Ill go with ya on that 1

Ah lads, any chance we can do a whip around and keep Henry for another year.
Was just wishing the best on Twitter, and he comes across as a nice lad, and seems disappointed to be leaving.

If I buy one less pack of cigarettes a week, that's €473.20 I'm willing to pay
Who's with me

I imagine Henry was on good money. Probably couldnt justify renewing his contract

Best of luck to them all. Feel most for Tuohy

Best of luck ray, we will be a long time waiting for someone to match your commitment.

Oh god no!!!!

Just after thinking this obviously means Rodney will be staying. :sick: :ohmy:

Lets just hope Nathan White and Ronan Loughney stay fit.

a bit of a clear out i see

Best of luck to all the lads who are leaving, Ray in particular who was an quality player, inspirational and always gave 100%. Fans favourite for a reason.

Sad to see Brian Tuohys last game for us ended so badly, had a 2 year deal initially but obviously the injury must have set him back enough to not justify him being here a 2nd year.

I know Fa'aili is one a lot of people would like to have seen stay, hopefully we have a replacement lined up.

Hopefully the other lads can secure contracts elsewhere.

I guess all this means Matthew Jarvis, Eoghan Grace and Frank Murphy will be here next season!

Ray is some hero. Deserves all the applause and more that he will rightfully receive from the Connacht faithful.

on the other players going out, it was expected that Henry might be going, as Dermot Murphy is the 3rd choice hooker, we might have someone lined up to replace him (or it could equally be a development player making the jump up to senior level). Its tough on Brian Touhy, wasn't really rated and was then our top try scorer in Fionn Carrs last season, sad to see that his leg break hampered his last season with us. Hardly getting Luke Fitz, a return of Fionn Carr or a similar replacement on the wing.

Note: This is just wishful thinking on my part, don't want to be the cause of getting anyones hopes up

On the Connacht site now:

Legendary flanker Ofisa to depart from Connacht at the end of the season

Connacht Rugby can confirm the Samoan number seven will not feature for the province next season. 31 year old Ray has been an integral part of the Connacht set-up since he joined in 2007 from North Otago in New Zealand. An aggressive, dynamic ball-carrier Ray is known throughout the RaboDirect PRO12 as one of the hardest hitting tacklers in the game and though not the biggest member of the back-row at 1.84m and 95kg he regularly punches well above his weight.

A fans favourite and part of the fabric that has moulded the current Connacht team Ray earned his 100th cap for Connacht against Treviso earlier this season. He has been part of some of the biggest matches in the clubs history including the Heineken Cup match against Toulouse and South Africa’s visit in 2007. He was unfortunate to miss Connacht’s clash against his native Samoa when they arrived in the Sportsground in 2010 and he will be fondly remembered by fans as one of the most unassuming gentlemen off the field and one of the clubs greatest competitors on it.

Speaking about Ray’s departure Head Coach Eric Elwood said: “I’d like to pay tribute to the hard work, commitment and respect that Ray has shown throughout his six years here at Connacht. He is one of the quietest men in the squad but once he crosses the whitewash he can turn a match in a flash with a moment of brilliance. In his time here he has really bought into the ethos of everything we are about and I know Ray considers Connacht a family away from home. It’s a credit to the man and his strength of character that even now he is finishing the season on a high and on behalf of myself, the management, the players and all our supporters I would like to wish Ray every success for the future.

The following five players have not been offered contracts for the 2012/13 season:

Henry Fa’afili, Dermot Murphy, Dylan Rogers, Jamie Stephens, Brian Tuohy.

Team Manager Tim Allnutt said: “Following discussions with Head Coach Eric Elwood and his coaching team it was decided that these players would not be offered contracts for next season. On behalf of all at Connacht Rugby I would like to wish them all the very best of luck in their future careers and thank them for their professionalism and commitment whilst they were at the club.”

They must have gotten p****d off about everybody goin on about it too.
Any more word on the Richie Rees thing?
Could still do with a centre if Henry is leaving.

Connacht just tweeted "Connacht Rugby would like to confirm that we are NOT in any talks with Gavin Henson."

Hahaha, excellent

Faloon just came on for Ferris who l;ooks like he injured the same knee he had the problems with last year.
Might bee a good chance for him to get some game time over the next few games.

Debated whether to put this up because it might only help to give it more life, but once I saw the earlier exchange about Fitzgerald my curiosity got the better of me and I figured it would others. So I'm making it easier to see what was written in wikipedia.

luke has agreed to sign for connacht rugby on a four year deal after he was refused the 280k contract from the irfu. eric elwoods plan is to play him in the centre to replace henry fa who is leaving to go back to england.

First red flag for me is that it's a four year deal. Second, if he's a problem with the IRFU he'd go to France rather than Connacht. Finally, throwing in Fa'afili seemed a stretch, maybe if they said he was returning to rugby league it would have been more believable*. Think someone was starting their April fools jokes early.

*Just after seeing Edward Eagles post about Henry. Wondering if there is something to that or is it a result of this wikipedia entry and the resulting twitter activity.

With White coming over we should see Rollox playing LH a bit more often.

ummm, wrote: Pure speculation on my part but... I can't help but think he'll be kept on for next year.

That's how I read it too. That leaves us with 4 THs which we'll need with all the A games. We're very short at loosehead though, only Wilkinson and Buckley it seems thus far.