I wondered the exact same about Heff..

Just watched the match back here and have to say I'm really unimpressed with the standard of refereeing. Zebre players had hands on the ball at pretty much every single breakdown, the tacklers were holding the ball and man for ages to slow it down and there are loads of examples of players jackaling well after the ruck is already formed, the referee either let it go completely or just told them to release after they had already slowed the ball for ages. Butler actually mentioned it to the ref a couple of times but he was completely disinterested. The penalty against Connacht at half time was bizarre too, he blew it for "straight off feet" against Heff but both his knees were up off the ground and he was bound to the player who had been carrying the ball so I have absolutely no clue what the actual offense was, if anyone else could clear it up I'd be grateful.

Strange game. We could/should have built a good lead in the first half, but the longer the game went on with a single point margin, the more nervy we looked. Understandable considering the importance of the game for us I suppose. Losing Tom definitely didn't help, even though Daly was good when he came on. Copeland really helped steady the ship, and that turnover at the end was massive. He deserves to start next week on that alone. Having watched Cardiff against Munster, we need a big performance next week to contain them. I'm sure we'll rise to the occasion.

Newname wrote: I thought Fainga’a and Dillane got through a lot of work..

Don't think, it's a fact, and I add unseen work from Butler

53 tackles just the 3 of them, 42 carries

If you add Heffernan to form a quatuor, they runned 36% of Connacht balls!

Totally, thank you mister Copeland for the final turnover.
We need his physicality, I'd start him vs his ex-club next Saturday at 6

A depressingly bad performance where we win in the end is so much sweeter than the usual "brave" away losses where we dominate a half and die in the second.

Hopefully they will be much better next week. At least Bundee and Roux will be available. Hopefully Carty, who still looked injured tonight, will be given as much rest as possible beforehand too.

I've been a critic of Copeland but he had two major moments both at the end and earlier when his break deserved points but we pissed it away.

Jaysus!
It's a win Jim but not as we know it.
Missed Farrell going off, everyone nervous we lacked attacking flair in first half.
Thought Ref was kind to them in first half when they persisted in consistently fouling both in play in their 22 and in the scrum.
I thought Fainga’a and Dillane got through a lot of work.
I'll take an ugly win, need a huge improvement for next week.

Whew!
Chalk it up, walk it off and move on. Not a good performance but Zebre were well up for that and played well, particularly in defence.

Needs to be better next week but I'm sure we will be.

Incidentally thought the Daly offload to Robb was forward.

Got out of jail! great resilience on the final 3 minute-defensive phases

No way that was a forward pass

Just a warning in case anyone has been taken in by reports that this game is on TG4 (including in the Irish Times and on the Pro14's own website!). It's not. It's on Eir Sport 1 and FreeSports (which you can get for free if you have a satellite dish).

So who's the cover 10

O'Halloran? Daly? Blade? or Leader?

Odds are even...

Don't remember Leader ever stepping in there though I could be mistaken, he has covered centre before for sure.

Strangest 10 covers I can remember are Cooney, O'Halloran and Henshaw though I'm sure there have been others I can't remember off the top of my head.

If I remember correctly he did once. Could have been because we had no other fit 10.

Has leader ever played at 10? He's one of our best kickers, playing quite well recently.

Thank you Munster, the maths is getting easier now. We just need to win tomorrow and win next weekend. I don’t know though if we can beat that Cardiff team, they are so good. We can win tomorrow though, one step at a time.