ChrisY wrote: Felt sorry for Conan. Nel used his experience to simply walk all over him. Harsh lesson but a necessary lesson. Conan will have learnt a lot from it. I firmly he has a bright future ahead.

Jack has finally reached his potential and I am delighted for him. He has had me tearing my hair out for some time now but he really has blossomed.

I wish Eoin might improve but indicators suggest he simply does not belong at this level. He is one guy I really wanted to succeed when he went to London Irish but he simply seems to struggle providing any imagination at centre. And I think Connacht suffered because of this last night. There was simply no penetration at centre. If Tom had been there I feel it would have been so much different.

Overall this is a rejuvenated team under a coach who is liked by the players. It is so much better than the doom and gloom of last season. And that makes me very happy. If I never see Ian Davies reffing a Connacht game that would also keep me happy

That you ouncer?

Every young prop has a night like O'Donnell did, it's like a rite of passage. I remember Buckley had one against a 40 year old tighthead (Bell was it?) In Wales years ago, it's an invaluable lesson in how to scrummage against a wily old tighthead.

connachta wrote: Yes he has not enough penetration power.

Penetration is about vision. You see vision in the likes of Tiernan and Tom. You can see guys like these visualizing the game and seeing the spaces. I just find Eoin very one dimensional. If the centres aren't creative then opportunities for the backline are very far apart. And that summed up last night. There was nothing on offer from our centres to give an opportunity to our backline

Disagree how harsh some are on Griffin. I thought he was very very good yesterday. Yes he has not enough penetration power. But everything else was well executed. Quick hands get us out of trouble under pressure in attack, tackles were not only 100% made but also offensive ones...
Solid 4th choice, above Robb/Ronaldson for those reasons

Felt sorry for Conan. Nel used his experience to simply walk all over him. Harsh lesson but a necessary lesson. Conan will have learnt a lot from it. I firmly he has a bright future ahead.

Jack has finally reached his potential and I am delighted for him. He has had me tearing my hair out for some time now but he really has blossomed.

I wish Eoin might improve but indicators suggest he simply does not belong at this level. He is one guy I really wanted to succeed when he went to London Irish but he simply seems to struggle providing any imagination at centre. And I think Connacht suffered because of this last night. There was simply no penetration at centre. If Tom had been there I feel it would have been so much different.

Overall this is a rejuvenated team under a coach who is liked by the players. It is so much better than the doom and gloom of last season. And that makes me very happy. If I never see Ian Davies reffing a Connacht game that would also keep me happy

cabaiste wrote: Did I imagine things or did he ask the TMO to make his decision for him for the yellow?

I think the question he asked the TMO was did Butler make contact with the ball first or the players arm when he slapped down. He specifically said that if it was the players arm then that was o.k. (i.e. legal). He then said that as there was no screen & therefore no way for him to review the incident that the TMO would have to make the decision for him. The replay clearly made contact with the arm firstly and his momentum then caused him to make contact with the dislodged ball. Despite clear direction from the ref, the TMO went his own way and imo got this wrong. I can't believe that it isn't compulsory to have a screen for ref review at every ground & thereby every ref would be forced into making the final decision & not abdicate responsibility to the unseen TMO. Our game away to Scarlets in our title winning season is a classic example.

Didn't bother watching the post game interviews so just read today about Cockerill going off the head about the refereeing standard. In fairness Davies is a poor ref he's often been worse but if one side benefited from the decisions it wasn't us. Delighted that Andy didn't bother having a go, all in all a decent start so far, pity still about the Glasgow result, but if we can put in two massive home performances we'll be in good shape.

Forgot to say how great it was to see the Clan, and all the other Con supporters, in the stand. Wish I could have been there. Safe home.

did well to get the bonus fom17-0 down. Felt bad for Conan, Nel was allowed to get away with murder especially with illegal binding. He could drop the scrum at will and still get the penalty. Apart from the breakdown, I thought ref did ok. However, did nothing about Jarrad being pulled by the neck from a maul and their high tackle deserved a yellow.
All in all, spirit was very good and it's a point we wouldn't have got last year.

Our scrum cost us the game plain and simple too many penalties given away, Boyle brilliant again, bundee looked rusty.

Cockerill is a boor, pure and simple. Awful pity we won't get the chance to shove his boorish words down his throat at a return game here later this season!

MulMan wrote: It was telling that O'Donnell was taken off before half time. He wasn't enjoying a great time of it there, gave three or four penalties away there. But that final one was a joke barely had his hand on their lifter. He'll definitely be disappointed though. The defence in general has been decent but they've struggled to get their hands on the ball, great break by Boyle was the only attacking highlight.

Conan was a gamble that didn't work and it ultimately cost us the game because it denied us a crucial platform. He will have to take the hurt of being called ashore early on the chin and learn from it. Doesnt matter how well he's been going in training, he hasn't enough rugby in him at this level for facing a test prop on an away ground. Scrum was on the back foot early, Edinburgh were targeting our O'Donnell from the off, but thought ref didn't pick Edinburgh up enough for early pushing whereas after two or three scrums he did us for anything and everything. There were some good bits too, and Edinburgh are a decent side..

Cocker' s is clearly feeling the pressure when he's having a post match rant when they've won ....

Without doubt Connacht is a fine team. Tiz hard when most decisions simply second rate

There were things I really liked about that performance. I honestly thought Connacht would break Edinburgh in the end. That's what I thought

Thought it was a decent performance. I couldn't guage anything wrong by the performance. It was one of those days.
Fantastic defence, shocking ref
ChrisY out

Frustrating game to watch for a number of reasons , Connacht never really firing and the inconsistencies from the ref made for a really poor game .

As you know I'm usually the one to defend the man in the middle but I'd say the review on Monday for Ian won't be a pleasant one.

That said we were the architects of our own downfall, came back well at the end to get bp.

Need to cut out the silly pens which put us under pressure.

Watched the game delayed, and I thought the ref was awful, but just watching Richard Cockerill's interview afterwards, and I wouldn't be surprised if he is reprimanded for his comments. He was raging about the ref, and the general standard of the refereeing in the competition. He also said we came out to cheat! Looking at the penalty count I can kindof see where he's coming from, but I do think the ref was pretty one sided. O'Donnell got pinged for offside for example (which he was), but Edinburgh were permanently off side and I don't recall them getting done for it.

Anyway, considering the pressure we were under for large periods, a losing bonus is not a bad result.

What about that disgraceful interview with Cockerill. He was criticising the ref and calling Connacht cheats! What a dick. And wasn't called out by the equally biased panel. Davies was a disgrace but not in our favour.

Disappointed with the performance but we weren't helped by a poor poor ref. Let's hope we avoid his incompetence again at least for the next few home games.

LBP is a massive acheivement vs a straight opponent for home european play-off next spring!


Carty, very average for 2 seasons, now finally stepped up in another level. Won't be amazed to see him having a few caps along Carbery/Byrne, after Sexton era starting 2020

I'd have taken a point before the game so can't be too disappointed.
Didn't see the ball for the first half and very lucky their win chucked the ball over the line when easier to score.
Some good performances in the pack and Griffen was our best back by a distance, some great tackles.

Don't think the ref was that bad, bit of a homer but most are, wasn't the difference between winning and losing as we were second best out there.

A few absolutely terrible decisions from Mr. Davies. He is a really poor referee at this stage. Blade clearly over the ball and nailed on penalty. Same for Healy. Shocking one sidedness. All that said. I think we would admit to being poor. Uncompetitive at the breakdown.

Well done Connacht on getting the bonus point.

Edinburgh were always going to be up for that.

Carty and griffin were brilliant in defense.

Referee was infuriating

Ultimately a losing bonus point isn't the worst result in the world. However, if we had managed to get a bit more ball in the first 50-60 minutes we could very well have got the win.

Ian Davis is such a dick, I am not only upset I am livid