With Connacht heading into a massive Amlin Challenge Cup game against Bourgoin on Saturday coming a Magners League win at home to Edinburgh was essential on the back of the huge performance in Dublin the previous weekend. Galway Bay FM commentator Rob Murphy was at the Sportsground to witness a resilient performance as Connacht dug out a critical confidence boosting result...
Connacht were good value for their dramatic 22-21 victory over Edinburgh last night as they made it seven games on the bounce now in Galway without defeat.
Caption: Keatley Storms towards the line for his crucial try.
Miah Nikora’s penalty late in the contest snatched a huge win over a full strength Edinburgh side chasing a play off place.
Ian Keatley (pic) scored a vital second half try while Brian Tuohy crowned his best display yet in a Connacht jersey with a well taken score in the first half.
After what was one of the most exciting games seen at the Sportsground this season, we caught up with Connacht Captain on the day Gavin Duffy and coach Michael Bradley to discuss the contest.
Preview: Connacht v Edinburgh
The two sides also met on Good Friday two season's ago with Edinburgh winning 38-8 at Murrayfield.
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Connacht's only victory in their last six games in the Magners League was 16-3 at home to Newport Gwent Dragons on 17 March. Connacht are unbeaten in their last six matches at the Sportsground in all competitions since Ulster won there on 25 September.
Edinburgh have won three of their last four Magners League matches, the loss being 12-19 at Munster on 19 February. The Scotsmen's only victory on the road in any competition since September was 17-16 at Scarlets in the Magners League on 4 December.
Connacht have not beaten Edinburgh since 4 March 2005 with a 16-13 score at Murrayfield in the League. Edinburgh have in fact lost only once in eight previous visits to Galway.
Referee: Leighton Hodges (WRU, 1st League game)
Assistant Referees: D Wilkinson (IRFU), E O'Dowd (IRFU)
Connacht have named an extended squad for this Friday evenings Magners League clash with Edinburgh.
Four players have not been considered due to injury, they are: George Naoupu, Ray Ofisa, Liam Bibo and Keith Mathews.
Four others are awaiting late fitness tests to determine their availability, they are: John Muldoon, Robbie Morris, Niva Ta'auso and Ronan Loughney.
Connacht (squad)
Andrew Browne, Fionn Carr, Sean Cronin, Gavin Duffy, Adrian Flavin, Eoin Griffin, Jamie Hagan, Ian Keatley, Ronan Loughney, Mike McCarthy, Mike McComish, Robbie Morris, John Muldoon, Frank Murphy, Troy Nathan, Dave Nolan, Miah Nikora, Johnny O'Connor, Conor O'Loughlin, Michael Swift, Niva Ta'auso, Brian Tuohy, Bernie Upton, Brett Wilkinson, Aidan Wynne.
Looks like our squad will be really tested for this one. However, with the European game on next week the players who come in shouldn't lack for motivation.
MOFFAT RESHUFFLES TEAM FOR GOOD FRIDAY TEST PDF Print
Wednesday, 31 March 2010
Rob Moffat has made four changes to Edinburgh’s starting line-up for the trip to Connacht this weekend (2 April, kick off 6pm) and he says he wants to see a better performance from his players on Good Friday.
In the pack, Moffat has reintroduced Allan Jacobsen, Jim Hamilton and David Callam – all Scotland internationalists – while centre Ben Cairns has recovered from a hamstring injury and reclaims the number 13 jersey.
As a result, Moffat highlighted the level of competition for places within his squad and says the team must deliver a winning performance on the west coast of Ireland.
Moffat said: “There is so much competition for a lot of positions in the team, especially for the loosehead spot between Kyle (Traynor) and Chunk (Allan Jacobsen).
“Chunk had a good Six Nations and we decided to give him a start for this one. Jim (Hamilton) was out with a back injury last week, but he has trained well this week, so he returns.
“The situation in the back row is that we are still carefully managing Ross Rennie, so he was not available for selection this week and we decided to give David Callam a start.
“It is a tough game for us and we need to keep moving forward. We know that we didn’t play particularly well last week and that we must improve against Connacht.
“With four games left, we know that we control whether or not we will qualify for the play-offs.
“We are in a good position, but the really hard work starts now. Everybody knows that we must keep performing to a high standard and winning matches.”
Andrew Kelly retains the number two jersey with British and Irish Lions’ hooker Ross Ford named amongst the replacements.
Moffat praised the contribution of Kelly over recent weeks and says he deserved a starting spot, but stresses that Ford will still play an important role in Edinburgh’s season.
He added: “Andrew has played well and it is good for him to keep the jersey. But Ross Ford will still have a big part to play during the game and it is important that we manage him well after what has been a demanding 12 months in his career.”
Even though Edinburgh have not lost against Connacht for five years – 4 March 2005 at Murrayfield – Moffat admits his players acknowledge Friday’s fixture will be a tricky test.
He said: “We will have to be totally switched on for this game because Connacht have a proud home record and that has been established over a good number of years.
“They have beaten Leinster and Munster there in Galway and over the last two games they defeated Dragons and almost beat Leinster in Dublin.”
Long term casualty Simon Cross is still out with a knee injury along with Andrew Easson (knee).
Allister Hogg is still ruled out with a hip injury which required surgery in December and Chris Paterson (damaged kidney) is still recovering from the injury set-back he suffered in February.
Lock Craig Hamilton is sidelined with a head knock while Ross Samson (broken arm) will miss the rest of the season and Nick De Luca (groin) is unavailable for selection.
Edinburgh Rugby Club team to play Connacht in the Magners League at The Sportsground (Friday 2 April, kick off 6pm)
15 Jim Thompson
14 Mark Robertson
13 Nick De Luca
12 Ben Cairns
11 Tim Visser
10 Phil Godman
9 Mike Blair (captain)
1 Allan Jacobsen
2 Andrew Kelly
3 Geoff Cross
4 Scott MacLeod
5 Jim Hamilton
6 Alan MacDonald
7 Ross Rennie
8 Roddy Grant
Substitutes: Ross Ford, Kyle Traynor, Steve Turnbull, Scott Newlands, Greig Laidlaw, David Blair, John Houston.
Connacht will really need 3 of the 4 questionables to be fit if they are to challenge this Edinburgh side, but as I have said the Bourgoin game is more important so nobody should be risked if they are not approaching 100%. In the past with the potential of missing so many front line players I would say Connacht were guaranteed a hiding, but this side could very well keep it competitive especially at home. If they do I can really see a corner being turned.
Changes to Edinburgh
With De Luca out Cairns moves to 13, John Houston moves to 12 with Simon Webster taking his place on the bench.
I was at the Leinster game and was really impressed at the way Connacht approached the game right from the start. From what I've read in the papers alot is being made that we haven't lost at the sportsgrounds since september. I think Bradley will really try to get a performance similar to last weekend to keep momentum going in to the quarter final against Bourgoin. It would be hard to see them turn around moral if they allowed themselves to sacrafice this game. Momentum is everything in this game.
Looking good early, very good actually. A penalty and drop goal from Keatley sandwiching an unconverted Tuohy try. Need to keep the scoreboard ticking over to avoid what happened against Leinster.
[quote RogueXV]Looking good early, very good actually. A penalty and drop goal from Keatley sandwiching an unconverted Tuohy try. Need to keep the scoreboard ticking over to avoid what happened against
Great start, but we have to stay positive in our play and keep pushing for points if they are on, couple more drop goals if we are in a position to take them. Definitely Keats needs to keep Edinburgh pinned back and under pressure in their half...
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I see the future, and it's Green again...
Must say I'm surprised a it that Keatley started tonight. I thought Nicora had a fine game last week and if anything look far more assured than Keats, to me he deserved to start tonight, if just to give Keat's the kick up the backside that he sometimes needs....
Not surprised at all by the collapse coming up to half time, when we start fast we nearly always do. It 's a mental weakness in us..
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I see the future, and it's Green again...
Sea_Point Must say I'm surprised a it that Keatley started tonight. I thought Nicora had a fine game last week and if anything look far more assured than Keats, to me he deserved to start tonight, if just to give Keat's the kick up the backside that he sometimes needs...
I'd say he was gutted not to start against his home province, that would be a big enough hoof in the hoop.
Ummm, the Magners site was slow on Carr substitute. If you look further down Carr came off on 22 mins and returned on 36 mins. I'm assuming blood substitute.
RogueXV Ummm, the Magners site was slow on Carr substitute. If you look further down Carr came off on 22 mins and returned on 36 mins. I'm assuming blood substitute.
I'd be very surprised if Edinburgh didn't look to attack down Griffin's wing when Carr went off.....
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I see the future, and it's Green again...
RogueXV Ummm, the Magners site was slow on Carr substitute. If you look further down Carr came off on 22 mins and returned on 36 mins. I'm assuming blood substitute.
Yeah, saw that later, so removed the comment ;-)
16-14, woo hoo!
Keatley ya magnificent beauty, now stop missing conversions ya useless muppet.
Pleased to hear that Tuohy is playing with a bit of confidence, the try will definitely help his confidence and what a bonus to have a try scoring threat on both wings. When was the last time we could say that....??
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I see the future, and it's Green again...
Unbeaten at home in months, the best team at the RDS last week, unbeaten in Europe... and Setanta don't think we're worth putting on their schedule.. @#$%&.
Got the breaks they so often lose out on. Fantastic win for the lads against a strong Edinburgh side! Certainly sets them up well for the Bourgoin game.
Great result. Brillaint start. 11-0 with just 12 on the clock and had a couple of chances to get another try. However when Fionn went off temporarily it seemed to disrupt us and the game became very disjointed which Edinburgh thrived on. Definite forward pass for the 2nd try though. We looked out of it but the intercept gave us a break.When Edinburgh got ahead again it looked curtains but great character to keep battling into the sheeting rain in the last ten minutes and Nikora nailed an excellent penalty and we hung on.
Big performance from the whole team tonight. Special mention for JOC who was everywhere, Tuohy continued to show improvement, Keats did well for most of the game and Nikora performed very well when he came on. Really though the whole pack dug in tonight. Mike McCarthy had a fine game too, and Upton as well who is Mr. Consistency these days. Gav did well at full back as is becoming common place these days. Its encouraging to see some players who were out of the loop in recent times come back into form and its great for confidence to win a tight game like that.
To beat a top half team minus pretty much half a team is impressive and a further sign we are making progress. Good to see Andrew Browne back as well.
I think everyone was well soaked at the end but it was worth it for the victory. Now its time for supporters to step up and support the team next week.
Well done to all. In terms of injuries Mike McComish who had a fine game went off injured near the end. Hopefully we can get some of our players back in the back row for next week.
Ospreys came good in the end to beat Scarlets 27-19. 21 points for us now just two behind Scarlets with the Leinster game in hand. 4 behind Ulster who play Cardiff tomorrow and who have the gimme game against Ospreys 3 days after the HC q/f. An away win against Scarlets would give us a good chance of finishing off the bottom. Ulster look a bit too far up the road.
If only, but still you have to be fairly happy after how bleak things looked back in September after the Ulster game.
Really sensing that things are changing for Connacht. Osprey not only beat the Scarlets but deny them a losing bonus point through a late try by Bowe. When was the last time they got help from another Irishman?
Don't want to get too far ahead of myself with games against all three other provinces to go and the Scarlets finishing the ML with three games at home including one against Connacht, but if they continue to play as they have recently they will, in fact, lift themselves of the bottom of the table.
came home drenched but with a big smile on my face...good team performance and nikora did well to slot over for the penalty with the wind and rain....was v.impressed with j hagan's work around the park as well as A. wynne who continued to look for gaps but managed to retain possession...finally a word for swifty tonight he was awesome...at the 80th minute he was handing them off and throwing them over his shoulders...he's got a few years yet...johnny o c was turning back the years twas like his performance aganist south africa!!
my match has to go to cronin though...in my opinion hes way better than fla around the park and brushed ford aside in the second half...star quality...hagan is making huge strides...
also lest not forget this was an Edinburgh side pushing for the magners and one which had 8 internationals and they were certainly up for it...
draw aganist glasgow where they should have won...beating dragons and edinburgh and should have beaten leinster...thats top of table stuff....
Well done lads...1pm bourgoin can't wait....allez connacht!!
great performance tonight guys. must be said that both teams played a great brand of rugby, and for once we came out the right side of a tight score. Keep it going lads, and counting the hours to next week's game.
What a marvelous effort from the ref, it is such a rare thing to have an official who refs with his eyes open (mind you I was glad he decided that he had seen enough and closed them in the last 5 as lougney got to penos that should really have gone the other way).
I agree with them previous post hagen was excellent along with cronin and wilko. Delighted to see Keatley show the balls I always thought he had and give an excellent display of sometimes controlled rugby chipping in with a beauty of a dg and a lovely try when we were a bit under the cosh in the 2nd half.
Feels like something has changed at connacht is it elwood or has bradley started trusting the squad. A year ago we would never have trusted guys like nolan, browne, griffin, nikora etc to come off the bench in a tight game and close it out.
Well done to all, now dont be feeding the forwards until bourgoine.
Borders no.2 Ospreys came good in the end to beat Scarlets 27-19. 21 points for us now just two behind Scarlets with the Leinster game in hand. 4 behind Ulster who play Cardiff tomorrow and who have the gimme game against Ospreys 3 days after the HC q/f. An away win against Scarlets would give us a good chance of finishing off the bottom. Ulster look a bit too far up the road.
If only, but still you have to be fairly happy after how bleak things looked back in September after the Ulster game.
Best bit of news being they denied Scarlets the bonus point, but when you think how many points we've left behind we definitely should be a lot closer to Ulster....
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I see the future, and it's Green again...
Great display last night from everyone. It such a great feeling going to a match KNOWING you have a great chance of winning and that the guys are going to give a performance.
I have to say I thought Edinburgh were going to win by about 7 and that looked about right at half-time after we had completely dominated the early part of the first half but just weren't patient enough to put ourselves out of reach.
It was a HUGE help to have a referee who favoured the home team in all the 50-50 calls.
The way we hung in during the second half which Edinburgh totally dominated was just as impressive as our excellent start to the match.
It was also a cracking match, real quality entertainment from both sides, we have become an enjoyable team to watch as our half backs are now as good as any in the league and they make great use of the copious amounts of possession that our excellent pack provide.
Roll on Bourgoin!
Borders no.2 Ospreys came good in the end to beat Scarlets 27-19. 21 points for us now just two behind Scarlets with the Leinster game in hand. 4 behind Ulster who play Cardiff tomorrow and who have the gimme game against Ospreys 3 days after the HC q/f. An away win against Scarlets would give us a good chance of finishing off the bottom. Ulster look a bit too far up the road.
If only, but still you have to be fairly happy after how bleak things looked back in September after the Ulster game.
I think it's disgraceful how Ulster managed to to get thier Ospreys fixture rescheduled for 3 days after Ospreys HC quarter final match. Will definitely be a second string Ospreys side. I accept that Connacht have to do what they need to do on the pitch, but it'n not fair that Ulster and other teams with clout can manipulate the league. I would normally shout on for Ulster, but won't be doing so tonight - go on Cardiff!
You think Ulster are happy about playing Ospreys on the 13th and then traveling to Firhill for a match on the 16th? Ulster were prepared to play the game weeks ago but the Ospreys asked for another postponement.
Not Ulsters fault at all, and nothing to do with their 'clout', they're @#$%& off they have to play this match on the 13th, It's midweek and means a lower gate and very little turnover time before their next game.
ummm, You think Ulster are happy about playing Ospreys on the 13th and then traveling to Firhill for a match on the 16th? Ulster were prepared to play the game weeks ago but the Ospreys asked for another postponement.
Not Ulsters fault at all, and nothing to do with their 'clout', they're @#$%& off they have to play this match on the 13th, It's midweek and means a lower gate and very little turnover time before their next game.
OK, I take that back, I hadn't looked at the calendar after the Ulster v Ospreys match - apologies to any Ulster fans following! Still hard though to shout for Ulster this evening, as it would be really great if Connacht could push them fot the HC spot.
My god that was brilliant yesterday! JOC was awesome, tackled everything and was like a fullback under the high ball (kicking mightn't be his strong point but even that worked out in our favor!!). Really impressed with Touhy, showing the signs of a class winger, himself and Carr always look dangerous. Jamie Hagan is an international prop in the making, he did well against Chunk. Bernie Upton deserves special mention, he was excellent throughout, kept Hamilton at bay (and shut him up for a bit). Brilliant all round.
can somebody answer me, why would a certain player, kick the ball back to Edinburgh with 40 seconds left on the clock??? Thanks be to god that we won the game, but that was just downright silly. We were lucky that they knocked on but the ball from the scrum was thrown wildly upwards in that scenario and we were again lucky that they knocked on again. We fell asleep for their second try and their first was a class outside-inside pass.
Dont want to take anything away from the win, im chuffed, but just want us to be more clinical and turn the screw more. On paper, we shouldnt have beat them. On paper, we should finish bottom of the table. but the great thing about rugby is that it isnt played on paper but on grass, and Connacht are looking strong, very proud of them. Only 2 points behind Scarlets, im going to throw in my cents, and say that this may be our year to finish somewhere in th league besides last, the belief in the squad is evident from the results, and long may it continue.
Just would like to add that, watching the first tie in Murrayfeild in September, this was an extravagant change around. They showed signs of mental strength to turn around that loss. Congrats again guys!!
Another chink of light for Connacht tonight. Ulster beaten by Cardiff at home by 9 points.
With 4 games left for both sides there's only 4 in it. Ulster should do enough. Its a long shot but if we could narrow the gap down to 2 before the final game it'd put serious pressure on Ulster.
Our big hope has to be that the rescheduling of the Leinster match will be favourable to us. Leinster looks odds on to top the league and might be happy to use a game against Connacht to blood players and rest their frontline players like they did against Dragons away earlier in the season.
Unfortunately I think what'll cost us is squad depth and the points let slip in the past few weeks.
Unless both Connacht and Leinster get bounced out of Europe next weekend the refixed game is destined for midweek. While that would mean Leinster would likely field something of an "A" team, Connacht would have to do the same so Leinster's depth would win out.
The ML is looking just beyond them, but I would be happy enough if they managed to be 4 points behind Ulster going in to their trip to Ravenhill. Wouldn't Bradley become an instant Connacht legend if they put a 5 pointer on Ulster to take the third HEC spot?
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