Couple updates on the points above:

Rossie, nice summary, Duffy's here until end next season (summer 2014), afaik Browne is out of contract this summer but maybe I missed an extension?

As for Richie Gray taking a paycut, far from it, the premiership clubs in England are allowed one out-of-paycap signing who they can pay what they like, and guess who Sale's is?

Interesting to see good old Richie Gray mentioned above, apparently he left Glasgow for Sale (taking a big pay cut if reports are to be believed) as it would improve his Lions chances, not sure if that was the right move considering the difficulties Sale are currently having....Fantastic player though, he'd be a major coup but I'm not sure if he'd join us.

The suggestion that Pat Lam might bring a few lads in is interesting. 2nd row is a priority position for sure. I've heard Pat has a good personal relationship with a lot of the Blues players he coached. Be great to see somebody like Anthony Boric or Ali Williams come in. That seems like very wishful thinking but I don't think it's out of the question for some of these lads to come to Europe for a year or two, considering the world cup is three years away at this stage. We'd also need to look at the likes of Keven Mealamu at hooker, presuming Reyneke and Flavin are heading away we will need one more hooker. Mealamu is 33 or 34 at this stage and realistically might not get to play for NZ for too long more so he might fancy a change of scenery and he's experience would be invaluable.

Apparently Denis Fogarty is happy in France and is going to stay for another year by the looks of things. That's according to a french lad I met but things might have got messed up in translation.

Saw this on the Munster site about scrum-half Cathal Sheridan.

All underlining is mine.

Eloquent Sheridan content to play waiting game for big chance

By Alan Good
Wednesday, May 02, 2012

In the second of our interviews with the four Academy Player of the Year nominees ahead of this weekend’s Munster Rugby Awards in association with the Irish Examiner, Alan Good talks to Cathal Sheridan

Cathal Sheridan: Sligo man moves up to Munster senior squad next year.

There’s many a sportsman who is wonderfully expressive on the pitch but has little to say for themselves off it. But every so often you encounter a more cerebral player, able to match on-field talent with thoughtful eloquence when they put their actions into words.

Cathal Sheridan fits well into the latter category. When the 23-year-old Sligo-born Munster Academy scrum-half talks about having to wait for opportunities at the province, he takes you aback with the depth and honesty of his explanations.

"You know there’s a pecking order, and you’ve got to wait for your chance. That can be hard to take sometimes, but it’s the nature of the beast," he begins. "In every line of work you’ll have good and bad weeks. Sometimes you arrive in on Monday morning and you can see the light, other times you can’t see a way in. You prepare for it once you get into the system.

"You’re only human, you can’t help but get frustrated when you’re investing so much into it and you have to keep waiting. But if you get your chance and you’re not fully prepared, you’ve nobody to blame but yourself."

Having represented Connacht U19, college and family ties took Sheridan to Limerick, and his performances for UL Bohemian brought him to Munster’s attention. He spent more than 18 months in the sub-academy proving he had the attitude and work ethic to be a Munster player, and will move up to a development contract next year as a full-time member of the senior squad.

"Myself, Dave Kilcoyne and Sean Henry spent close to two years in the sub-academy breaking our balls, for want of a better term, because we knew this was what we want to do," he says.

"Talent is a word that’s thrown around a lot, especially with guys coming out of school. But talent and potential are just buzzwords. To make the step up to the professional game you need a lot more than that."

An admirer of Ruan Pienaar, Sheridan strives to be the type of scrum-half who, like the Springbok, can run a game. "That’s the sort of player I like to be, I want to be the boss, controlling things. It’s always come naturally to me, I’ve never had to force that. You have to tick all the technical boxes too, but I see myself as a marshal."

Given Irish international scrum-halves Peter Stringer and Tomás O’Leary have both sought pastures new in the past 12 months, Sheridan is aware of the battle he has on his hands to impress the incoming Munster coach.

"I keep mentioning the word ‘patient’ but you have to keep it in your head to keep yourself sane, moreso than it being a word you want to be mentioning. If you’re not patient, you’ll freak out, especially in a set-up like Munster or Leinster where there’s such competition.

"You can’t walk into the coach’s office and demand to play because there’s three other guys who could be doing the same thing. Next thing you’d have a squad where nobody will play for each other. This year I was hoping to get a couple more opportunities than I did, but you have to keep the head down and be ready when you get the chance."

Still going to be a tough ask for him just hoping he has something up his sleeve in the 2nd row department.

This lad seems to be available soon...

www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/Richie-G...20-detail/story.html

It really is all about 2nd rows but with the French clubs signing up seemingly all of the decent players the pickings are sparse. Not necessarily we would be in a position to sign most of them but they are creating a bit of a player drain in key positions across Europe which trickles down to us wherever we sit in the food-chain.

This is where I am hoping Mr Lam comes in and manages to attract a high caliber player for us. It's a fairly obvious point that all of the media "analysis" about the appointment has neglected to mention. It's hard to see EOS would have been able attract any NH players let alone guys with S15 experience or at least with potential from that side of the world.

I don't know if anyone seen Pat's nephew Ben in the 7's for NZ recently, only caught a bit of it but from what I did see he looked outstanding. It's not the best example obviously as they are related but with Lam at the helm I just feel our options in the transfer market will be a lot better than EOS could ever deliver.

Still going to be a tough ask for him just hoping he has something up his sleeve in the 2nd row department.

Marshall can play second row but he's primarily a 6. Think it shows you how few 2nd rows Leinster have on their books at the moment. Talking to a friend of mine he siad Leinster see him as a backrower but he can do a job at second row if needs be. He's 6'5 so I think they consider him to ''small'' for the second row which sounds weird saying a 6'5 individual is to small. I for one would happily take him.

connachtexile wrote:

What's the story with Jack McGrath?

I say you can forget about McGrath. Heinke Van der Merve is meant to be moving on at the end of this season with Stade Francis the main suitor so McGrath will be promoted to 2nd choice LH behind Healy if that happens.

All you guys in relation to Jordi Murphy were forgetting about Dominic Ryan. He's back from injury after a long lay off and has gotten his fitness back playing in the B&I cup. I can't see Ruddock, Murphy and Ryan all hanging around one of them will go and I think Murphy is the catch of the bunch.

Ironically Auva'a is rumoured to be getting a new contract as he's not on much and happy to be a squad player.

Ben Marshall can play second row but he's more a back row forward in a Kevin McLaughlin sense. A guy who can play 2nd row but its not his best position.

Can't see Reid moving to be honest and his best position imo is 12.

P.S. Great to have Swifty signed for another year.

Eh not moi, i agree although any of them would be fantastic, if van der merve is off then mcgrath is going nowhere

Sorry not quite as excited as the rest about swift or even henry, no room for emotion in top tier of professional sport but congrats to the fella good servant

Marshell should stay in the 2nd row not a backrower imho

i thought Marshall and Flanagan were their B+I 2nd row partnership this season?

What's the story with Jack McGrath?

I say you can forget about McGrath. Heinke Van der Merve is meant to be moving on at the end of this season with Stade Francis the main suitor so McGrath will be promoted to 2nd choice LH behind Healy if that happens.

All you guys in relation to Jordi Murphy were forgetting about Dominic Ryan. He's back from injury after a long lay off and has gotten his fitness back playing in the B&I cup. I can't see Ruddock, Murphy and Ryan all hanging around one of them will go and I think Murphy is the catch of the bunch.

Ironically Auva'a is rumoured to be getting a new contract as he's not on much and happy to be a squad player.

Ben Marshall can play second row but he's more a back row forward in a Kevin McLaughlin sense. A guy who can play 2nd row but its not his best position.

Can't see Reid moving to be honest and his best position imo is 12.

P.S. Great to have Swifty signed for another year.

congrats to swifty on his new contract. where does that leave connacht?

1. Buckley and wilkinson signed. Cooney is out of dev contract and Bealham going into yr 2 acadamy.
2. JHW and Henry signed. Flavin and reynecke out of contract and O Byrne going into yr 3 acadamy.
3. White and Lougney signed. Rodney out of contract. Reilly and Dever going into yr 2 acadamy.
4. Swift signed. Nolan long term injured and out of contract. qualter out of acadamy.
5. Kearney signed. Gannon out of contract. Dillane and gardiner yr 2 acadamy.
6. Muldoon and Browne signed. anderson out of contract. Heffernan yr 3 acadamy.
7. Faloon signed. JOC? and Grace out of contract. coneely out of acadamy.
8. Naoupu and Mckeon signed.
9. Marmion and o donohue signed. Moore and Murphy out of contract. Walshe yr 2 acadamy.
10. Parks signed. Jarvis and Nikora out of contract. Carty yr3 acadamy.
11/14. TOH, Poolman, Carr signed. Mccrea, healy, loxton,fetu out of contract. Finn yr3, mcauley,leader2 yr2.
12. Mcsharry, tonetti signed. Fafita out of contract.leader yr 3 acadamy.
13. Griffin signed. Murphy out of contract.gormley yr2 acadamy.
15. Henshaw signed. not sure about Duffy. leydon yr 3 acadamy.

Afaik thats everyone currently on books. 2nd row is the area where we are really short and min 2 decent signings are required here. Flavin on a yr deal wud get team over the hump for a yr as 3rd choice cooney on small coin would cover 3rd choice LH. Ideally we want Nikora and Fetu to stay. id keep Murphy, healy and Fafita too on small money for B+I. Qualter and Coneely to Development contract and see how they go in B+I again.
Its all about 2nd row.

+ 1

Great to see Swifty sticking around, although it's no suprise.

If any of the younger lads are looking for an example in terms of attitude and application then they need look no further than the big man!!!

Love the way it seems like Swifty has an agreement that his age will strictly not be expressed in any future press releases from the club, although it would seem that he has concede that they can put his year of birth in there. Brilliant news that he has resigned. Keep em coming please!

Devils own wrote:

I'd take Jack McGrath and Jordi Murphy without a shadow of a doubt. Leinster can keep Leo A'avua too bloody lazy and unfit

Don't think Leinster will let go Jordi,too much potential, but given all their options, do they still have a place for Jennings?

So that was Fionn on Monday
Henry on Tuesday
Swifty today

What's going to happen tomorrow and Friday?
Fets renewing? McSharry signing an extension?

Stalwart Swift signs for another year



Connacht Rugby is delighted to announce that veteran lock Michael Swift has signed a contract extension keeping him at the club for at least another season.

The longest serving player for Connacht has chalked up a record 157 league appearances and has also played 70 games in the Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge during his 14 seasons with Connacht.

Born in London in 1977, "Swifty" played for Richmond as flanker before spending a season at Leeds Tykes. He joined Connacht in 2000 and earned his first cap for the province against Ulster that year whilst also playing for Galwegians RFC in the All Ireland League.

He earned his 100th cap for Connacht against Montpellier in December 2006, becoming the 5th Connacht player to do so and in 2009 he earned his 100th league cap against the Cardiff Blues.

In 2010 Michael Swift was honoured with the Galway Bay FM Sports Award for Rugby, the same year he scored one of Connacht Rugby's most memorable tries in their 27-13 victory over Leinster in the Sportsground.


He became the first player in Connacht’s history to reach the 200th cap milestone when he lined out against Edinburgh in September 2011.

The 6’5”, 120kg second row remains a regular fixture, having played in 12 of Connacht´s RaboDirect Pro12 games this season as well as four Heineken Cup games, and shows no sign of slowing down.

He said: “I'm delighted to have signed for another year with Connacht Rugby. It's an exciting time to be involved with the province and in a squad that is shaping up nicely for next season. I’ve been here a long time now but every season, every game, it’s still so exciting to me and I feel I have a lot more to give.”

When Swift was appointed ‘Club Captain’ for the current season, Head Coach Eric Elwood spoke about the loyalty and commitment of his former teammate, saying:

“Swifty is a fantastic ambassador for the club. He plays 100% on and off the field. He acts as a great support to the management, the players and the sponsors. And he is an incredible role model for the younger players coming up through the ranks. There is a lot of respect there for Swifty, both within the club and from the supporters and wider community.”

Michael Swift

DOB: 18th October 1977

Birthplace: Hammersmith, England

Height: 1.96m (6’5”)

Weight: 120 kg (18 st 12 lb)

Position: Lock

Club Captain 2012/13

In numbers:

14 seasons with Connacht

234 Connacht caps

157 league appearances

70 ERC appearances

Played 16 games this season (out of 19)