clan clover wrote: cheers for that sea_point,I had been checking TG4 over the weekend and nothing, but it has suddenly appeared,it is a pity TG4's real player is such bad quality. Or is it my laptop.

Sadly can't tell you as I don't get to access the Rugby Live or on Replay on TG4 as am in UK...

TwomintPork on Justin.TV usually obliges for live streaming....

cheers for that sea_point,I had been checking TG4 over the weekend and nothing, but it has suddenly appeared,it is a pity TG4's real player is such bad quality. Or is it my laptop.

Ya the booing, Cant see the point really after the game. I looked at the game on T.v and it wasnt as bad as it looked when your caught up in the whole thing.
We were beaten when we could have won. We lost it not the ref.

When your at a match and then you watch it on the TV and listen to the ref/replays it can give a very different viewpoint on the match.

While ref wasn't consistent, (I think we got as many dodgy decisions from him as went against us), I thought the booing he got on the way out was completely out of line.
Not impressed.

clan clover wrote: I cannot understand why Fets was not playing, it was a game made for him. Who ever took the decision to take the 5 metre scrum instead of the penalty should be dropped, it was a stupid basic naive error one which we tend to do a lot and never learn from and I don't think it was Duffy it certainly looked like he was told what to do rather then telling what to do. If you want to go for the try,then go for the 5 metre line out. Sickened by it, but will we learn,not a chance in hell.

A question, I cannot find the game on the any stations real player, who was showing in on Saturday.

TG4 so (if unkike me, in Ireland) should be available on their Player - www.tg4.ie/en/tg4-player/tg4-player.html

I cannot understand why Fets was not playing, it was a game made for him. Who ever took the decision to take the 5 metre scrum instead of the penalty should be dropped, it was a stupid basic naive error one which we tend to do a lot and never learn from and I don't think it was Duffy it certainly looked like he was told what to do rather then telling what to do. If you want to go for the try,then go for the 5 metre line out. Sickened by it, but will we learn,not a chance in hell.

A question, I cannot find the game on the any stations real player, who was showing in on Saturday.

Spot on Borders with everything above.
Take your points is the lesson really. Criminal that he didnt let Nakora have a go at that penalty which was on the right side of him.
Always a gamble with the scrums and Botha is a wise owl at protecting things. I thought our pack were great but would have been different had we Joc and George.
Had we kicked that penalty it would have given us a 10 point lead, Instead we couldnt clinch the deal off the scrums and Munster got great heart from that while we were knackered after it.
We really had the winning of the game and didnt do it. Too often we cant close these games out. It happens with teams and hopefully we can turn it around next season.

Fair play to the medics as they had two quick responses needed in the the Clan terrace. Great to hear that auld fella was fine near the team entrance.
I thought that female ban garda was going to cuff Flannery and take him home.
Its a tough one for old people standing for so long on the terrace.

Porterbelly wrote:

simpleton wrote: Disagree re Tonnetti, miles ahead of fets IMO even as a winger.

Also think your a bit harsh on murphy, thought he had a good game.

Agree on the rest. Mckeown made an impression, that's all you can look for in a late sub.
Kearney had a cracking game.

Tonetti hasn't the pace imo to be winger. He's a good centre but just hasn't the pace to beat people or the flair. Fets has his deficincies but I believe we haven't seen the best of him yet and he could be a very good option. He certainly has the pace to trouble defences.

If Fet's is fit then he should start on the wing. His form in his last few games was excellent. I would always play an out and out winger on the wing ahead of a utility player. You don't play a midfielder up front in footie if you have a strikers available. Fet's strike rate is not an issue simply because of the lack of ball he got. It's not like he spurned loads of try opportunities in each game, I'd say his conversion rate actually isn't bad given the ball he gets.......

Fa'afili: 7.5-His best performance in a Connacht shirt imo, carried well and was always looking for the offload. Unlucky in the first half when near the line, probably should have gone himself

Griffin:6-Didn't get much ball, never tends to do outside Henry. Still doesn't look fully fit. He'll have better days ahead

Bit odd there, one hand you're saying Henry's looking for offloads. Then you're saying Griffin not getting ball from him. Is it Griffin not hitting the right lines? If you're saying he's trying to offloads then it has to be the support runners at fault surely?

simpleton wrote: Disagree re Tonnetti, miles ahead of fets IMO even as a winger.

Also think your a bit harsh on murphy, thought he had a good game.

Agree on the rest. Mckeown made an impression, that's all you can look for in a late sub.
Kearney had a cracking game.

Tonetti hasn't the pace imo to be winger. He's a good centre but just hasn't the pace to beat people or the flair. Fets has his deficincies but I believe we haven't seen the best of him yet and he could be a very good option. He certainly has the pace to trouble defences.

Disagree re Tonnetti, miles ahead of fets IMO even as a winger.

Also think your a bit harsh on murphy, thought he had a good game.

Agree on the rest. Mckeown made an impression, that's all you can look for in a late sub.
Kearney had a cracking game.

My ratings would be:

Wilko: 7-Gave Botha a hard time and did good work around the park

Reyneke:7-Good try and busy as usual. Very likeable player

Loughney:8-Gave Du Preez a very hard time and carried excellently. Most improved player of season

Swift:7-Great shift as usual.They talk of unseen work about O Callaghan, well I can see everything Swifty does each week and it's certainly more than DOC.

McCarthy:7.5 Carried aggressively and was the best 2nd row on show, I hope Kidney took note

Kearney:7-Looks a very promising young player, improving with each game. Supreme in the lineout

Ofisa:7-He may be reaching the end of his time here but his commitment never wavers.

Muldoon:8-Another cracking display, even if out of position

Murphy:6.5- Busy, passing decent but we need more. Outshone by O'Leary imo

Nikora:7.5-Good performance, kept us moving, kicked well, was hoping for a few breaks or half breaks that he used be so good at.

O'Halloran:6.5-Didn't get enough ball in the right areas, but looked dangerous

Fa'afili: 7.5-His best performance in a Connacht shirt imo, carried well and was always looking for the offload. Unlucky in the first half when near the line, probably should have gone himself

Griffin:6-Didn't get much ball, never tends to do outside Henry. Still doesn't look fully fit. He'll have better days ahead

Tonetti:6-Honest as the day is long, works hard, makes his tackles, but he's not a winger.

Duffy: 9-Mesmeric. If Rob Kearney played like Duffy did last night the papers would be tripping up to praise him. Enough said

Subs:

Ah You:4-Gave away 2 penalties, one straight off his feet blatantly at a ruck and another in the scrum. Could be his last outing in a Connacht shirt

Flavin:5- Hit his jumpers, but missed a vital tackle on O'Leary for 2nd Munster try. Glos all over again

McSharry:5-Also culpable for 2nd rtry, missing tackle on O'Donnell. Form needs to improve

McKeon:6-Offered himself well in the closing stages with some good carries and tackles. Bright future

Yeah I dunno why we didnt go for the posts that time in the second half,a lad beside me just before they went in for that final scrum that ended in a penalty being giving the other way said it 'they will regret this decision' and he was right.

We played well at times, it was a great crowd..Ref and touch judge was poor..

Nikora was very good, but some of his kicking garryowens as such just seemed to kick too far at times, impossible to chase...but cant complain too much about him..Dan Parks coming in will be interesting next season, but I do think we need a experienced face at scrum half..Duffy was outstanding..

thats that...roll on Ulster...is that date confirmed? Fri/Sat

a very fair and balanced assessment borders and i agree wholeheartedly with you on all counts. The captains assertiveness on the pitch has to be questioned too as it appeared that the pack were making the decisions(wrong ones) and gav was arriving late to give his approval.

Paterson was his usual incompetent self, he missed a lot but we got a couple of dubious calls too so not going to go too far down that avenue. The officials as a whole were slack but we knew that'd be the case when we saw who the ref was. I think Eric can get the notepaper out for another formal complaint. Blind Dave Pearson has nothing on this fella.

Having said that we really only have ourselves to blame. Golden rule for any team is translating territory and possession into scores, when we got that penalty from that series of scrums in the 2nd half, why, why, why did we not have a shot at the posts, we had a slight edge in the scrum but we had no chance of getting a penalty try, Munster thrive in those kind of situations, when the ball was eventually turned over, Frank Murphy gave away a stupid penalty and two phases later Munster were down deep in our 22. Once that opportunity was lost I think everyone knew the game was up. On that after the cross kick from Nikora, which was held up he didn't bring it back for the penalty advantage (maybe he offered us the penalty back but it didn't appear so from where I was) yet when Keatley kicked out on the full from a scrum advantage he went back. I don't mind if a ref is poor but at least let him be consistent.

Penalty to make it 3-3 was just stupid obstruction from Fa'aili, it goes on all the time but he made it far too obvious. He had one of his better games but what was he doing with that final pass in the 1st half, certain try butchered. Munster were poor on the night and really we should have been 10-15 points up by 55-60 mins instead we were level.

Munster took their two tries well but from a defensive point of view the Connacht management should be livid, far too easy and with the first try Zebo should never have been allowed under the posts.

There were positives, scrum held up very well and had the advantage at stages, having Nathan White next year will be a benefit, as while Munster could bring on Marcus Horan we were bringing on Ah You. I really hope this is the last time we see Rodney in a Connacht jersey, time for him to move on.

Also if Richie Rees is coming he can't come soon enough, we have no direction at scrum half and at numerous crucial stages, he took terrible options for one of our experienced players. Outplayed by O'Leary says it all.

Big crowd is the majot positive and it was as a whle one of our better performances but marred by the usual mistakes at key times.