Connacht v Leinster. 1/1/2012, 5:00 p.m.

Connacht XV to face Leinster (The Sportsground – Sunday 1st January 17.00)

15 Gavin Duffy (C)

14 Brian Tuohy

13 Eoin Griffin

12 Kyle Tonetti

11 Tiernan O’Halloran

10 Niall O’Connor

09 Paul O’Donohoe

01 Brett Wilkinson

02 Adrian Flavin

03 Ronan Loughney

04 George Naoupu

05 Mike McCarthy

06 Mick Kearney

07 Johnny O’connor

08 John Muldoon



16 Ethienne Reynecke

17 Denis Buckley

18 Dylan Rogers

19 Eoin McKeon

20 TJ Anderson

21 Frank Murphy

22 Matthew Jarvis

23 Henry Fa’afili

At least we know one thing, Eric doesn't be on here reading this forum because NOC would be drawing dole at this stage if he did

Porterbelly wrote: At least we know one thing, Eric doesn't be on here reading this forum because NOC would be drawing dole at this stage if he did

It's pretty clear EE does not know his arse from his Elbow, pretty well backed up by Fionn Carrs bit in the indo today. Goes along the same lines as what a few ex players said after making similar moves a few years ago. Fed up of the guy at this stage, a blind man saw the difference Jarvis made when he came on last week but it seems NOC can balls up as much as he wants and still get picked, fetu had two mistakes last week and is dropped yet his over all game was excellent. In fact I will go as far as saying Fetu made more tackles last week then Tuohy(sat nav) would make in a season. I know the EE fans will think I am being hard but we have had six years now of him and he has not produced anything but crap tactics, time to move on?

I see we are trying to turn another 2nd row into a jack of all trades. Why not go with lads where they should be, Kearney in the 2nd row, Muldoon back to 6 and George back to 8.

Good to see Kearney starting but definitely think at the moment he is more suited to the 2nd row, would need to bulk up a bit to be an option in the back row.

Eric's faith in NOC is commendable I hope it will prove justified.

The Leinster side isn't the most formidable but still very strong with good mix of youth and experience. They could be vulnerable if we get about them early but won't be holding my breath.

Fetu makes Ezra Taylor look proper quality, Touhy for all his defensive issues at least will take a chance if it comes his way.

So far the signing of Fetu must rank up their with our very worst.

simpleton wrote: Fetu makes Ezra Taylor look proper quality, Touhy for all his defensive issues at least will take a chance if it comes his way.

So far the signing of Fetu must rank up their with our very worst.

Well at least Fetu'u made it onto the pitch, Ezra could barely do that without getting injured.

I agree with an above comment, at least Fetu'u tried with ball in hand and look some bit menacing. Tuohy is one paced and predictable. However, the propensity for Fetu'u to have a brainfart is too risky to play him

simpleton wrote: Fetu makes Ezra Taylor look proper quality, Touhy for all his defensive issues at least will take a chance if it comes his way.

So far the signing of Fetu must rank up their with our very worst.

Don't agree, he has huge potential but if you do not give him the opportunity or platform to work then you do not reap the benefits. If the two centres learned how to pass the ball last week we would have seen the attacking force he is. I would rather he plays how he is ,then watch Tuohy wander around the pitch like a lost puppy pointing at other people to make tackles.Plus remember Tuohy's brainfart where he tracked back(rare occasion) to gather a kick in our 22 at his own leasure only to knock on 5 yards from the line and the result was a try from the scrum. As for Taylor he used to get injured getting off the bus.

I am not a fan of touhy's but so far from what I have seen of Fetu, I wouldn't let him water the pitch mid week.

My preference for back three at present would be Gav, Toh and Tonnetti, followed by Mcrea and then going down to a young player like Leyden instead of either Touhy or vianikolo who just don't have it.

Danny riordan is a Connacht lad, far better than any of them, playing well and getting the occasional look into the Leinster a set up, if he was from Leinster we would be chomping at the bit to get him for next season.

Tbf, that's probably not the biggest issue, our pack is getting creamed and our 10 want to spend their time plsying air ball and we are discussing wingers.

Game is going to be won up front given the conditions. Lets hop Wilko does a job on Hagan and we get the shove on, Loughney is holding his own on the other side which is encouraging.

simpleton wrote: I am not a fan of touhy's but so far from what I have seen of Fetu, I wouldn't let him water the pitch mid week.

My preference for back three at present would be Gav, Toh and Tonnetti, followed by Mcrea and then going down to a young player like Leyden instead of either Touhy or vianikolo who just don't have it.

Danny riordan is a Connacht lad, far better than any of them, playing well and getting the occasional look into the Leinster a set up, if he was from Leinster we would be chomping at the bit to get him for next season.

Tbf, that's probably not the biggest issue, our pack is getting creamed and our 10 want to spend their time plsying air ball and we are discussing wingers.

Over the years we have let good players go for no reason other then their faces don't fit with EE, and you mentioned one such player in Danny Riordan. TOH will never progress if he does not work on his speed and his tracking back, which he is particularly lazy at which is exactly why Danny was let go apparently. On Fetu he has the potential he covered every blade of grass last week got stuck in, -_-ed in defenders most of his work went unseen and unrewarded but he is the man if used. But I agree no point talking wingers if they never see the ball due to a pack going backwards or a number ten whose aim in life is to try and hit the moon with the ball or even better give it back to the opposition so they can run back at us with 5 mins on the clock to steal away a win.

Diom wrote: Jarvis' kicking is just not up to scratch and with the way he sits so far back he brings very little else to the table. I cannot understand this persistence. One very good performance does not a starting player make.

It's hard to see us gaining parity with Leinster. Madigan will tear NOC a new one.

Not familiar with Jack McGrath, so will see how he goes in the front row, but with an IRFU ref I'd imagine that the 50-50 calls will be one-way traffic.

25-75

Phillips was a disgrace the last day, hopefully Lacey refs the breakdown

Diom wrote: Jarvis' kicking is just not up to scratch and with the way he sits so far back he brings very little else to the table. I cannot understand this persistence. One very good performance does not a starting player make.

It's hard to see us gaining parity with Leinster. Madigan will tear NOC a new one.

Not familiar with Jack McGrath, so will see how he goes in the front row, but with an IRFU ref I'd imagine that the 50-50 calls will be one-way traffic.

Jarvis sits back to allow room to make a backs move, something we cannot do at the moment with rush defences and flat alignment, as for his kicking it certainly no where near where it should be but that is still miles ahead of NOC.

i agree diom in that we havent seen enuf of jarvis to justify this amount of support for his inclusion in starting lineup. The real problem is that we all have had a gutful of watching NOCs inability to think and a lack of any quality on his behalf. Even if he was delivering consistancy on his goalkicking we wudnt be in this position. i dont know what his percentages are on this score but he misses far too much and is showing no sign of improvement which has to be down to lack of practise.

Lets see what jarvis can do. he cant be any worse.

Diom on the munster thread you say Noc is to flat and on this one Jarvis is too deep , the Ref will needma measuring tape instead of a whistle.

I havent heard anyone suggest Jarvis is the next Daniel Carter or the certain salvation of Connacht rugby but we have issues with both of our other 10's and Jarvis has done well with his limited gametime and is playing well for his club and kicking pens for fun.

Pretty fair call for people to want to see what he's got at this level, I would be happy to see 25 minutes and go from there.

I'm counting this as a lose since he's picked NOC. Is that harsh? Yes. It's also truthful. As someone whose watched and supported Connacht since 2004 it's been the hardest season to date to watch. EE should be fired if we lose against Leinster it's that simple.