Babbling 'brook

by riocard911 Ulster land the services of double Super Rugby winning coach to replace Dan McFarland – report https://www.planetrugby.com/news/ulster ... and-report There's a guy over on boards swearing it's not happening. We will have to see. Even with all the injuries pretty strong team from Ulste...

by Galicia celt But in the past they were filling the squad with cheaper young players like Griffen who had to retire or mcsharry who had to retire. Now Connacht can wait and leave guys in the academy and slowly integrate them. Henshaw himself said he believes his injury record is due to playing so...

Supposedly a lot of the Connacht contracts are less this year due to the Stadium work been done. When put into that context losing a player like Farrell makes more sense at least from an economic perspective.

by Colmodon » I often think about that old DM post about squad bloat - a really excellent piece. I think at least part of the reason why people get the impression that Leinster's budget is so big is because all of their players get game time and have roles throughout the season whereas munster, Uls...

by Theleafysuburb

Brownlee not on the move anytime soon.

Glad to hear it. Rate him very highly and he looks to be the real deal from the little I've seen.

Read an interview with Wilkins on RTE where he says that McDonald was injured. With Moore's loan finished that literally means he had no choice but to play Devine. Kudo's to Devine for doing so well but it shows a lack of foresight on Wilkin's part that he's only playing him now. That he's actively ...

by naraic » April 21st, 2024, 11:13 am sunshiner1 How is Marmion doing there as a matter of interest? Firmly second choice. 4 starts and 17 bench appearances. Surprised at that. Always rated him highly and thought he would have been fantastic in Farrell's system as he's the closest scrumhalf to JGP...

How is Marmion doing there as a matter of interest?

by naraic

Matthew Devine putting in a bit of a masterclass in his first start for Connacht.

I think he has to have elevated himself to second choice 9 now.

Delighted for him especially as Blade's form has dropped off recently. Hope it leads to more gametime for him.

by StopTheLights sunshiner1 I'd like to see Gibbons been given a chance by Connacht maybe on a short term deal to see if they can get the best out of him if the rumours are true that Munster are cutting him. Knox to could probably be got for little money at this stage. Agreed on Gibbons, wasn’t tha...

Stronger team than I thought. Feel positive for the game. Great to have Ngatai back coming into the business end of the season too.

Hot Take: If the line-out goes bad again during the Autumn Series we ditch this O'Connell chap and hire Donnacha Ryan away from LAR. Thereby weakening LAR and strengthening Ireland simultaneously. Thoughts?

I'd like to see Gibbons been given a chance by Connacht maybe on a short term deal to see if they can get the best out of him if the rumours are true that Munster are cutting him. Knox to could probably be got for little money at this stage.

by scentofgunpowder Hawkshaw at 13 strikes me more as the coaching staff identifying a logjam at 12 and trying to find a way to get him into the team, rather than assessing his physical and technical attributes and coming to the conclusion that outside centre is the position that best utilises them...

by berliner And not exactly lit up the world either. I think they are trying to shoehorn him into a position that isn't his best one. Don't know why they don't give him a go at ten. Couldn't do worse than Carty or Hanrahan. Agreed. I thought he was great at 12 last year, but he hasn't been effectiv...

by ronk

Hawkshaw has 8 starts at 13 this season.

And not exactly lit up the world either. I think they are trying to shoehorn him into a position that isn't his best one. Don't know why they don't give him a go at ten. Couldn't do worse than Carty or Hanrahan.

by Colmodon Agree with this. Jackman was talking about the potential Jordie signing on the 42 and said he thought other provinces need more budget. In principle I don't really disagree, but I just don't really understand what they would do with that budget? What does another million get for Ulster ...

by dougie the flanker

Why on earth Connacht keep letting ball bounce is beyond me.

Very much this. It's rugby 101. Shockingly bad from Connacht.

I am ambivalent about the whole thing. Probably cause I f**king hate New Zealand.That said if he's wearing blue he's got my support. Hope he does well with us.

by bluemagic2 I haven’t watched it back but I thought AAA’s penalties were very harsh. It felt like Karl Dickson was trying to balance things out at the point and were penalising Leinster off the park. Incidentally I thought the same for Milnes scrummaging. He didn’t really get a fair go as Dickson...