salmson wrote: Was he playing 13 or 12? Some defensive alignments have the 13 shoot up on the outside of the carrier to shepherd him back into the middle towards the forwards, and don't care if that means an increase in missed tackles. Henshaw in his early stint at 13 for Ireland would be a good example....

Looks like he was used principally as a 13 alright...

Also looks like he was with the Blues Super Rugby squad at the same time as Tom McCartney (and Charles Piatau), so may have been pointed out as a good option...

Was he playing 13 or 12? Some defensive alignments have the 13 shoot up on the outside of the carrier to shepherd him back into the middle towards the forwards, and don't care if that means an increase in missed tackles. Henshaw in his early stint at 13 for Ireland would be a good example....

From the stats section of the Mitre 10 Cup site..

Did a comparison of Pita and the guy he partnered in the Centre for Waikato this term..
Pretty decent return from Pita, three tries in Six games in a team that won only 2/10 Cup games this season and has been relegated to the Championship for ext season..
Defensively though (low 80%'s Tackle Success) possibly some work to be done thee...

salmson wrote: With SOB out til new year, Browne not back til some time should in November, and both Dillane and Roux likely to be in the international squad, we're facing the Autumn international period with just 2 senior locks, Cannon and Thornbury. Gallagher is therefore needed for the Pro12, so I reckon he'll be in the 23 this weekend to get some ganetime ahead of that.

I fully expect it'll be one of the two, but unlikely to lose both. If we'd been thrashing all comers possibly..
There'll also be competition from Ryan at Leinster and Treadwell at Ulster. I get a feeling that Joe will look at one or both of those this autumn...

pinky wrote: This will just be confusing!
We could have a threequarter line of Ili-Aki-Akhi-Healy ...

www.connachtrugby.ie/connacht-sign-centre-pita-ahki/

Or even illi Aki AKhi Adi

MulMan wrote: Don't know if it was already noted by anybody else but EPCR site has Cillian Gallagher in our European squad with Cormac Brennan unlisted, last time I had checked that wasn't the case, so not sure if that's one of our three changes or not

Edit: I googled it and Ocean FM (Sligo/Leitrim Radio for those unfamiliar) are reporting he's replaced Browne in the squad. I had originally thought Browne hadn't been included and Brennan was.

Browne was injured before the European squad was announced (since before the Dragons game), so my guess would be that his appearance on the original squad list was an error. EPCR published squads for some teams but not others a few weeks back, then took them down and put up the correct ones again later on. So I'd say it was just a mix-up in what appeared on the website.

And one more. I really hope we've signed this guy for more than this year because he seems to have it all in both attack and defense. Think I might prefer to be tackled by Aki than Akhi, if I had to choose. Either way a trip to A&E would probably follow.

Some footage of him playing for NZ 7's V Kenya. This guy really looks a good signing.

He was playing in mitre 10 cup, which is now over for his team, so fingers crossed it's just sorting out visa etc. And then he'll be over with us.. Really like the look of this player, should add extra attacking flair in midfield and the solid defence normally associated with SH centres

Solid signing. Seems like they might be rushing his arrival for November.

No word on when he will arrive, I assume it won't be until the ITM cup is fully finished

This will just be confusing!
We could have a threequarter line of Ili-Aki-Akhi-Healy ...

www.connachtrugby.ie/connacht-sign-centre-pita-ahki/

If that is the case it's still a little short sighted if it ends up causing us issues in Europe further down the line, by the medical report yesterday Browne should be back around the time of the Autumn internationals and Roux and/or Dillane may be released back to us in the international window which I think only has one match overlap between the league and the tests, it will be a mistake if we can't bring O'Brien back into the squad when he's back fit, best of luck to Gallagher if he is picked but let's hope we don't have an injury like the last two season around Christmas

With SOB out til new year, Browne not back til some time should in November, and both Dillane and Roux likely to be in the international squad, we're facing the Autumn international period with just 2 senior locks, Cannon and Thornbury. Gallagher is therefore needed for the Pro12, so I reckon he'll be in the 23 this weekend to get some ganetime ahead of that.

Just thinking about it, with Browne due to return in November (according to today's injury report) and plenty of cover for the Worcester game it seems a strange decision, surely Browne will come back in for the December games and we'll have wasted one of our 3 swaps, leaving only one for a non-front row change, even if they decide to play Gallagher for the Worcester game it seems short-sighted especially if we're hoping to go far in Europe, I think there's one extra swap granted once the knock-outs begin, but if we were to have the injury profile we've had in other seasons we might well need a few guys brought in or we could end up playing with less than 23 for a European knock-out game, like we did against Newcastle a few years back.

www.oceanfm.ie/2017/10/18/sligos-cillian...d-for-challenge-cup/
epcrugby.com/matchcentre/connacht.php?section=3

PS that now means that one of O'Brien or Robb would not be able to be included until the knock-outs at the earliest, and any potential new addition for Vasiteri also couldn't be added unless that new player is a front row player

Don't know if it was already noted by anybody else but EPCR site has Cillian Gallagher in our European squad with Cormac Brennan unlisted, last time I had checked that wasn't the case, so not sure if that's one of our three changes or not

Edit: I googled it and Ocean FM (Sligo/Leitrim Radio for those unfamiliar) are reporting he's replaced Browne in the squad. I had originally thought Browne hadn't been included and Brennan was.