I've gone back and forth on the idea of targeting games. In the past with Connacht's limited resources it made a certain amount of sense to target games, but in the end the second and third strings couldn't cut it and shipping heavy defeats had a devastating effect on morale. I'm not sold that it still doesn't have some merit, but until Connacht are able to sit a handful of first choice players and still be competitive it's a non-starter.

I get your meaning and I'm not talking about the wholesale 15 changes of the Bradley era. What I'm talking about is maybe resting number 5/6 guys who we can bring in meaningful replacements for say if we have a game in Wales but a more handy one in the sportsground were maybe we can get a bonus point.

I've gone back and forth on the idea of targeting games. In the past with Connacht's limited resources it made a certain amount of sense to target games, but in the end the second and third strings couldn't cut it and shipping heavy defeats had a devastating effect on morale. I'm not sold that it still doesn't have some merit, but until Connacht are able to sit a handful of first choice players and still be competitive it's a non-starter.

connachtexile wrote: I think it shows that we need to rethink our strategy slightly and target games like Zebre the way we do the other provinces. Their was some manager in England a few seasons ago who purposely went out and targeted the teams underneath them and it led to them moving up the table by a couple of places. Something we should think about.

Targeting games is grand once you win the games which you target, sending out 2nd string teams to get slaughtered does nothing for team moral or confidence.

One clip I remembered seeing a few years back was this interview with Jonny Wilkinson, and the one bit which I think is highly relevant to people looking at targeting games is right after the 5:55 minute mark. I remember bringing this up on the old forum when Bradley was in charge. Although not in the same context, it is what is does for the mindset, an excellent example of ambition.

I think it shows that we need to rethink our strategy slightly and target games like Zebre the way we do the other provinces. Their was some manager in England a few seasons ago who purposely went out and targeted the teams underneath them and it led to them moving up the table by a couple of places. Something we should think about.

I know what you are saying Swift but if we can't hope to record 4 wins against Zebre (3 and a bp an absolute minimum) we can't have any ambitions to improve this season. Some of our worst performances of the last two seasons came against Aironi and Treviso at home last season we beat ourselves.

They are going to be a tough outfit on their day but the squad need to be professional enough to have the right attitude for that game. Same 4 points you get for a win against these lads as an interpro or say beating Harlequins/Biarritz.

Looking forward to the fixtures being released for both competitions in the next few weeks, give a few concrete dates to look forward too.

The end table from 2011/12. aironi's last season

1 Leinster Rugby 81
2 Ospreys 71
3 Munster Rugby 67
4 Glasgow 65
5 Scarlets 62
6 Ulster Rugby 56
7 Cardiff Blues 50
8 Connacht Rugby 37
9 Dragons 36
10 Treviso 36
11 Edinburgh 32
12 Aironi 22

WITHOUT THE TEAMS FROM ITALY

Leinster Rugby 63 (9VS AIRONI + 9VS TREVISO)=18
2 Ospreys 54 (8VS AIRONI + 9VS TREVISO)=17
3 Munster Rugby 52 (5VS AIRONI + 10VS TREVISO)=15
4 Glasgow 49 (8VS AIRONI + 8VS TREVISO)=16
5 Scarlets 49 (8VS AIRONI + 5VS TREVISO)=13
6 Ulster Rugby 43 (9VS AIRONI + 4VS TREVISO)=13
7 Cardiff Blues 31 (10VS AIRONI + 9VS TREVISO)=19
8 Connacht Rugby 28 (4VS AIRONI + 5VS TREVISO)=9
9 Dragons 27 (8VS AIRONI + 1VS TREVISO)=9
10 Edinburgh 17 (6VS AIRONI + 9 VS TREVISO)=15

FROM THIS we are two years in a row both of the pile with dragons at picking points of aironi and treviso. the worse thing about the new season is half the zebre squad are former aironi players.
also we are very lucky we even got 4points of aironi. we played crap and only for a 55m+ kick by jarvis in the last min we would of lost

interesting stuff there Salmson. Why can't we convert against the Italians then?

Here's (very rough) estimate of what the table would look like with and without the Italian teams:

1 Leinster Rugby 10 35
2 Ospreys 10 34
3 Munster Rugby 10 29
4 Glasgow 10 28
5 Cardiff Blues 9 25
6 Benetton 10 23
7 Scarlets 10 22
8 Ulster Rugby 10 21
9 Edinburgh Rugby 10 19
10 Connacht Rugby 10 16
11 Dragons 9 12
12 Aironi Rugby 10 6



1 Leinster Rugby 9 31
2 Ospreys 9 29
3 Munster Rugby 9 25
4 Glasgow 8 23
5 Scarlets 9 18
6 Ulster Rugby 8 17
7 Cardiff Blues 7 11
8 Connacht Rugby 8 11
9 Edinburgh Rugby 7 9
10 Dragons 7 8

Couple thoughts off this -

(1) it's wonderful what a couple of games against Aironi can do for your league position (see Cardiff)

(2) If we compare the results so far this year with the corresponding fixtures last year, we have got exactly, to the point, the same points from these games as last season.

table 08/09
1 Munster Rugby 63
2 Edinburgh Rugby 55
3 Leinster Rugby 52
4 Ospreys 52
5 Scarlets 40
6 Cardiff Blues 38
7 Glasgow Warriors 37
8 Ulster Rugby 36
9 Newport Gwent Dragons 33
10 Connacht Rugby 20

table 09/10 semi final/bradley's last year
1 Leinster Rugby 55
2 Ospreys 52
3 Glasgow Warriors 51
4 Munster Rugby 45
5 Cardiff Blues 44
6 Edinburgh Rugby 41
7 Newport Gwent Dragons 39
8 Ulster Rugby 36
9 Scarlets 29
10 Connacht Rugby 26

table 10/11 elwood's first year. 2teams from italy join

1 Munster Rugby 83
2 Leinster Rugby 70
3 Ulster Rugby 67
4 Ospreys 63
5 Scarlets 62
6 Cardiff Blues 60
7 Newport Gwent Dragons 49
8 Edinburgh Rugby 43
9 Connacht Rugby 39
10 Benetton Treviso 38
11 Glasgow Warriors 33
12 Aironi Rugby 12

excluding aironi and treviso this how last years (10/11) table would look to compare to years before
1 Munster Rugby 68 (9A+6T=15FROM ITALY)
2 Leinster Rugby 58 (8A+4T=12FROM ITALY)
3 Ulster Rugby 50 (8A+9T=17FROM ITALY)
4 Scarlets 47 (10A+5T=15FROM ITALY)
5 Ospreys 44 (9A+10T=19FROM ITALY)
6 Cardiff Blues 44 (8A+8T=16FROM ITALY)
7 Newport Gwent Dragons 35 (8A+6T=14FROM ITALY)
8 Edinburgh Rugby 30 (9A+4T=13FROM ITALY)
9 Connacht Rugby 30 (4A+5T=9FROM ITALY)
10 Glasgow Warriors 19 (9A+5T=14FROM ITALY)

WE WERE THE LOWEST LAST YEAR PICKING UP POINT'S FROM BOTH TEAM'S OF ITALY. 9POINTS FROM 4 GAMES