Heineken Cup Round 2- Connacht v Harlequins TEAMS UP

First topic message reminder :

"The date Jan 20th is etched in our memory"

Connor O'Shea was pretty blunt post Biarritz about the game this week away at Connacht; I don't think any Harlequins fans will have forgotten their sides shock defeat last season away to the Irish province, but for the players it's still especially raw.

Connacht come in to this game off the back of a pretty solid away win against Zebre. Harlequins will be pleased to have got a little momentum with their bonus point win over Biarritz, both teams also met in the pre-season with Quins taking the spoils but that will count for little.

Connacht Team News

15 Robbie Henshaw, 14 Tiernan O'Halloran, 13 Eoin Griffin, 12 Dave McSharry, 11 Fetu'u Vainikolo, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Kieran Marmion, 8 George Naoupu, 7 Willie Faloon, 6 John Muldoon, 5 Mike McCarthy, 4 Michael Swift, 3 Nathan White, 2 Adrian Flavin, 1 Dennis Buckley.

Replacements: 16 Jason Harris Wright, 17 Brett Wilkinson, 18 Ronan Loughney, 19 Dave Gannon, 20 Johnny O'Connor, 21 Dave Moore, 22 Miah Nikora, 23 Mata Fifita.

Harlequins Team News

15 Mike Brown, 14 Tom Williams, 13 Matt Hopper, 12 Jordan Turner-Hall, 11 Sam Smith, 10 Ben Botica, 9 Danny Care, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Chris Robshaw, 6 Maurie Fa'asavalu, 5 George Robson, 4 Ollie Kohn, 3 James Johnston, 2 Rob Buchanan, 1 Joe Marler.

Replacements: 16 Dave Ward, 17 Mark Lambert, 18 Will Collier, 19 Charlie Matthews, 20 Tom Guest, 21 Karl Dickson, 22 Rory Clegg, 23 Seb Stegmann.]

Nick Evans is out for the next few weeks with an ankle injury, but new boy Ben Botica looked an able replacement with a clinical kicking boot and good vision running the show. You can bet that he'll get a tougher test of his credentials on Sat if he is selected by Connor.

Other then the change at 10 the backs should remain the same. Tom Williams seemed alright after his hip injury and George Lowe will still be out after his ankle surgery, leaving Mat Hopper at 13. EDIT Monye is out with an ankle injury so young dangerman Sam Smith comes in at 11

The pack should be unchanged from the Biarritz game, all came through unscathed and especially in the second half put in strong performances. Perhaps the only change we could see will be Tom Guest coming in for Mo Fa'Asavalu on a rotation policy.

And Connacht still lead, 16- 9, 26 mins gone by

And Quins score. And it's Danny Care. Again

Damn!

ChequeredJersey wrote:And Quins score. And it's Danny Care. Again

X2

Quins looked to be getting up a head of steam towards the end of the half, if they can keep the momentum going they will win this.

Score?

Connacht 19- Quins 24

Connacht need to sort their defence out quick! Quins are making up ground too easy.

ChequeredJersey wrote:Connacht 19- Quins 24

Cheers.

Connacht just scored a penalty, 22-24

ChequeredJersey wrote:Connacht just scored a penalty, 22-24

When they kick a try, let us know.

Pot Hale wrote:

ChequeredJersey wrote:Connacht just scored a penalty, 22-24

When they kick a try, let us know.

Will do

Biarritz get the bonus try against Zebre unsurprisingly.

24-12

Haven't seen/noticed him before, but Vainikolo has looked a great find for Connacht.

Shoite! What have I missed??? Score update please dudes??

Stream not working rodders?

Score is 22-30 to the Harlequins.

Yeah have stream Rory but there's no score or clock. How long left?

Penalties winning the day in quite a few matches this weekend.

Ah right, that is strange! About 13 minutes left.

One more try boys and my prediction will be correct, come on you Quins!

Cheers. Come on Connacht!

Hows the game been so far?

Too close for my comfort

Christ, Connor O'Shea wants to get his mileage out of our first team starters!

Don't want to take credit away from Connacht for the pressure they're applying, but what's happened to Harlequins' usual sort of game, where's the offloading that usually gives them so much impetus (evident against better sides than Connacht)? They're playing much more typical rugby, which isn't doing themselves any favours or playing to their strengths. I think playing away to Connacht has affected their mindset a lot more than they wanted us to believe.

Connacht clearly relish the European stage, great to see.

This ref is a barsteward

I don't even care a jot how we play today, I know we can play well, I just want to win

Chip ahead and attempt to beat the SH was hilarious by Easter.

Brilliant by Easter there.

Yeah, great one handed steal

Great effort from connacht. They deserved a LBP.

They have some future stars in their backline.

Well done Quins. Really good side and an outside bet for the title I think .

Devastated for Connacht. Thought on paper this was winnable but it wasn't to be. Hopefully they can win their remaining home games and go out on a high.

Well done Connacht. Got inside Quins' heads a bit there in the first half, and I think you've every chance of scalping Biarritz when they come and visiit

Is it over?

Yep, Connacht 22, Quins 30, unlucky not to get LBP

Yipes that was a gritty win!! Massive kudos to Connacht, edge of your seat stuff.

Care deserved man of the match, Easters carry & kick at the end was hilarious :p but Hopper seemed to have butter fingers today. I think after the Botica vs. Parks kick off we have a NEv second - rather unfortunate for poor Clegg though.

Connacht have some seriously good back rows, really made holes where there were none a few times and earned the right to play wide after great breakdown work. For an Irish 'development' side i think these guys are going to be a massive banana skin for anyone that underestimate them.

AlastairW wrote:Yipes that was a gritty win!! Massive kudos to Connacht, edge of your seat stuff.

Care deserved man of the match, Easters carry & kick at the end was hilarious :p but Hopper seemed to have butter fingers today. I think after the Botica vs. Parks kick off we have a NEv second - rather unfortunate for poor Clegg though.

Connacht have some seriously good back rows, really made holes where there were none a few times and earned the right to play wide after great breakdown work. For an Irish 'development' side i think these guys are going to be a massive banana skin for anyone that underestimate them.

they aren't an irish development side anymore. they are their own team with their own acadamey, their own players and fans. they can't be classified as a development team anymore.

Except the fact that they only receive a portion of the funding the othe provinces get, so they are their own club except financially

thebluesmancometh wrote:Except the fact that they only receive a portion of the funding the othe provinces get, so they are their own club except financially

connacht dont get near the amount of fans through the gates as the other provinces or sell near the same amount of merchandise, so of course they dont have as much money as the other provinces.

Or get as much from the IRFU!!!

thebluesmancometh wrote:Or get as much from the IRFU!!!

how much is each province getting?

100% of the pot with Connacht getting less!!!!

#Justice4Connacht

thebluesmancometh wrote:100% of the pot with Connacht getting less!!!!

the IRFU are pumping more money into connacht then ever before. It looks like its paying off.
3 years ago connacht had 400 season ticket holders. they now have over 3000.

Oh they have upped the funding in the last few seasons since I was there, but it is still nowhere near on par with the others.

Plus everytime a player shows any promise he's shipped off to one of the provinces, Carr, Cronin, Keatley etc...

thebluesmancometh wrote:Oh they have upped the funding in the last few seasons since I was there, but it is still nowhere near on par with the others.

Plus everytime a player shows any promise he's shipped off to one of the provinces, Carr, Cronin, Keatley etc...

What are you saying? that connacht is a development team?

The only reason Connacht is in the HEC to begin with is because one of the sides that get more IRFU money got them there - so there is a logic to the funding structure - as it's kinda self defeating to spread the funds evenly and always only have three sides involved because of little impact in the competition.

Connacht are gaining their seasons at the very top level of European rugby competition (a valuable experience that the side and their coach are grateful for) because of what their more well funded relatives have achieved.

Those guys weren't shipped anywhere they wanted to leave.

Other players like Muldoon for example have had the opportunity to join other provinces but opted to stay.

Of course they wanted to leave, they have ambitions to win things and well they arent going to do that at a sacrificed part funded dev team are they. The only reason they went to Connacht was for development!!

And the argument that Connacht should be gratefull for the provinces winning stuff that theyre in the HC is crazy, maybe theyd prefer to be competitive in their own right and take one of the HC spot?!

thebluesmancometh wrote:Of course they wanted to leave, they have ambitions to win things and well they arent going to do that at a sacrificed part funded dev team are they. The only reason they went to Connacht was for development!!

And the argument that Connacht should be gratefull for the provinces winning stuff that theyre in the HC is crazy, maybe theyd prefer to be competitive in their own right and take one of the HC spot?!

They went to connacht because they couldnt get gametime...

And they were offered short term contracts to get gametime, as soon as they developed they went to the other provinces.

thebluesmancometh wrote:

And the argument that Connacht should be gratefull for the provinces winning stuff that theyre in the HC is crazy, maybe theyd prefer to be competitive in their own right and take one of the HC spot?!

bluesman... playing regularly in the competition (much tougher competition but much more enjoyable for the players) will help them get there competitively much quicker than not being there.
Being there (no matter how unfair you think the IRFU structure is) means another Irish side helped them.
Being there helps them prove their worthiness as a 4th Province, helps them attract more sponsorship money, helps them attract better more ambitious players (guys who want a taste of HEC) and helps them pay their own way (as Leinster and Munster have been doing given that IRFU money still needs a team to go out and use that funding to actually win! Symbiosis.)

Connacht are not a development team, they are a team in development. If they rise higher and usurp one of the other three, then they'll begin to get the bulk of the funding and another side will have to fight on 'development' funds. The structure has been proving its success - it doesn't really need fans - all it needs is to perpetuate Provincial success so that IRFU funding increases and they in turn then have more money to give to all Provinces.