AIL news :

bad
Delahunt and Lowndes only played on the bench
Saba injured since mid-Sept

good
O'Donnell, Romaine and Poolman started
Kindregan scored a try and might be a medical joker for 5/6 if Marshall can't come back

Our main issues for both high-standard games coming next are :

1) Who's in for Buckley? I'm in favour of Bealham LH, Carey TH, Saba on the bench with Loughney
2) Who's in for McKeon? I'm in favour of Dillane moved to 6, as expected against Scarlets, and Brownie back as n 5. Would help the lineout to function too
3) Take the risk of Conor Cannon introduced immediately on the bench for Stevenson, and J.Cooney for Blade? I think we should
4) Who's in for Healy? Not worried here, with Lli, Poolman and Kelleher all available.. Own preference for Danie, this backline needs a bit of experience.
5) How close to return are SOB II.0 and Romaine? Could add a bit of competition for the bench.

Source or hypothesis?

Boshoff hasn't even been named on the bench for the lions crunch match tomorrow, he may be with us next week but will probably need a couple of weeks acclimatisation

Moycullen7 wrote: Bad rumour going around about Bundi and Dillane going to Munster next year anyone else hear anything???

Lots of giving out (over the journalism, more than anything) over here www.connachtclan.com/clan-forum/2-connac...edia?start=512#48497

Bad rumour going around about Bundi and Dillane going to Munster next year anyone else hear anything???

RoadRunnerR1 wrote: Don't know for sure if this is 100% correct but it's as correct as I could make it given the information I was able to gather. Maybe you can amend it if you have any better info than me. For me the most worrying thing about this is not such much the high injury rate which is part and parcel of professional rugby but rather the high number of front line players whose contracts run out at the end of the current season including Pat Lam. It's taken years for Connacht to rise up from perennial bottom feeders to top of the mountain and one of the main catch phrases coming out last season was sustainability going forward. We can already see how difficult this season is going to be but we know they're good enough to put it right on field. But if we loose Pat Lam and any significant number of these top players then the future looks very bleak once again. Henshaw may have been just one player but we cannot sustain another mass exodus and hope to survive and build again. Given the huge financial shortfall facing the IRFU from France and England and the potential difficulty in keeping players in Ireland, with even the best will in the world are they going to buckle and allow the best Irish players drift away to Leinster, Munster & Ulster again. Irish Independent is reporting today that Munster are trying to sign Dillane & Aki for next season despite their huge debt. If this is true it will only be the start.

Player Position Contracted To Availability[/b]
Pat Lam Manager End of 2016/17 Extremely Capable

Pat signed a contract extension until summer 2018 in January. All other player contract details can be found here: www.connachtclan.com/stats/squad-2016-2017

I wouldn't worry about what the Independent writes about Connacht given their history in that department. Hopefully once we get back to winning ways ridiculous articles like today's will be harder to get into print...

Darragh wrote: Very sad news for White and his family. Wonder of he has plans to stick around or go home?

So we have lost White, Henshaw, McGinty (3 test players) and Muldowney. We definitely haven't replaced with like for like have we.

Regarding that piece of waffle written re Aki, it is a fine example of how awful 'journalism' and media sites have gone.

Sports journalism has been replaced with fanboy drivel. And not just this idiot, but many writing for the Irish Times and Independent too.

We lost the three best players in their position, but there's still a lot of quality in our squad.
It's an under-cooked squad and will remain so until after the Autumn International break when all teams have a break from games too and lose their extra sharpness.
Notwithstanding my serious concern over the No.10 options, from late Nov/Dec we should see the squad start to hit their straps (a few more injure players returning will aid that too).

Given we surprised everyone by winning the Pro12 last season, it would have been a major shock if other teams were not actually making doe eyes at a lot of our players.
But it's up to Management and the players to work out the fine details, and no amount of press inches will alter that...

Don't know for sure if this is 100% correct but it's as correct as I could make it given the information I was able to gather. Maybe you can amend it if you have any better info than me. For me the most worrying thing about this is not such much the high injury rate which is part and parcel of professional rugby but rather the high number of front line players whose contracts run out at the end of the current season including Pat Lam. It's taken years for Connacht to rise up from perennial bottom feeders to top of the mountain and one of the main catch phrases coming out last season was sustainability going forward. We can already see how difficult this season is going to be but we know they're good enough to put it right on field. But if we loose Pat Lam and any significant number of these top players then the future looks very bleak once again. Henshaw may have been just one player but we cannot sustain another mass exodus and hope to survive and build again. Given the huge financial shortfall facing the IRFU from France and England and the potential difficulty in keeping players in Ireland, with even the best will in the world are they going to buckle and allow the best Irish players drift away to Leinster, Munster & Ulster again. Irish Independent is reporting today that Munster are trying to sign Dillane & Aki for next season despite their huge debt. If this is true it will only be the start.

Player Position Contracted To Availability[/b]
Pat Lam Manager End of 2016/17 Extremely Capable
Denis Buckley Loosehead End of 2016/17 Fit
Ronan Loughney Loosehead End of 2016/17 Fit
Ivan Soroka Loosehead End of 2016/17 (Injured) Unknown
Tom McCarthey Hooker/Loosehead End of 2016/17 Fit
Dave Heffernan Hooker End of 2017/18 Fit
Shane Delahunt Hooker End of 2016/17 Fit
Finlay Bealham Tighthead/Loosehead End of 2018/19 Fit
JP Cooney Tighthead End of 2016/17 Fit
Conor Carey Tighthead End of 2017/18 Fit
Dominic Robertson McCoy Tighthead End of 2017/18 (Injured) EarlyNov.
Andrew Browne Lock/Openside End of 2017/18 (Injured) Nov.
Ben Marshall Lock/Openside End of 2017/18 (Injured)
Ultan Dillane Lock/Openside End of 2016/17 Fit
Danny Qualter Lock/Openside End of 2016/17 Fit
Quinn Roux Lock End of 2016/17 Fit
James Cannon Lock End of 2016/17 Fit
Lewis Stevenson Lock End of 2016/17 Fit
Sean O'Brien Blindside/Lock End of 2016/17 (Injured) EarlyOct.
Eoin McKeon Blindside/Openside End of 2016/17 Fit
Rory Moloney Blindside End of 2016/17 Fit
Jake Heenan Openside End of 2017/18 Fit
Nepia Fox-Matamua Openside End of 2016/17 (Injured) Late Nov.
James Connolly Openside End of 2016/17 Fit
Eoghan Masterson No.8/Blindside End of 2016/17 (Injured) December
John Muldoon No.8/Blindside End of 2016/17 Fit
Kieran Marmion Scrum Half End of 2017/18 Fit
John Cooney Scrum Half End of 2016/17 (Injured) Oct.
Caolin Blade Scrum Half End of 2016/17 Fit
Marnitz Boshoff Out-Half End of 2017/18 Arrives Nov.
Jack Carty Out-Half End of 2016/17 Fit
Shane O'Leary Outhalf/Centre End of 2016/17 Fit
Bundee Aki Centre End of 2016/17 Fit
Peter Robb Centre End of 2016/17 Fit
Craig Ronaldson Centre/Outhalf End of 2017/18 (Injured) Early Oct.
Rory Parata Centre/Wing End of 2016/17 (Injured) Nov.
Danie Poolman Centre/Wing End of 2016/17 Fit
Stacy Ili Wing/Centre/Fullback End of 2016/17 Fit
Eoin Griffin Centre End of 2017/18 Fit
Matt Healy Wing End of 2017/18 Fit
Cian Kelleher Wing/Centre/Fullback End of 2017/18 Fit
Niyi Adeolokun Wing End of 2018/19 Fit
Darragh Leader Fullback/Wing End of 2016/17 (Injured) Feb.
Tiernan O'Halloran Fulback/Wing End of 2017/18 Fit
Josh Rowland Fullback/Wing End of 2017/18 Fit

Borders no.2 wrote: Sad news about Nathan White but it seemed to be flagged from a long way off and it's good he's put his health first. It's another big blow to us. We've lost 2 of our tight-heads from last season who had huge experience. Finlay has stepped up well but its a big ask of the other lads to fill the void.

Nathan did a solid job for us since he arrived. He had his share of injuries unfortunately but he seems to have brought a lot to the group in terms of his leadership qualities too. For me his signing along with Dan Parks was the first indicator that we were serious about improving our status and that Eric wasn't just going to just pick up whoever was available from the AIL or some cheap Southern Hemisphere signing.

You'd have hoped the days of our squad being gutted were over but between transfers, departures and retirements we've lost a lot of quality and experience. Some of the lads their time was probably up but add up all the appearances these lads have for Connacht and I'd guess its in the high hundreds. Huge experience to lose.
Jason Harris Wright
Nathan White
Rodney Ah You
Aly Muldowney
George Naoupu
AJ McGinty
Dave McSharry
Robbie Henshaw
Fionn Carr

Yep that list is quite telling isn't it.

I hope Willie Ruane and the rest of the organisation are hard at work as we are starting to see (for our team) how ruthless professional sports really is. It's a shark infested survival of the ruthless and fittest organisations.

Sad news about Nathan White but it seemed to be flagged from a long way off and it's good he's put his health first. It's another big blow to us. We've lost 2 of our tight-heads from last season who had huge experience. Finlay has stepped up well but its a big ask of the other lads to fill the void.

Nathan did a solid job for us since he arrived. He had his share of injuries unfortunately but he seems to have brought a lot to the group in terms of his leadership qualities too. For me his signing along with Dan Parks was the first indicator that we were serious about improving our status and that Eric wasn't just going to just pick up whoever was available from the AIL or some cheap Southern Hemisphere signing.

You'd have hoped the days of our squad being gutted were over but between transfers, departures and retirements we've lost a lot of quality and experience. Some of the lads their time was probably up but add up all the appearances these lads have for Connacht and I'd guess its in the high hundreds. Huge experience to lose.
Jason Harris Wright
Nathan White
Rodney Ah You
Aly Muldowney
George Naoupu
AJ McGinty
Dave McSharry
Robbie Henshaw
Fionn Carr

Ahh I don't really see him saying anything that "talks Connacht down" - he was just asked about Nathan and he spoke fondly of him IMO :

"It's a big loss to the game, and to Connacht as well", Henshaw revealed. "Nathan's a great friend of mine. It was a pleasure to play with him for the last four years. As a young kid coming into Connacht, he was one of the key leaders in Eric Elwood's time. He showed us the way as kids. For player welfare, your health is first. He's looking after himself by taking the right steps."
"He was just a calm character. When he spoke, everyone listened. When someone needed to talk up, it was him. As a player, who has been around for so long, and has experience on his side, he made a massive difference for us in drive and standards."
"He has always driven it off the field. He was always in the leadership groups every year. He'd drive the standards of the whole set-up. It's a massive loss."

I'm as bitter towards Brand Ambassador Robbie Henshaw as anyone on here, but that's pretty harmless in fairness.

Not sure if Henshaw actively enjoys talking Connacht down or if the mejia just like to frame everything he says that ways in order to generate [strike]controversy[/strike] clicks (certainly this seems to be the latter).

www.newstalk.com/Rob-Henshaw:-Nathan-Whi...ve-loss-for-Connacht

Either way there's a time to dún do chlab...

Very sad news for White and his family. Wonder of he has plans to stick around or go home?

So we have lost White, Henshaw, McGinty (3 test players) and Muldowney. We definitely haven't replaced with like for like have we.

Regarding that piece of waffle written re Aki, it is a fine example of how awful 'journalism' and media sites have gone.

Sports journalism has been replaced with fanboy drivel. And not just this idiot, but many writing for the Irish Times and Independent too.

Terrible news on Nathan White. I hope he has no lasting effects from a tough rugby career.

p.s. Any news on Aki's contract renewal?