I think he is great it takes 2 defenders to stop him and he is great at offloading. Its like the other players cant read into what he is doing.If that little gap was bridged it would create space outside for the 13 14 15.
Attacking this season is lacking in the backs department.
Parks wont be the best person to get backs moving so do we need some new talent coming in to fire things up ??
Not slagging Parks i think he is a great signing.

Packie wrote:

rossie wrote: I wud say the same about henry. I dont remember him scoring a try this season and imo there are better irish players playing B+I and ail than these guys. Whitten, macken, hudson and o dea spring to mind.

Interesting stat from knockon.ie

Before recounting events in more detail, lets look at one stat that might explain why Connacht looked more potent in attack, especially in the first half. Henry Fa’afili is by no means a key man in many people’s eyes but consider this, in his 12 starts at inside centre this season, he has been involved in all six games where Connacht didn’t lose, five wins, one draw and six defeats is his record.

It makes you think, in his 12 starts, the hard running Samoan with a fairly high level of handling skills, has seen his side accumulate 22 of their 25 RaboDirect Pro 12 points not to mention their sole and hugely uplifting Heineken Cup triumph and it’s not as if Dave McSharry has stood out as a problem in the other games either.

I've always been a fan of Henry's, our attack always looks better when he is playing and i can't for the life of me see the reason why so many people don't rate him? People gave out about the pass he gave in the game on Saturday that went into touch with the "line at his mercy" but from where i was standing, and looking at the replays he never would have made the line himself, in my view the pass was actually a brilliant piece of skill.

I have a feeling that some of the mistakes Henry has made are magnified because people have him under a microscope when in fact the rest of the team are making the same mistakes, knock-ons, drops, missed tackles etc.. I for one hope he signs on for next year with us.

That is interesting and to be fair to Henry not many 12's have a high scoring rate. They usually make try's rather than score them. Henry has gone up in my estimation!

rossie wrote: I wud say the same about henry. I dont remember him scoring a try this season and imo there are better irish players playing B+I and ail than these guys. Whitten, macken, hudson and o dea spring to mind.

Interesting stat from knockon.ie

Before recounting events in more detail, lets look at one stat that might explain why Connacht looked more potent in attack, especially in the first half. Henry Fa’afili is by no means a key man in many people’s eyes but consider this, in his 12 starts at inside centre this season, he has been involved in all six games where Connacht didn’t lose, five wins, one draw and six defeats is his record.

It makes you think, in his 12 starts, the hard running Samoan with a fairly high level of handling skills, has seen his side accumulate 22 of their 25 RaboDirect Pro 12 points not to mention their sole and hugely uplifting Heineken Cup triumph and it’s not as if Dave McSharry has stood out as a problem in the other games either.

Our defence has been very good this season, it's our discipline that's killing us. You can't defend a penalty kick.

Our minutes in posession probably isn't that great, which just makes our defence stat even more impressive, but with that comes pressure and we give away too many silly penalties.

In addition to only conceding two BPs all season, only Ulster have come close with three tries, everyone else (in the Pro12) has scored either 1 or 2 tries against us.

If we can improve our attacking game we have the ability to improve our win/loss ratio by a lot. If we won half of the games in which we had LBPs this season we'd be looking a lot healthier.

We also haven't had a TBP for a long while.

rossie wrote: The defensive lapses cannot be allowed to continue into next season and players like Plavin must be dropped for a game or two when they miss tackles as he does regularly. Same goes for the rest of them but i just rem him missing vital one v gloucester aswell.
Billy Marwood(orwhatever surname is) and mike forshaw need to start earning they wages and fix these problems by improving technique and/or identifying players who are just not up to what they are trying to implement.

How are missed tackles the problem of a defence coach? If a defender is in a position to make a tackle and fails to do so that is the fault of a player.

Seen as we have only conceded two bp's this year in all competitions and were 6th (?) before the scarlets game in tries conceded for the Rabo. Forshaw is doing a fantastic job, easy off.

was just looking at the table and saw that connacht are 10th in the league atm and concede an average of 20 pts a game. Ulster are 6th and concede an average of 19 pts. However they score an average of 22 pts a game whereas we only average 14 pts a game. When you consider that connacht are considered to have 3 of the brightest up and coming backs in the country in o halloran, griffin and mcsharry as well as an international wing? and fullback thats a very poor return.
I put the q mark beside fetu as i dont rate him highly myself and 1 try isnt a good return for any wing. You compare him to chavenga at the dragons(a team of similar ranking)who is scoring for fun and mostly on the back of his own endeavour there is no contest. I wud say the same about henry. I dont remember him scoring a try this season and imo there are better irish players playing B+I and ail than these guys. Whitten, macken, hudson and o dea spring to mind.
However, apart from the lack of quality in our niq backs, i think there is a bigger problem. Far too often when we get behind the defensive line the support runner isnt in position for the offload and the backrow are too far behind to clear out at ruck time leading to penos againt for hanging on or going off the feet. I saw this happen at least 4 times v munster last saturday and its a regular occurance all season. I dont know enuf about offensive strategy to explain why but as a layman i would have to question the Athleticism/workrate of the back five, when not personally in possession of the football, on occasion and that applies to the backs aswell.
People mite think im being harsh on a backrow who carried so well on the nite and all season but when you lose the battle on the floor and/or are penalised as often as connacht are the question has to be asked.Quick ruck ball behind the gain line leads to a try more often than not and connacht are failing to generate that due to forwards arriving late to the ruck.
When you combine that problem with the lack of support for the offload when in a one v one situation as tonettti found himself on a few occasions(he was looking to pass and noone there) you get an answer as to why average is 14 pts.
The defensive lapses cannot be allowed to continue into next season and players like Plavin must be dropped for a game or two when they miss tackles as he does regularly. Same goes for the rest of them but i just rem him missing vital one v gloucester aswell.
Billy Marwood(orwhatever surname is) and mike forshaw need to start earning they wages and fix these problems by improving technique and/or identifying players who are just not up to what they are trying to implement.

Good chance to finish ahead of Edinburgh at least, looking at their run in, 8 or 9 pts should definitely see us finish above them. Dragons are putting on a spurt and it might be too much to reel them in. Treviso still a possibility but need to pick up at least a couple of bonus points in next 2 games to keep in touch.

Table after tonight's results:
Leinster 18 64
Ospreys 18 53
Munster 17 52
Warriors 18 51
Ulster 17 46
Scarlets 17 45
Blues 17 45
Dragons 18 33
Treviso 17 29
Connacht 17 24
Edinburgh18 23
Aironi 18 19

Treviso are the only one in the bottom 5 to pick up any points at the weekend, a late lbp at home to Cardiff. Dragons have a home game to make up against Cardiff in the next couple of weeks but threw away all 4 points against Munster this evening.

Getting Mazda on board was superb last year, it must have been easier to negotiate that after not finishing at the bottom of the table as in previous years.

Good Point.

One of the pluses for next year is we can point to increased attendances and I'm assuming based on the lack of jerseys a while back increased merchandise sales. That has to bode well for the future when it comes to attracting sponsors. Touch wood we get one or two boys in the Irish Squad to increase are visibility.

Don't know if there's a league based financial incentive, but it's a must in terms of landing sponsors.

Getting Mazda on board was superb last year, it must have been easier to negotiate that after not finishing at the bottom of the table as in previous years.

Is there any financial incentive in getting 8th instead of 9th? Or is it pride only? If so I'd like to see some of the fringe/younger players getting a chance before the season is out. Not saying we have to do it right away but the likes of Buckley should be rewarded with game time after giving some good performances.

Scarlets (A) 35-33 LBP
MUNSTER (H) 12-16 LBP
Dragons (A) 17-16 LBP
ULSTER (H) 15-15 D
AIRONI (H) 11-6 W
Glasgow (A) 17-19 W

Updated the remaining fixtures with last seasons results in bold, think we will be going some and then some to match the points haul we did from last year.

Overall points tally compared to last year we now stand -3. I think realistically we won't achieve that target now baring a consistent run of massive displays. The lack of squad depth and injuries this term has meant our main problem is we are consistently inconsistent but i would like to think we could pick up at least 10 points from the remaining games we have left.

Depends whats left in the tank really, like last season we have used a lot of the same players regularly. We have a decent chance of moving up a couple of place. Need to beat Aironi, Dragons and probably either Ulster or Munster as well to get us into position. Glasgow might hold some joy on the final day if they are out of the play off race. Even bonus points can be critical at this stage of the season. Hard not to look back in frustration at some games that slipped away.

None of the teams around us are tearing up trees at the moment either so a few good results could change everything. Important we at least get something at Scarlets on Friday just to keep a bit of a run going of getting points in games. Munster are still pushing for 2nd spot but I'm sure will have their usual mix and gather team in Galway so possibly some potential there.

Sadly, you're probably right ummm, but a case could be made for a much better outcome over the final 6 games. Friday's game at Parc y Scarlets could go a long way in deciding that.

The Scarlets are tough at home even without their internationals, but if Connacht can build on the Edinburgh win they could sneak this one. The Munster match usually has the squad up for it and a win is not out of the question. The Dragons, again, are good at home, but if Connacht got some joy against the Scarlets they may have the confidence necessary going into Rodney Parade. Normally I wouldn't be too confident of Connacht's chances against Ulster even at home, but they could be coming off a very bruising encounter against Munster in the HEC qf and this coupled with a good run of form from Connacht could tip it in the home team's favour. The only way a loss at home to Aironi can be considered is if Eric by that point has decided to give all the young and fringe players a go otherwise the season's last home game needs to be a win. Finally, I don't expect Connacht to get too much out of the game in Firhill especially if Glasgow are chasing a top 4 spot, but Connacht did win there last season and Glasgow could find themselves out of contention with two games away to Munster and Treviso before this finale.

So there's the case for a perfect finish to the season, but I'll be happy if they can match last season at this point.

Lets see what the chances are:

Remaining matches

Team	Opposition (home game in ALL CAPS)
Aironi	LEINSTER, MUNSTER, Glasgow, Ulster, SCARLETS, Connacht, OSPREYS
Edinburgh	Ulster, DRAGONS, SCARLETS, Leinster, Blues, TREVISO
Dragons	MUNSTER, BLUES, Edinburgh, CONNACHT, TREVISO, Ospreys, LEINSTER
Treviso	BLUES, ULSTER, Ospreys, Dragons, GLASGOW, Edinburgh

Aironi and Dragons each have a game in hand, but it means a more congested fixture list for them.

Treviso have a tough run, but they've already beaten Ulster away so they'll be confident of getting some results in the final weeks.

Dragons have a tough schedule, and play Edinburgh, us and Treviso three weeks in succession. That'll be frantic and will see the table either yo-yo up and down or result in a clear winner for the 8th place.

Edinburgh have a nice set of home matches, but I can't see them winning any away games.

I think we're all equally looking at tough finishes. The team that scrapes an unexpected win or two will make 8th their own.