Connacht vs Ospreys (26/11/11 18:30) Rabo Pro 12

There is a real problem with the team playing by the playbook and not what's in front of them, there just doesn't seem to be the leadership in the backs. We're wining ball aplenty in every game, but our use of it is absoutely criminal.

As I flagged after the Quins game our reluctance to take drop goal shots is another area that is damning. It all indicates a backline playing to orders rather than one with the confidence to trust their own vision and teammates inside and outside them.

Our forward carrying is to predictable also, you can see our forwards forming pods (from the moon) as soon as one of our carriers goes to ground, invevitably the ball is then shuffled one out to the static pod who go to ground a metre on. How many snipes have we seen by our scrumhalves or scrumhalf breaks with a reverse pass to forward hitting angle at a good tilt?

Too much of our play is completley static, slow ball being shunted on to players standing still. How many times have you seen Gav Duffy come into the line at pace/angle or our wingers? You’ll see them run back a fielded ball for sure, and more often than not then kick as they approach contact…

There is a problem with our backs coaching/instructions that needs to be resolved ASAP. Whether it’s personell changes at coaching level or reviewing the philosiphy that we are approaching games with. And it needs to happen now and not at season end, because the momentum they have generated the one that brought 2500 extra season tickets will not be replicated with the current style of play.

clan clover wrote: I braved looking at the papers today and it was the same old guff coming from EE, same as last week and the week before, as mentioned the casual supporter will walk with the way we are playing and the lack of results.

Elwood frustrated by Connacht’s poor form
28/11/2011 - 13:00:50

Connacht coach Eric Elwood has admitted that he is concerned after seeing his charges going down 17-6 to the Ospreys at home on Saturday.

Connacht could not overcome an Ospreys side that was missing 18 players due to international duty and injuries. Tries from Matthew Morgan and Sonny Parker opened up a lead the home team could not claw back.

The result made it seven consecutive defeats in all competitions for Connacht and Elwood admits the players and coaches are getting increasingly frustrated with the poor run of form.

"We're not in a happy place at the moment. We're putting good phases of play together but then turn it over or are just not finishing the chances. That's frustrating and we need to learn from game to game.

"There are games every week now so you need to take the lesson from one and correct it for the next, so all our attention is on Treviso next week.

"It's tough, but things are never easy here. We targeted this one and we are disappointed to get nothing for our big effort. We just have to dust ourselves down and get ready - it's all we can do. It's our job.”

Connacht find themselves ninth in the RaboDirect PRO 12 and bottom of the Heineken Cup’s Pool 6 where they have yet to register their first point.

Elwood knows that if his team can’t cut out the basic errors they made last weekend they will continue to struggle against the calibre of opposition they encounter in both competitions.

"It's disappointing. We gave away two soft scores and when we got into the opposition '22', we lost the ball six or seven times in contact.

"If you get chances like that, you've got to take them. We have to be more clinical, more ruthless and more physical."