Glasgow v Connacht Sat March 25th - Match Thread

I would be the first to criticise his play but today I thought he was good. Carried well and put himself about. Certainly more mobile than JP Cooney. I think he just needs a bit of time and work.

warriorsfan wrote: Just wanted to say great game apart from that hit by Swinson. Also why on earth did Joe Schmidt not play your 15 in 6N?! He outplayed hoggy today and I think he would offer Ireland the extra attacking threat needed in the backline. Also sorry to any fans who were at Scotstoun, the booing was really bad today, I know all fans do it but our club seems to be one of the worst and it really annoys me!

Tiernan has statistically been the best full-back in the PRO12 for the second season running. He has been a player at Connacht from the tender age of 18 and has been a huge servant to the team. I do wonder if he has a future in Ireland. What is the point of being paid a fraction of what he would be paid if he were playing abroad. He obviously is not on the Irish radar and the USA/Japan tour is a totally pointless exercise. I think he really needs to think about his future now. And it is not at Connacht. He will not get any recognition playing in the Connacht green so I think he has to move for his sake. He has given all he can at Connacht and it has proven to be pointless. I certainly wouldn't think he had let the team down if he moved elsewhere. He has done his best but it simply is not good enough at national level it would seem so he needs to think about his own future

dobby wrote:

warriorsfan wrote: Just wanted to say great game apart from that hit by Swinson. Also why on earth did Joe Schmidt not play your 15 in 6N?! He outplayed hoggy today and I think he would offer Ireland the extra attacking threat needed in the backline. Also sorry to any fans who were at Scotstoun, the booing was really bad today, I know all fans do it but our club seems to be one of the worst and it really annoys me!

Tiernan has statistically been the best full-back in the PRO12 for the second season running. He has been a player at Connacht from the tender age of 18 and has been a huge servant to the team. I do wonder if he has a future in Ireland. What is the point of being paid a fraction of what he would be paid if he were playing abroad. He obviously is not on the Irish radar and the USA/Japan tour is a totally pointless exercise. I think he really needs to think about his future now. And it is not at Connacht. He will not get any recognition playing in the Connacht green so I think he has to move for his sake. He has given all he can at Connacht and it has proven to be pointless. I certainly wouldn't think he had let the team down if he moved elsewhere. He has done his best but it simply is not good enough at national level it would seem so he needs to think about his own future

Maybe he's happy being a star player for his home province?

that sums up how I feel, Have to admire how clinical Glasgow were, but at the same time, we were just too soft, looking at the game again, it looked like our spacing was a little sparse, were we trying to defend with width but got punched up the centre a bit, .. Also lots of missed tackles from both sides, yet .. We couldn't convert those into a couple more tries.

I am still heartened by the approach and the style, that is the Connacht we know and love .. thats what we want to see, and thats hopefully what Connacht running rugby 2.0 under KK will hopefully look like.
Also of note today, Dave Rennie current head coach of Waikato chiefs is taking over at Glasgow next season, while his no.2 KK is taking the reigns at Connacht

Colonius81 wrote: that sums up how I feel, Have to admire how clinical Glasgow were, but at the same time, we were just too soft, looking at the game again, it looked like our spacing was a little sparse, were we trying to defend with width but got punched up the centre a bit,

I am still heartened by the approach and the style, that is the Connacht we know and love

I don't believe so myself. If you look at Lamonts try to finish the game Niyi simply was caught on two different feet. You see the same often enough to understand that you cannot be in two places at one time so you take the tackle. You simply cannot be undecided. Undecided means you do nothing. Niyi is cracking me up a bit at the moment. He gets alienated going forward, is dropping real opportunities and defensively playing poorly. I know I am a grumpy old man but if Kelleher was available I would change for Niyi on the spot.

Brown is immense. The lineout is suddenly transformed. Everything is good again. He adds so much to this team.

That said what happened from first half to second half? And this is what I thought was interesting. Glasgow realised that kicking the ball away to Tiernan was causing them untold pain. So they stopped doing it. So Glasgow maintained possession. And then you realize that when possession is hard won and achieved Jack provides no insight. And if truth be said most teams have figured that our backline are going to play some interesting stuff. So you keep it away from them. And with Cooney and Carty there ain't much happening

Not sure how you'd blame Adeolokun for the last try, the try he carries the can for is the first one, when he dropped Carty's perfect cross kick.

Lamont's try is 99% down to Dawai. Initially we're lined up with Niyi vs. Lamont & Dawai vs. the next man infield. Lamont makes an out-to-in run and the infield guy starts to loop around to the outside. Niyi checks to see whether Dawai is lining up Lamont or if he's tracking the outside run. Unfortunately Dawai does the worst possible thing (i.e. neither) and bites in on the ball carrier (Horne I think) leaving Niyi with two men to mark. Adeolokun is indeed caught "on two different feet". Maybe he could have hit Lamont on suspicion, but if he does that you can almost guarantee the ball goes out the back for a two-on-one. You're looking at a try or a penalty for a tackle off the ball. Either way the score's out past seven and it's game over.

Asides from the admittedly awful error for the first Glasgow try I thought Adeolokun had a fine game. He scored one, was denied another by a miracle tackle from Price, and would have had an assist if Ronaldson hadn't fumbled a fairly sympathetic offload in front of the posts.

I think Niyi struggled badly over the winter, but he's still our top try scorer on 7, ahead of O'Halloran and Kelleher (in fewer games) on 5. If you discount tries against the Italians (I tend to), it's Niyi on 6 (Glasgow, Scarlets, Edinburgh, Toulouse, Dragons, Glasgow again), Kelleher on 3, and the rest absolutely nowhere. So while I reckon Kelleher should come straight into the team once fit, I'd be putting him in ahead or Ili or Healy at left wing.

salmson wrote: Not sure how you'd blame Adeolokun for the last try, the try he carries the can for is the first one, when he dropped Carty's perfect cross kick.

Lamont's try is 99% down to Dawai. Initially we're lined up with Niyi vs. Lamont & Dawai vs. the next man infield. Lamont makes an out-to-in run and the infield guy starts to loop around to the outside. Niyi checks to see whether Dawai is lining up Lamont or if he's tracking the outside run. Unfortunately Dawai does the worst possible thing (i.e. neither) and bites in on the ball carrier (Horne I think) leaving Niyi with two men to mark. Adeolokun is indeed caught "on two different feet". Maybe he could have hit Lamont on suspicion, but if he does that you can almost guarantee the ball goes out the back for a two-on-one. You're looking at a try or a penalty for a tackle off the ball. Either way the score's out past seven and it's game over.

Asides from the admittedly awful error for the first Glasgow try I thought Adeolokun had a fine game. He scored one, was denied another by a miracle tackle from Price, and would have had an assist if Ronaldson hadn't fumbled a fairly sympathetic offload in front of the posts.

I think Niyi struggled badly over the winter, but he's still our top try scorer on 7, ahead of O'Halloran and Kelleher (in fewer games) on 5. If you discount tries against the Italians (I tend to), it's Niyi on 6 (Glasgow, Scarlets, Edinburgh, Toulouse, Dragons, Glasgow again), Kelleher on 3, and the rest absolutely nowhere. So while I reckon Kelleher should come straight into the team once fit, I'd be putting him in ahead or Ili or Healy at left wing.

Tiernan, to my mind has performed well. His defensive play can be really awful at times. But these days he makes a decision and crashes the opponent. And I think that is a huge improvement in his game. And to be honest Salmson you have to hit the first man. What happens outside you is the responsibility of somebody else. So maybe Dawai failed in a challenge but Niyi compounded it (I hate the word exacerbate, it suggests a media person). I think Niyi is running himself into positions that Connacht players are not there to support

Tiernan's tightened up defensively but he got done for a try (Russell's) at the weekend too. Took two steps off right pillar at a ruck and Price went through the gap and got the offload away. That said he completely outplayed Hogg, and bar Price was the best back on the pitch.

All in all I thought Glasgow were more creative and better at finding gaps - off bugger all possession - than Connacht. Russell certainly made more mistakes than Carty (dumb-ass card asides) but he asked a lot more questions offensively.

salmson wrote: Tiernan's tightened up defensively but he got done for a try (Russell's) at the weekend too. Took two steps off right pillar at a ruck and Price went through the gap and got the offload away. That said he completely outplayed Hogg, and bar Price was the best back on the pitch.

All in all I thought Glasgow were more creative and better at finding gaps - off bugger all possession - than Connacht. Russell certainly made more mistakes than Carty (dumb-ass card asides) but he asked a lot more questions offensively.

Agreed. Glasgow is a great team to watch. Connacht is a great team to watch. It probably was the best game I have seen in absolute ages. Brown was so incredible. His offloads were so soft, they were fantastic to watch.

Attended this match. Made another video for YouTube and here it is.

Lads I couldn't see from where I was sitting so I'm hoping one of ye had a better view or it was apparent on TV but what the helle happened to the scrum? Our first choice front row were getting minced, and I don't think the Glasgow scrum is especially great.

Bazzo wrote: Lads I couldn't see from where I was sitting so I'm hoping one of ye had a better view or it was apparent on TV but what the helle happened to the scrum? Our first choice front row were getting minced, and I don't think the Glasgow scrum is especially great.

It was fine until we took off McCartney and they brought on their whole sub front row and we got destroyed from then on

Bealham looked like he was limping when he went off, maybe due to the scrum going backwards, but if he was hurt before hand that's a big drop in power.

Look we have to face the obvious.

I've made the promise to post this when I thought about it before half time, even if we were leading and attacking well, very well
We CAN'T win against big team defending that way.
Glasgow scored EVERY SINGLE TIME they came in our 22 (except at 81st minute because they kicked to touch). Simple as.

You'd say we won Championship mainly because of our expensive ball possession
BUT we conceeded only 16 points away to Ospreys, 12 to Munster, 13 to .Leinster.
Have we been able to do that again ? No ; Will we be in Play-off, away from home too? Hope so, that's a condition of success.

PS : I'm not talking about this strategy
www.the42.ie/ireland-scotland-analysis-3229116-Feb2017/
Just about not conceeding anytime the opposion comes into our 22