Connacht V Dragons 6/09/2014 5pm

Delighted with the win although the last five minutes were very tense. Dragons are a poor side, I don't think we were massively better than them though. McKeon took his try well but I thought he was very poor apart from that. Georgie was barnstorming when he came on. I agree he looked like he's back to his best but if he can't reproduce this form regularly we are in huge trouble at 8. I thought heffernan had a great game and looks to have seriously bulked up over the summer. Apart from those glorious cross-field kicks I thought Carty was poor also. The backs looked like headless chickens at times and our lack of experience is glaring at the moment. We looked sharper when Miah came on but Mils can't get out there quick enough. Niyi did very well on his league debut, his lack of size is a concern but he might be the quickest player I've ever seen in our colours. I think the first thing he did was knock the ball on but after that he looked very dangerous. Plenty of positives to take but definite work needed if we're going to get anything in Edinburgh next week.

Firstly delighted with the win, a win in the sunshine is a rare thing in the Sportsground so savour it.

I cannot disagree with most of what has been said, the pack were fantastic, great scrum, good mauls. Dragons tried a few mauls which went nowhere.

I do not know what happened after we went 8-0 up but we had 20 minutes of sloppy play that nearly cost us dear. I thought we coped quite well when down to 14, we slowed the game and ran the clock down without much happening, and this was when dragons were at their strongest.

The decision, when we had restored out 8 point cushion and with 15 minutes on the clock, to kick for the line and not go for the 3 points was poor. As it turned out we had a bad line out and Dragoons cleared their lines, 11 points up with 15 minutes is a nice lead and one that allows for a mistake without having to hit the panic button.

Three minutes later Miah takes on a harder kick and misses it. I'm not sure who was captain at that stage, as Muldoon was not on the field, but that was some poor decision making and as a direct consequence the last 5 minutes were far tenser than they need to be.

Great Game, there is a lot of improvement required around the pitch. Looked a lot better in the second half when we carried the ball and attacked around the rucks.
The next 4 games will give us a good indication of where the team is at and if we have improved on last year.

First off, win is a win. we got 4points. pity results elsewhere didnt go our way. edinburgh winning and scarlets draw.
I was very nervous coming into this match, alot of people talking dragons up, there own fans expecting 5 points and our injury list. i agree with what most said re players, buckley great again, george doing well. porter is a lot better than murphy and POD. Id guess the reason KM got a run out was that Joe Schmidt was here, looked up at him few times, looked like he was very much enjoying himself.
Thought ref did okay, missed a crazy lineout from the dragons, not sure why touchjudge didnt help him out, only other problem i had was layden dropped a catch, ball went through his hands and between his legs. How is it a knock on if it went through his legs?
Oh ya Niyi had a great 1st match. Great play to set Mckeon up. He chased everything, connacht have been lacking that for few seasons.
he ran down the line a few times and kicked ahead but unlucky not to get anything out of it. He really lifted the crowd when he chased a kick in the second half in front of me in the clan stand and won a penalty.

Bring on Edinburgh i say! They were average vs Munster who had players out who are lucky to be earning a wage from playing.
if we up our game, we can win. Its not a game we should win but its a game we could win. ill call it 50/50.

on a side note, good to meet old faces from here, a few pints were had. also good meeting Ger C for the first time

the positives first, I thought our power up front was impressive, and looks like we are getting back to something like where we were 3/4 years ago with our Pack dominating teams. Still the same issues as last year out in the backline, defensively very poor I thought, we need to learn from Leinster where they re-allign and organise themselves defensively Phase after Phase, even when the first tackle is missed we have to close down the space. Leydan got off to an ok start but then steadily got worse as the game went on, he is not a backup to Henshaw.

The pack is near to full-strength whereas the backline currently is at it's weakest and we will see a lot of changes for the better as we head into November but for the next month we will have to keep it tight and let the forwards win us games.

Great to get the season off to a winning start but for all the positivity I can't help feel we let ourselves down in allowing the Dragons to leave with an LBP.

From following the game on the radio it sounded like we had most of the possession and should have pressed our advantage more. Another 33% kicking ratio is just not on. If Leader isn't making his kicks then we have another kicker in Porter, let him at it. Leaving 10 points out on the pitch might not have mattered much this time out, but we know from last year just how important it is in the long run.

Also, the home jersey is worse than I thought. Fine when front-on, but a navy shirt running at black shirts was impossible to follow on the highlights reel, can't imagine what it was like for 80 minutes.

swift4prez wrote: ...other problem i had was layden dropped a catch, ball went through his hands and between his legs. How is it a knock on if it went through his legs?...

That was right in front of us, Clan side of the pitch in the first half I think: Layden was moving forward, ball went down and forward then bounced back through his legs. Looked marginal but correct from where we were standing.

Layden had a mixed afternoon but he was the source of the break that led to the first try, standing up two Dragons before putting Heffernan through the gap with a lovely soft pass.

I presume Marmion and Henshaw will start next week with Layden moving to the bench and Leader going to fullback. Hopefully that'll sort a few of the defensive issues in the backline.

Regarding knock-ons I note Lyn Jones is whining about needing a TMO at all matches (that much is perfectly reasonable in fairness to the guy) because a knockon was given against them that wasn't, denying Dragons a try. Pure nonsense of course, their player dropped the ball forward onto the ground then reached forward to pick it up, but it's good to see the teams we need to finish behind us getting their excuses in often and early.

Sol_ie wrote:

swift4prez wrote: good to meet old faces from here, a few pints were had. also good meeting Ger C for the first time

*cough* Dail this Friday from 7 ish *cough cough*

you got to work better on your marketing skills Sol.

"This friday after 7, you can watch Swift4prez live on tv in the Dail bar, waving at the cameras when BBCalba are showing connacht fans celebrating a bonus point win vs edinburgh. Show up early to get good seats incase you fail to see him. Best entertainment in galway this friday night".

Good result on Saturday. People were talking up the Dragons before the game, mentioning their good pre-season.
I wasn't too confident when our team was named, but we had the beating of them all game long. There were at least 4 kicks from Connacht that took unlucky bounces, and on another day, would have led to more scores for us.
We seemed to relax each time we built up a lead, so that's something to work on. We need to keep going when we're on the front foot.

Very impressed with Porter, and thought Poolman was very hungry. Niyi looked good, but you cant judge a player on one game. I'm sure he can push on, and keep improving.

We need to build on this start, and attack Edinburgh, and treat it like the important match it is. If we're serious about targetting 6th, this is a game we have to be winning

Anything from Glasgow, Ulster, Leinster, Munster and the Ospreys should be a bonus. It's everyone else we need to take points from.

This is on Teilifís na Gaillimhe also

www.tg4.ie/en/programmes/rugby-on-tg4/home.html

for those who have trouble with Other Channels on the Sky Box...

Layden and Niyi were encouraging - obvo improvements needed and mistakes made by both but very happy with how they performed. Niyi needs bulk up a bit - but my gawd the lad has SERIOUS GAS! I'd start Leader FB and Robbie 13 vs Edinburgh.

Porter had decent run out - certainly not as frustrating as Murphy and POD anyhow - be handy squad player season ahead.

Roux played well but frustrated with him giving away a penalty when we were 10 metres from try line. The crowd went bananas but ref was dead right and perhaps Roux was lucky not get a yellow, McSharry had just gone in bin so prob didn't wanna send another straight away..

Heff had a smashing opening 20 - but then messed up own lineout and Dragons went up pitch and scored try in corner.. He had a great game in the loose has to be said.

Carty had two great cross field kicks for Poolman, but some off his tactical kicking was a tad suspect at times (you don't want to be kicking straight down the park into Lee Byrne).

Apart from that, scrum and lineout seemed solid enough. Dennis and Kearney had great game I thought.

George deserves special mention - was outstanding 2nd half and (despite Eoin taking try well) he should start next week vs Edinburgh..

In Heenan and Poolman we have lads that wouldn't look out of place in international side - they are vital to our season (although Faloon played well when he came on has be said)

Plus - my 6/1 "Poolman Top Connacht Try Scorer" off to daycent start (has to before Marimon gets back in the fecker)

Downsides:
8-0 up we need be more ruthless.
Missed penalities. The most frustrating one out of them was Miah's miss - everyone in the Clan knew he hadn't the legs to get it, was head scratching who ever gave the call for it? (possibly White, think Muldoon was off at that stage?)
Defence again at times worrying

wp_rathead wrote: Missed penalities. The most frustrating one out of them was Miah's miss - everyone in the Clan knew he hadn't the legs to get it, was head scratching who ever gave the call for it? (possibly White, think Muldoon was off at that stage?)

White was gone by that stage too. Heenan was acting captain and made the call. Seemed to overrule Nikora, who initially shaped to go for the corner.

Good to get the season started off with a win. It wasn't as comfortable as it could have been but there were some very good performances. You wouldn't expect perfection the first real day out but Connacht will have to work on a few things. The backline defense has to improve quickly. Hopefully Henshaw's return will aid in that department because in the second half it felt like when the Dragon's were at full strength they were causing Connacht enough problems. Not sure where the answer lies with the goal kicking accuracy but if Connacht are to keep the scoreboard ticking over and put opponents away it will need to be addressed. A win against Edinburgh would be good especially with tough games against Leinster and Glasgow to follow.