found out about Boshoff. Hopefully this leaves room for at least one more signing. Prop is the most area that needs a bit of reinforcement. Someone to cover a couple of positions in the backs would be ideal too but prop is the more pressing need imo.

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6 years 8 months ago #56115

Borders no.2 wrote: First of all this is yet to be confirmed but if John Fallon is going with it, he must have got the nod to run the story.

Anyway, I think we should give this guy a chance before he's written off. He played 10 at the under 20 world cup two years ago for Australia who finished 5th. Ok he hasn't made the breakthrough at Super Rugby yet but he's still only 22. We've made other signings in recent years that on paper didn't look great but who turned out to be good players for us.

We all wanted a top quality player recruited at 10 but it was obviously very late in the day when we found out about Boshoff. Hopefully this leaves room for at least one more signing. Prop is the most area that needs a bit of reinforcement. Someone to cover a couple of positions in the backs would be ideal too but prop is the more pressing need imo.


Few thoughts on Borders' post....

(1) Never mind John Fallon, reliable a source on Connacht as he is, Joycey retweeted the42's tweet/link. Tis happening.

(2) Write him off? This guy is Randwick/Aussie U20s. The last 10 we signed from Sydney club rugby with a similar profile was a 23-year-old Paul Warwick of Manly/Aussie 7s. I'm excited.

(3) If we have any budget/places left (and we have 42 signed minimum and possibly 45 if Conroy, Deegan and Fox are announced, so maybe not) my priorities would be (=1) centre as we have only two proven options (Aki and Ronaldson), (=1) LH prop as I think JP Cooney has only ever looked the business at TH (e.g, the away win against Cardiff where he was phenomenal) plus I don't rate Robertson-McCoy, and (=3) lock because while we look covered Uncle Joe clearly has a likening (understandably, given he doesn't tolerate losing rucks or scrums) for Roux, which means we could be down to 3 senior locks in the international windows, even before injuries.

Last edit: 6 years 8 months ago by salmson.

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6 years 8 months ago #56116

Ulster now potentially on the lookout for a 10 also. Jackson on a "sabbatical"

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6 years 8 months ago #56117



Friendly with Warathas, Deegan played the 1st half
We're getting used to Japan commentaries. But Deegan is cleary a kamikaze :D (look at the initial 2 minutes)

Looks small but good and involved in any kind of phases

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6 years 8 months ago #56118

connachta wrote:



Friendly with Warathas, Deegan played the 1st half
We're getting used to Japan commentaries. But Deegan is cleary a kamikaze :D (look at the initial 2 minutes)

Looks small but good and involved in any kind of phases


Looks to have a nice flat pass which means if centres are hitting at speed we will break the line almost AJ like.

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6 years 8 months ago #56119

I wonder what out intercept % will look like next year!

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6 years 8 months ago #56120

Agree with both, that's why I called him Kamikaze. Could work, with clear view and weighting ...

Last edit: 6 years 8 months ago by connachta.

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6 years 8 months ago #56121

sligsup wrote:

connachta wrote:



Friendly with Warathas, Deegan played the 1st half
We're getting used to Japan commentaries. But Deegan is cleary a kamikaze :D (look at the initial 2 minutes)

Looks small but good and involved in any kind of phases


Looks to have a nice flat pass which means if centres are hitting at speed we will break the line almost AJ like.


Always possible to paint a positive side to any player. But this signing would seem to be behind Jack. And that would not inspire me

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6 years 8 months ago #56122

Carty is progressing (Joe calling him was a sign)
Crosbie and Deegan have the Southern Hemisphere flair.
Might be short but still better than JUST Carty for 3 months last season, and propective is built...

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6 years 8 months ago #56129

salmson wrote:

Betty Swallocks wrote: Disappointing. Refuse to believe Carty will be our starting 10 this year. Maybe Ronaldson?


You can refuse to believe but I don't think that will change things.

it's vital that the backup 10 challenge Carty, but I don't see it as likely that Ronaldson will be in the picture for 10.

He has 7 starts at 10 (W3 L4) for Connacht, and 38 starts at 12. Last time he started at 10 was against Cardiff(a) in March 2015. Aki is our top centre, after that I don't see Robb or Griffin challenging Ronaldson for the other starting spot. Maybe Farrell could come good but it depends on how he pushes on.

Finally I don't see Keane coming in and deciding Ronaldson is a 10. At the Chiefs, he's used Beaver - like Ronaldson he's big, robust, skillful, can play 10, great footwork but isn't the quickest over the ground - exclusively as a 12, and moved McKenzie to 10 when Cruden is rested.


Out of curiosity, where did you find those stats?

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6 years 8 months ago #56130

Mark Mostyn wrote:
Out of curiosity, where did you find those stats?


Itsrugby.fr are very good for stats. I've cross checked a few Connacht players with EPCR and Pro12 and they seem to be spot on, so I tend to just look at that site as it's more user friendly than either of those competition sites, and you have all competitions to hand. Caveats: they sometimes have ages wrong (use the DOBs instead) and the sub numbers need to be ignored, they seem to correspond to the order in which subs were used rather than the actual jersey numbers/positions, which is a bit useless.

ESPN are excellent for detailed game stats, use them too. For instance for the first half of last season, I was able to see fairly quickly what teams were doing - basically kicking the ball off the field or as far away as possible and just defending, rather than trying to play us - because instead of making 50% of the tackles as per 15/16 we were making consistently <40% and in some cases <30% of the tackles.

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