Connacht v Dragons

Haven't seen any pre-match article, so here goes:

New signing James Loxton gets his first outing. George Naoupu injured, but a back row of O'Connor, Muldoon and Ofisa is still a quite settled group. Ulsterman McCrea nowhere to be seen, don't know if that's enforced or a rest, same with Swift in the second row.

Former Leinster academy Mick Kearney will also get his first competitive cap if he comes off the bench. With all these changes I'd call this a weaker Connacht team, Dragons could sneak this.

15 Gavin Duffy (C)
14 Brian Tuohy
13 Eoin Griffin
12 Henry Fa'afili
11 Tiernan O'Halloran
10 Niall O'Connor
9 Frank Murphy
1 Brett Wilkinson
2 Ethienne Reynecke
3 Rodney Ah You
4 Dave Gannon
5 Mike McCarthy
6 John Muldoon
7 Johnny O'Connor
8 Ray Ofisa

16 Adrian Flavin
17 Ronan Loughney
18 Dylan Rogers
19 Mick Kearney
20 TJ Anderson
21 Paul O'Donohoe
22 Mathew Jarvis
23 James Loxton


Dragons

15 Martyn Thomas, 14 Matthew Pewtner, 13 Pat Leach, 12 Ashley Smith, 11 Geraint O'Driscoll, 10 Jason Tovey, 9 Joe Bedford, 1 Nathan Williams, 2 Tom Willis (c), 3 Dan Way, 4 Adam Jones, 5 Rob Sidoli, 6 Lewis Evans, 7 Gavin Thomas, 8 Andrew Coombs

Replacements

16 Rhys Buckley, 17 Phil Price, 18 Nathan Buck, 19 Darren Waters, 20 Jevon Groves, 21 Wayne Evans, 22 Tom Riley, 23 Matthew Jones

Dragons won't win this. We just can't travel and pick up results for some reason. The Sports ground is not a happy place for us.

Connacht still have a good team out, I'd say that Dragons missing players effect them more.

Connacht are strong at home, and Dragons weak away from home, have to saw can't see anything else but a Connacht win

paddy power has it

Connacht 4/11, Dragons2/1

Wining handicap mind you is only 6 points

I'm going to be realistic and say it will be a Connnacht win.

They play well at home and we are missing far too many key players to be competative.

I hope the Dragon's boys pull all stops out and get a LBP though

16-18 to the dragons - you heard it here first!

Dragons Squad


15 Martyn Thomas, 14 Matthew Pewtner, 13 Pat Leach, 12 Ashley Smith, 11 Geraint O'Driscoll, 10 Jason Tovey, 9 Joe Bedford, 1 Nathan Williams, 2 Tom Willis (c), 3 Dan Way, 4 Adam Jones, 5 Rob Sidoli, 6 Lewis Evans, 7 Gavin Thomas, 8 Andrew Coombs

Replacements

16 Rhys Buckley, 17 Phil Price, 18 Nathan Buck, 19 Darren Waters, 20 Jevon Groves, 21 Wayne Evans, 22 Tom Riley, 23 Matthew Jones

Cheers, IS, I'll add it above, just in case this gets to two pages...

I hope waynes on the bench due to his knock as he's far better than bed.
I'd like to see groves get on.
Surprised we havnt opted to play steffan at 15 with Thomas on the wing. I still think we can win.

If the Dragons can't win with GOD in their side then they'll never win

Ok so Connaght call up Welshman Loxton and the Dragons get some guy called O'Driscoll from Pontypool...

You know what lets just merge with Ireland and cal ourselves Waland and play in Green and Red it will make life much easier for all of us...

Connacht, Alyn. Again... Connacht.

And if we were green and red we'd have to be Bangladesh! (Or Mayo)

greybeard wrote:Connacht, Alyn. Again... Connacht.

And if we were green and red we'd have to be Bangladesh! (Or Mayo)

Wiresh then?
We'll live in caravans, work in mines and nick diesel and metal from England, and drink before, after rugby matches, and twice as much on a 6 Nations day rugby day!

Then we can take the mickey on the English we have won the last 3 Grandslams and, tease the Scots that we have won 8 Rabodirect titles between us.

Dam I feel sorry for the English, that subsidy they give us both would be massive!

O'Driscoll is Cymraeg though isn't he? I know you're probably joking Alyn, but I did just assume he was Welsh.

Not too bad a team for us. I'd have swapped Wayne EVANS (not flipping Evens) for Joe Bedford and Phil Price for Nathan Williams though. We are a bit light on the wings too.

Still predicting a win for Connacht.

Risca Rev wrote:O'Driscoll is Cymraeg though isn't he? I know you're probably joking Alyn, but I did just assume he was Welsh.

Full Name Geraint O'Driscoll
Position Full Back
Height 6ft 1ins
Weight 14st 8lbs
Date of Birth 17-03-88
Place of Birth Bridgend
Honours Dragons U 18 &20, Welsh 7's

Well he has a Welsh first name and an Irish second one, so he will probably sign for ConnACHT at the end of the season!

By the way, I read recently Loxton was born in Berlin. So I guess Germany have lost a future three quarter as well

Can't see Dragons winning based on their 3 performances so far and the players we have missing.

Have not been impressed with Bedford at all. Wanye Evans should start and Jonathan Evans on the bench.
Also our kickin game has to be much better than it was against Aironi.

I hope I get a pleasant surprise and we do get something

Anyone know if this is on radio etc ?

13-3 up. Nearly half time. Happy days. Didn't expect that.

Connacht have come back to lead 17-13, would be a good result if they could see this out.

ah no unlucky Dragons, how long is left? I was surprised to hear they were ahead but had hope they could hold on to the lead.

About 5 minutes I think.

okay cheers, unlikely Dragons can nick the win in that time but you never know....

FT score

Connacht 17 -13 Dragons

Flip!

aaaah pants. LBP though so well done Dragons, better then last season's visit out there anyway! and well done Connacht on the win, they really are tough to beat out there.

Thats very unlucky for the Dragons, good chance of an away win. Connacht did well to come back though.

Love sacks ! Ah well , an improvement on last season

I'd of taken the bonus so it's hard to complain.
Was wayne evans fit as he didn't come on? Surly having jonny e would have been better?

Interesting that con changed there front 3 and 8,9,10. Leach going of early - I'm assuming thats another injury!

Second choke in three weeks from in region in Galway, well done

When I read our fixture list I thought ouch.

Leinster, Munster and Connacht away in our first 4 weeks. We should have got more from the Leinster game and maybe tonights game but looking at it this way thats three hard places to go out of the way early doors

Well done Connacht.

But, I am gutted we blew a halftime lead, though of course I would have settled for the LBP before the game. Still, it's a big improvement on last year. Well done Dragons. Let's show a good performance at RP on Friday v Ulster and maybe get a win. A few Dragons supporters are putting the boot in on facebook, so I had to remind them of last year etc. Plus our record in Connacht is dire anyway. An LBP is a massive improvement and because of my views before the game, I will take it.

Apparently the half back replacements made all the difference for Connacht, plus for some reason we played a loosehead at tighthead for the last thirty or so. Considering the apparent weather conditions out there, I'm actually even happier with getting a point.

5 points from thefirst 4 games is what I expected. A win is a must v ulster and I thinkwe will be on course to finish 3rd region

How did O'Driscol do and the other new players do ?

How was Ashley Smith ?