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Topic-icon Cardiff v Connacht Sat 26th Jan 2019, 17.15 - TG4/S4C

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5 years 2 months ago #64728

No I think we have a good chance to finsh 3rd european, and a greater one to have at least the home Play-off. :)

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5 years 2 months ago #64729

MulMan wrote: Really feel we left that one behind us, we should have taken the points in the first half when they were down to 13


Did we opt for a scum when we had just won 3 penalties and a yellow card off line outs in the previous 90 seconds???

Jaysus that Drop Goal was never ever on.....

And yea Woody is right, Ospreys and tonight has cost us big time - we would be pushing for top 2

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5 years 2 months ago #64730

Another frustrating defeat. Really leaves us with no room for error now in race for 3rd. Honestly there's just too big a drop off when we lose a few front liners. Experienced players need to show more composure and leadership in games like that.

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5 years 2 months ago #64733

I don't know if the previous comment is accurate but I do think Tiernan's form has totally deserted him and today was the ultimate low point. Overall, we had really no breakdown presence, no gain line breaking, and sadly we looked like we were not fully up for it compared to Cardiff. In my view, we should be giving more game time to the younger guns like the Fitzgerald(s) and build on from there. Outside of our core, primary 23/25, we really struggle and this is our major challenge.

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5 years 2 months ago #64734

TOH had a mare from start to finish (bookended by a fumble into touch and the worst attempt at a drop goal in many a year) but he wasn't alone. Mitchell was appalling, Godwin too (ESPN credit him with turning over possession 6!!! times), Fainga'a had his poorest game in months, and Cannon might as well have stayed in the dressing room.

12 wins would leave us likely 3rd or at worst 4th and at home in the playoff. While there is an obvious route to that - 4 home games and Zebre away - I don't have any confidence we won't screw up at least once.

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5 years 2 months ago #64735

Has to be one of the worst matches I've seen in a long while. Always going to be a bit of an ask over there, especially missing some of our top line players.

I don't think Tiernan will be happy with himself tonight, true, but I can't agree with the comments above. Everyone has bad days, and this was undoubtedly one for him, but a bit much to suggest that it was anything other than a bad night at the office.

Really terrible conditions there tonight, lashing wind and rain seemingly. That pitch is regularly held out as how not to do a 4g pitch. It looked wrecked tonight too, so really can't get my head around it. (Hope the SG pitch is eventually better, I'm sure they'd need to try to make it work)

Positives: FItzgeralds (both of em) made an impact, Lloyd added a great bit of tempo when he came on, we got a bonus point, don't seem to be any immediate injury worries, the steak sandwich in Murtys was superb.

Negatives: Pretty much everything else.

Bit of a break now to get the heads on straight.

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5 years 2 months ago #64736

Appaling comment from a so-called Connacht supporter. To suggest that Tiernan has a terrible attitude and is self-obsessed and only plays for himself are the comments of an ignoramus. He has been one of our top performers for 10 years now and is a model pro. He didn’t play well tonight but wasn’t the only one. I’d suggest you speak with somebody who was at the match and who might explain how difficult the conditions were. See comment by Prof. William Joyce on The42.

Last edit: 5 years 2 months ago by Former Coach.
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5 years 2 months ago #64738

Our young lads Gallagher, Boyle, and Lloyd and Fitzgerald when they came on played well. I thought our line out was decent in the conditions and unlike Salmson I thought Cannon played reasonably well. O'Halloran needs to be dropped for his own good I think. Very poor tonight and confidence seems to be shot. Leader or Kelleher deserve a shot at 15. Mitchell and Horwitz very poor too and our performance levels upped when Lloyd and Fitzgerald came on.

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5 years 2 months ago #64740

Reminder - criticism of a performance is one thing, but there’s no need for personal attacks on players (or other posters for that matter).


"Our march is quite slow y'know, when we get to where we want to get to, it's going to take time, but when we get there it's going to be fantastic." - Johnny O'Connor 2013
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5 years 2 months ago #64741

While we are full of praise for the subs tonight it's probably too much to say they turned around that match. Conor Fitzgerald's kicks to touch we're good ( with the wind) but he played very deep and left those outside him struggling to get over the gain line. Lloyd seems quick from the breakdown but his flung passes can be a little wild at times and he was culpable for the knock-on when the maul finally got a 15m+ run towards the Cardiff line. Stephen Fitzgerald was stripped of the ball inside our 22 but his kick along the side line to earn the 5m scrum was a highlight. Paul O'Boyle showed his class in getting the try and has benefitted from the run of games he earned this season. The scrum stopped threatening once Bealham and Buckley went off. Terrible weather to play in but the experienced players needed to calm down and get the basics right not be forcing things. TO'H was really only guilty of Forcing things and the wingers were not much better either. Centres were mainly starting on the back foot. Back row had their hands full all night, second rotw and hookers also struggled with a fussy ref at the lineout. We didn't capitalise on the 2 yellow cards and deservedly lost. Hope we can take the (many) learnings.Not criticising individuals here but critical of the performance. Could improve a lot going into the next block of games.

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5 years 2 months ago #64742

I thought our big issue tonight was at half back - both very poor. The good news is Friend will have seen Conor Fitzgerald as a superior alternative going forward. Also it was informative that Maksymiw came on for Cannon not Gallagher - another indication Mr.Friend knows his stuff. So a losing bp and the emergence of academy players like Gallagher (superb tonight) Fitzgerald and Burke are all very positive. I think 5 wins from 7 will see us through- very doable

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5 years 2 months ago #64746

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5 years 2 months ago #64751

Decadence wrote: Reminder - criticism of a performance is one thing, but there’s no need for personal attacks on players (or other posters for that matter).


To add to this: Flaming is not acceptable. Physical threats of violence are not acceptable.

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5 years 2 months ago #64752

Games like this one and the Ospreys one have highlighted a mental fragility in the team, when we have a important game, not knock out, but important as part of a body of work across the season , we fail to focus, we freeze and our game unravels like an old woolly jumper.

There were some terrible individual performances and some decent ones, particularly from the young lads, but they failed as a unit, at a key time, again.

If we do get in the HCC next season that may well be a pyrrhic victory as we could striggle to fight on 2 fronts. We have more depth than before but that doesn't mean we have enough, I hope we do qualify but we've had two moments of clarity this season, one is normally enough

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5 years 2 months ago #64756

McNamara wrote: Games like this one and the Ospreys one have highlighted a mental fragility in the team, when we have a important game, not knock out, but important as part of a body of work across the season , we fail to focus, we freeze and our game unravels like an old woolly jumper.

There were some terrible individual performances and some decent ones, particularly from the young lads, but they failed as a unit, at a key time, again.

If we do get in the HCC next season that may well be a pyrrhic victory as we could striggle to fight on 2 fronts. We have more depth than before but that doesn't mean we have enough, I hope we do qualify but we've had two moments of clarity this season, one is normally enough


When you hear the welsh commentators saying an 8 point lead will not be good enough at half time to win for Cardiff.... you know it has being a bad performance!

Last edit: 5 years 2 months ago by Decadence. Reason: Bad language
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5 years 2 months ago #64768

Based on the posts I haven't read, it sounds like my decision not to visit this thread until two days after the game was thoroughly vindicated ;-)

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