Have to say its hard to win rugby matches when you're doing a lot to beat yourself

overstrander wrote: It seemed to me the Conor Gilsenan had quite a good game when he came on, how long is he here for?

Just till the end of the season, off to London Irish then I think

It seemed to me the Conor Gilsenan had quite a good game when he came on, how long is he here for?

Rob pennie said it all for me in his post-match interview decribing our match compared to munster's next match as 'Chalk and Cheese', a polite way of saying just what a lack of a challenge Connacht are these days, we are a push-over for the majority of teams. A very frustrating season which highlighted for me some of the major weaknesses in our game-plan and has been already said a lack of grunt, i was worried at the start of the season when Glasgow came to the Sportsground and grunted us off the field. We need some big men as it doesn't matter how good the team is at passing if you have'nt got the basic strength and power then we we're always going to suffer. We need to be looking to sign internationlas or ex-internationals as hard as that might be to attract that calibre of player to the West of Ireland.

The Outlaw wrote:
All of our problems stem from a lack of grunt up front. Plus we need a consistent 10.

Very disappointed over last night- same old problems all season. Basic individual errors coupled with a lack of power and grunt. That's it in a nutshell. Need a second row and a backrow and a 10

That's Exactly what I said in the last page!

Need a second row and a backrow and a 10

and a defence coach!

P.S. Was nice to see St. Joe down chatting with EE at halftime and pose for a few pics. He's a classy guy.

Borders no.2 wrote:

phatguerilla wrote:

columoc wrote:

phatguerilla wrote: Dara o'briain just dropped the development province tag again!!!

Yes, but we give that sentiment plenty of ammunition. Is that only two BP from all Inter-pros this year? Then, you can only expect comments like that. If he says it often enough it will stick, only one way of stopping it!

I think after the good run, everyone thought that was the year done.

Perhaps but he came up with this line before the game kicked off!

Maybe I'm missing something but I didn't think defense was *that* bad today. To my eyes we seem to be playing a drift defense system and that requires giving up some yards to the opposition before they run out of space/into touch. I don't think its a great system however for the most part it worked. The first try I put down to rustiness from Faloon - the second and third came from individual mistakes and opportunism, 9 times out of 10 McKeon's knock on in the opposition 22 doesn't become a try but it did today.

eta: without doubt the worst linesman performance I've seen this season, perhaps ever.

True but the good teams punish these mistakes almost every time. In fairness Connacht's first try was inches away from an intercept and turned into a fine try so I suppose its part of the risk you take but if you make these individual errors you need to scramble better. The try from Williams chip ahead was just too easy.

Connacht had two similar chances, one Poolman turned over on our line and we had the numbers but didn't make it count, then Munster killed the ball to allow them to re-organise.

The 2nd one Munster managed to scramble from a ball that bounced into Poolman's hand and he knocked it on. Ultimately its the ability to scramble and take these sort of openings that can make the difference.

As against Ulster last week, we didn't get the balance right, playing the way Connacht are turnovers can't happen too often or you are at 6's and 7's and by not committing enough men at the breakdown we are always leaving ourselves open for such turnovers.

All of our problems stem from a lack of grunt up front. Plus we need a consistent 10.

Very disappointed over last night- same old problems all season. Basic individual errors coupled with a lack of power and grunt. That's it in a nutshell. Need a second row and a backrow and a 10

Well said!

Very dissapointing result, our error count killed us. But it was the critical errors in attack that gifted Munster the win by half time. Game plan was obviously to chuck it about, but poor ball control and option taking in contact turned over ball too easily and with too many players commited to attacking roles....

Henshaw (intercepted pass apart), was the class back on the field. Leader, Healy and Poolman looked really hungry too. Pack was competitive enough without dominating, but look we had Kearney & Browne against the bones of 200 Irish Capped opponent's and they were nowhere near to being subdued.

It's a squad that's not too far away really, and I really believe that. The talent in the squad is probably as well spread as I've seen. We've got a bunch of talented kids that played their hearts out tonight and they'll learn from the last two weeks.

phatguerilla wrote:

columoc wrote:

phatguerilla wrote: Dara o'briain just dropped the development province tag again!!!

Yes, but we give that sentiment plenty of ammunition. Is that only two BP from all Inter-pros this year? Then, you can only expect comments like that. If he says it often enough it will stick, only one way of stopping it!

I think after the good run, everyone thought that was the year done.

Perhaps but he came up with this line before the game kicked off!

Maybe I'm missing something but I didn't think defense was *that* bad today. To my eyes we seem to be playing a drift defense system and that requires giving up some yards to the opposition before they run out of space/into touch. I don't think its a great system however for the most part it worked. The first try I put down to rustiness from Faloon - the second and third came from individual mistakes and opportunism, 9 times out of 10 McKeon's knock on in the opposition 22 doesn't become a try but it did today.

eta: without doubt the worst linesman performance I've seen this season, perhaps ever.

True but the good teams punish these mistakes almost every time. In fairness Connacht's first try was inches away from an intercept and turned into a fine try so I suppose its part of the risk you take but if you make these individual errors you need to scramble better. The try from Williams chip ahead was just too easy.

Connacht had two similar chances, one Poolman turned over on our line and we had the numbers but didn't make it count, then Munster killed the ball to allow them to re-organise.

The 2nd one Munster managed to scramble from a ball that bounced into Poolman's hand and he knocked it on. Ultimately its the ability to scramble and take these sort of openings that can make the difference.

As against Ulster last week, we didn't get the balance right, playing the way Connacht are turnovers can't happen too often or you are at 6's and 7's and by not committing enough men at the breakdown we are always leaving ourselves open for such turnovers.

columoc wrote:

phatguerilla wrote: Dara o'briain just dropped the development province tag again!!!

Yes, but we give that sentiment plenty of ammunition. Is that only two BP from all Inter-pros this year? Then, you can only expect comments like that. If he says it often enough it will stick, only one way of stopping it!

I think after the good run, everyone thought that was the year done.

Perhaps but he came up with this line before the game kicked off!

Maybe I'm missing something but I didn't think defense was *that* bad today. To my eyes we seem to be playing a drift defense system and that requires giving up some yards to the opposition before they run out of space/into touch. I don't think its a great system however for the most part it worked. The first try I put down to rustiness from Faloon - the second and third came from individual mistakes and opportunism, 9 times out of 10 McKeon's knock on in the opposition 22 doesn't become a try but it did today.

eta: without doubt the worst linesman performance I've seen this season, perhaps ever.

Like others our defence drives me crazy ! Just not good enough. The linesman was making me mad. So bad it was untrue.

Would also add that Eoin Griffin may be leaving but no way can he ever be accused of not giving everything until he goes. Thought he was great today

Defence is poor. Willie was not up to speed but at least he is back. McKeons handling was poor and would have prefer ed George in. Murphy well I don't think I even need to comment. All the starting back line were good and we gave lots of problems when we went wide. Back line is looking great for next season. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think we've scored the 4 highest amount of tries so far this season so far. Did anybody else hear Brent Pope mention a back row signing ??

It's not easy being Green... :sick: :sick:

There is no point in fooling ourselves, the mistakes we made there were shambolic. Munster didn't have to earn any try bar the 4th. We regained some pride in the 2nd half but Munster were always in cruise control. First try was unforgivable, balls up made at the restart and then a carbon copy of a try I have seen us concede on so many occasions from the exact same spot, just not good enough defensively.

2nd and 3rd tries were beyond bad and at that stage it was all over. Fightback was spirited but that's not much to hold on to.

32, 58 and 32 conceded in the last 3 games. While its good to see us trying to play some good rugby, defensively we are too easily exposed against any kind of decent team.

I thought the touch judge on the side of the Main Stand was a disgrace. Firstly for not having enough brains/eyes to realise Poolman was in touch for the disallowed try, Downey creaming Poolman off the ball, then the foot in touch before Munster scored off that turnover, then not flagging Varley when he pulled back Griffin leading the ref to blow up for a penalty. At least Griffin shouted at the Touch judge to cop on. I'm condoning screaming at the officials but he was diabolical. Thought Mitrea had a good game but was let down by the touch judges. The level of officiating this week has being worse than usual i.e Ulster vs Glasgow. I don't see why us, Zebre and some of the other smaller clubs don't band together and demand a centralised refereeing system with one person in charge.

As for us thats two weeks in a row were we have let try's being scored off basic set plays. It's just mentally turning off which isn't good enough against the top teams. We really need a defence coach next year.