Borders no.2 wrote: I'd 100% agree with O'Gara that Connacht have a lot of work to do in terms of consistency but this would carry more weight if he wasn't involved with a team who have blown hot and cold all season.

They are in the top14 semi final. Hows that for inconsistency?

According to Johnny Sexton since Rog took over defense at Racing things have really improved - is there nothing the radgester can't do???

I'd 100% agree with O'Gara that Connacht have a lot of work to do in terms of consistency but this would carry more weight if he wasn't involved with a team who have blown hot and cold all season.

Andrew Goodman heading back to NZ. So won't be coming here then. Thought he wouldn't after the Aki signing but now confirmed.

The Nelson club has also been heartened by the news that former Tasman Makos' skipper Andrew Goodman is expected to rejoin them in several weeks' time.

Goodman's Leinster contract finishes at the end of May and it's understood that it's unlikely to be renewed as Leinster are looking for a centre to replace Brian O'Driscoll, which would fill their quota of overseas players.

Goodman's received queries from Japan, Italy and France and is also scheduled to play for an invitation team at an international sevens tournament in Amsterdam on May 17 and 18."

ummm, I was also thinking one win got a certain team a lot of mileage. IMO the video was all about supply and demand. The supporters were eager for something that documented Connacht's first season in the HEC.

I'll give the devil his due about Connacht's level of consistency though it's not like us supporters haven't been crying out about it for years.

Ok, so we made a documentary, but the documentary makers didn't know at the time they were going to get footage of a horrendous losing streak.

This point seems lost on ROG.

Hey, it's not as if we turned it into a play.

Rog doesnt hold back , but that doesnt mean hes correct. He is right about our consistancy and results, bit of a smart arsed comment about the documentary being about winning one game, as we all know it was about our first year in the HC and not just one game. You see those who dine at the top table all the time forget what its like to be the one outside looking in.

I was at the IRUPA awards last week sitting at a mixed table, the general consensus was that Connacht are there to feed the Irish team (for Irish read Leinster and Munster teams) and that we really shouldn't be spending their money on trying to improve ourselves.

Have to admit I got a bit annoyed with one of them over his Connacht should know their place attitude.

General perception of us is that we are dispensable,small cog in a wheel, the signings by Lam are showing that we are growing and have potential and drive to us as well, I think that the IRFU also can see the benefit of 4 strong provinces.

At the end of the day we need to get points on the table and if we were to qualify in our own right it would make people really sit up and notice us.

I think ROG's comments on Connacht's consistency & results are absolutely true. I also agree with his comments on the documentary, even though it was good TV, I always felt it diminished us more than promoted us. It made us more the amateur minnows than the harder professionals we need to be.

I'm never comfortable with focus on player signings. Its important to have the right players, but Craig Clarke & Dan Parks has proven that marquee signings in particular are not a panacea - we still finished 10th. The real issue is the way we play and how we use those players which is what is disappointing this season; and I would really like to see a beefing up on the coaching side, especially defence - we were too easy to score against this year and no matter what players are involved, without a proper defensive system we cannot be successful.

I can't help thinking that Rob Kearney was right at the time of the now famous soul searching Ireland training camp meeting when he brought up the issue of the Munster players caring more about playing for Munster than they did for playing for Ireland. Is that the reason that some of these Munster guys who are down the pecking order don't want to move on anywhere else and instead are bench-warmers at best, in one way I admire their loyalty.

I know it's not exactly a fair comparison but say if Robbie Henshaw felt he wasn't getting anywhere with Connacht ina year or 2 and had to move on to further his career then I'd say good luck to him. That's what these Munster guys in their early to mid-twenties should be thinking.

Darragh507 wrote: but he yet again says we have a large no of imports etc. do they not realise the number of imports each province have

From a Munster POV everyone has tons of imports compared to them: about twice as many, actually, they're not (just) paranoid. We're just this week's target for ire cos we made a high profile signing. Wait til Leinster anounce their new Aussie lock!

his ending views on Connacht and consistency are very fair imho.

but he yet again says we have a large no of imports etc. do they not realise the number of imports each province have and also the number of flops that each province have had?

Craig Clarke was probably our first envious signing and that was only last year.

Before that it has been difficult to lure that type of quality here, but people like Andrew Farley and Paul Warwick were hardly flops.

"there's plenty of years left in him yet"

Bloody hell, doesn't he have an editor to correct all his grammatical mistakes?

Anyway, the fact that they tried to sign Mils and were denied (Kirchner at Leinster means no other NIQ full backs allowed in the other provinces) would explain Penny's toy throwing exercise.

Top marks to ROG for going straight for the "but can he do it on a cold rainy Tuesday night in Stoke?" cliché. It's almost as if he's never played in a sodden summer tour to New Zillund and thinks the place has been moved to Dubai.

I thought ROG's column was interesting in the examiner this week, he seems to imply Munster were told they could not offer Mills a contract.

...Johnny wouldn’t be selective about who he’d have a go at, he’s consistently looking to set standards.
Those types are gold dust in any set-up. Mils Muliaina will come to Connacht next season along with Bundee Aki. The Chiefs connection is strong. It appears Muliaina’s role could be as much mentoring as playing. Good news for the Robbie Henshaws of this world.
It’s not just what you learn on the Saturday, it’s as much about what you’re picking up from Monday to Friday. Rua Tipoki was my greatest influence in terms of attack game. His ability to talk on the run was unmatched. Commentating when I had the ball or were about to receive the ball, Rua was fascinating to play with. He made me look very good at times.
I’d have more appreciation, from a selfish point of view, of working with a back, but imports like John Langford and Jim Williams can leave a lasting legacy at a club. Ditto Doug Howlett. Every time there was a set-piece on the right hand side, I had a second opinion, a second thought process, a second pair of eyes every single time with Howlett. Incredible. Just toreaffirm what you’re thinking or maybe contradict what you’re thinking at a moment in time on the pitch. Silence in rugby is cruel, you don’t want silence, you want good communicators. That’s what separates very good players from good players.
Muliaina to Connacht caught me unawares. I didn’t put him and Connacht together. In New Zealand they’d deem 33 quite old, but I know myself that there’s plenty of years left in him yet. It’s a serious signing, and Pat Lam was a key ingredient in getting the deal over the line, but Munster might be feeling sore. It seems they were not allowed to sign him, which makes for a very interesting environment going forward.
Aki is an exciting centre, and looks a serious operator on dry ground. How he’ll fare at the Sportsground in December will be interesting. Then again how any player survives there in December is a good question.
Connacht have a serious amount of work to do in terms of their consistency. There’s a lot of good people in Galway but even allowing for their budget, they are nowhere near where they need to be in terms of performances and results, week in, week out. They did a documentary a season or two ago about winning one game, which staggered me. There’s plenty to do there and one or two foreign imports isn’t going to fundamentally alter things. How many foreign players have Connacht brought in? In truth , most of them have under-performed.

Surely a lot of what Rod Penny is complaining about is undermined by Munster signing a centre/stand-off from the Crusaders.

Okay, not the main centre/stand-off from the Crusaders but also not a young Irish centre/stand-off

Munster Rugby and the IRFU can today confirm that Canterbury and Crusaders player Tyler Bleyendaal will join the province on a 3 year contract from November 1st 2014.
Playing at out-half or first centre, the 23-year-old has made 19 Super Rugby appearances for the Crusaders and represented Canterbury in the ITM Cup on 39 occasions.

A former New Zealand U20s player the Christchurch born Bleyendaal captained the side to victory in the 2010 Junior World Championship in Argentina.

No mention of a Connacht coaching gig when I was chatting to gav recently. I would have imagined that either he was offered it and turned it down or he wasn't offered it ,meaning that his services weren't required.