Connacht v Harlequins, Discussions, Banter and teams.

The final match of pool 6 see's Irish newboys Connacht host English pace setters Harlequins at the Sportsground.

If Quins win this game then with a little luck they could get one of the runner up spots with a haul of 20 points. If they getting a winning bp then that's almost assured, although the men in quarters will have a little bit of hope riding on their fellow Englishmen of Gloucest that they can get one over heavy weights Toulouse and so potentially gift Quins the top spot in the pool.

Of course this is all assuming they get that win in Galway; Connacht have been tough opposition so far in this comp and don't let the lack of W's fool you, they've scared both the English clubs in their pool for long periods. Gloucester and Quins both had to come back from behind at home to them to manage wins in bitterly contested games Gloucester only managing to get ahead on the 74th minute. So even if the Irish team does lose on Fri I think they can be pleased with their showing in Europe this season.

Anyway on to my prediction, I can see this game being again very close and contested mostly through the physicality of the packs in what I assume will be mucky conditions. But with Harlequins extra experience in this comp and their place in the knock outs at stake I expect Robshaw and Evans to steer them to victory.

I'm going for Quins by 10 no try bp.

Love to see us win in our final HC match this season, especially in front of the home fans.

Think we'll put up a good fight, push Quins all the way.

Sadly cant see us winning this one, but I think we'll get a losing BP.

Come on Connacht do your auld Northern pals a favour!!

Anything to help out another province.

Would it effect Ulster if Connacht win?

Do you think Connacht will play their strongest team for this game? I think Quins will definitely have their strongest 23 out for this.

Yes because quins and Ulster are both in the running for a QF runners up spot. Quins need to win to have a shot as Ulster are on 19pts and quins on 17.

I think Connacht will put out strongest team possible.

Would be great to get our first HC win.

Westies if you win I promise to spend double my budget when I am in Connemara for a week this August - the least I can do

Who are Ulster playing?

Clermont.......away....

Ouch, well do you mind if I don't wish you good luck. Still either way one of us will probably drop in to the Amlin and that's a far better comp then it used to be.

Not really off topic, but Glaws have announced their team, which is basically full strength. So good luck Yappy et al, I genuinely hope we do you a favour

Jonny May; Charlie Sharples, Mike Tindall, Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu, James Simpson-Daniel; Freddie Burns, Rory Lawson; Nick Wood, Scott Lawson, Rupert Harden; Jim Hamilton, Alex Brown; Alasdair Stroskoch, Akapusi Qera, Luke Narraway (capt)

Replacements:

Darren Dawidiuk, Dan Murphy, Shaun Knight, Will James, Matt Cox, Dave Lewis, Ryan Mills, Henry Trinder

Good luck Glaws. It's only Toulouse - you nearly had them in round 1 and we showed that if you're not intimidated by the cap-count they are beatable. If not beastable, which is what I nearly typed.

Harlequins team to face Connacht:

15. Mike Brown
14.Ugo Monye
13. Matt Hopper
12. Jordan Turner-Hall
11. Sam Smith
10. Nick Evans
9 Danny Care
1 Joe Marler
2 Chris Brooker
3 James Johnston
4 Tomas Vallejos
5 George Robson
6 Maurie Fa'asavalu
7 Chris Robshaw
8 Nick Easter
Replacements
16 Joe Gray
17 Mark Lambert
18 Tim Fairbrother
19 Olly Kohn
20 Luke Wallace
21. Richard Bolt
22. Rory Clegg
23. Tom Casson

Quins team is pretty much the same as usual. No real surprises there.

Two unusual moves in the squad - Olly Kohn on the bench rather than starting (but only his second game back from a serious bicep injury, so not surprising) and Ugo moved to 14 to accommodate Sam Smith at 11.

Tom Williams, who would have been in the squad, is reportedly out because his first child is due this weekend (congratulations, Tom), and Tom Guest has had a reaction of some sort in the arm he broke at the LDH. We'll look forward to welcoming them both back - hopefully over the 6N period.

Speaking about Connacht briefly, I was at the Stade Toulouse v Connacht match and they more than held their own.

Their defence was excellent however, they looked suspect when teams kicked in behind them. Their opening two tries they conceded were all due to not dealing with a grubber and crossfield kick respectively. However run at them and they are ready for you.

They were dreadful in the scrum. Dylan Rogers was apalling and is the only change from last weeks team. Interestingly I read that Wayne Barnes maintained that the reason a yellow didn't come out was due to the fact they were unable to cope rather than choosing to offend.

Their lineout was actually quite good throughout the match. They lost the first throw but after that not a single blip and they managed to disrupt the Toulouse ball a bit. However I felt that whenever Niall O'Connor kicked for touch there was always a Toulouse back three player underneath it to call 'mark'.

However O'Connor distributed well getting the backline moving quite well. They came close on a number of occasions and Dave McSharry butchered a certain try. Decision making in attack is lacking.

Connacht look like a side who if they raise their game can give any team a good run for their money. I don't think they have it in them to get a win on Friday though.

At face value its hard to see anything other than a Quins win but I have a sneaking suspicion that Connacht could actually cause an upset. As Stag said above, Connacht on their day can make life hard for anyone - as they did last week.
To me Quins looked jaded last week against Glaws. Since December they have had a nightmare fixture list - all games where it really was not possible to rest players, Toulouse twice, Sarries, Saints, Glaws in must win HC - with Exeter away being the remaining fixture. Such a fixture list would test any squad. Sportsground can be a tough place to go, especially if the weather ain't good!!

Quins have looked jaded for the last couple of weeks, but if Conor can't get them motivated for Friday then he might as well pack up and go home.

Firstly, a win more or less secures an Amlin QF at the very least, and ups the pressure on all of the other sides competing for a HEC runner-up spot.

Secondly, there are 10 players in the Quins squad who have involvement in the EPS (Robshaw, Brown, JTH, Marler), Saxons (Robson, Brooker, Gray, Monye) or a point to prove about not being selected (Care, Easter). This is their first opportunity since the squads were announced to prove that they are worth their places.

Thirdly, O'Shea loves to get in a win in Ireland. Ask Munster.

The big question marks are over a few key players; Robson and Evans have been carrying knocks - will they have recovered fully in the last week? Care has now received his ban and fine - will he now be able to put it behind him and get back to himself on the pitch?

Interesting to see how many players Toulouse are missing, too. Glaws played far better last week than they did earlier in the season and are fielding pretty much a full first XV. Toulouse still have, I think, 6 internationals in their backline. That'll be a game to watch.

Yeah we had a great chane to go 10-5 up on sat.

Duffy was totally unmarked.

This has been a learning experience for us. Ok 6 defeats(if we loose fri) isnt what we wanted obviously, but have been impressed with some of our play.

Was gonna go with 3 of my mates (only 1 of them another connacht fan), but couldnt get tickets, bit tricky living this side of the Irish sea.

Westibest get on the Connacht Email list they are one of the best at giving you advanced ticket notice, as indeed are Quins.

Ok, cheers.

Was over in skibb last week in October for family reunion.

Had a word with the Connacht members of the family and asked them to see if they could get any, thy're not big fans of rugby, but know people who are and they said it was pretty tough.

Didint think of that so will do that, try and get to a few games next season.

Hope to be back in Roscommon over the summer, so will check it out.

Good luck Glos, you can definitely beat Toulouse or indeed beast them if you want... believe!

Quins team is looking strong, Johnston needs another massive game in the scrums for us to get the pressure up on Connacht. After that the backs need to click like they were up until December and keep using the posssesion that we get.

I'm looking for a masterclass from Evans to show that last match was just a blip, and all the England lads (plus Care) to prove they deserve their places and give us one more effort before we lose them for a bit

Yea a big game from Evans, Brown and Easter would be nice they're the axis that really allow us to play our attacking game and when they're running hot then we're near impossible to stop.

Not convinced on Valejos though, he gives away a lot of silly pens and for me isn't bulky enough for our engine room when we have Robson there.

Connacht team.

1 Brett Wilkinson
2 Adrian Flavin
3 Ronan Loughney
4 Michael Swift
5 Mike McCarthy
6 John Muldoon
7 Ray Ofisa
8 George Naoupu

9 Paul O'Donohoe
10 Nial O'Conner
11 Tiernan O'Halloran
12 Dave McSharry
13 Kyle Tonetti
14 Fetu Vainikolo
15 Gavin Duffy (c)

16, Ethienne Reyneke, 17, Dennis Buckley, 18, Dylan Rogers, 19, Mike Kearney, 20, Eoin McKeon 21, Dave Moore, 22, Miah Nikora, 23 Henry Faafili.

Yappy - I'm not convinced about Vajellos either, I'm guessing that Kohn is being drip fed back after injury.

Tom Williams has been looking sharp in the last few games - its a shame he is away for this one, but congrats to him and the Mrs.

I rather suspect that this is going to be a real slog fest. Hopefully Quins have enough in the tank to scrape a win, but i cant see a bonus point coming!
It will be interesting to see if O'Shea picks a strong side for the upcoming LV fixtures, or will he rest the chaps and put out the A's?

Can someone pm me with a link for this match please?

asoreleftshoulder wrote:Can someone pm me with a link for this match please?

Yeah same here please! Would really appreciate it! And maybe one for the Gloucester Toulouse match too?

Go to your inboxes both of youse and with these you will be sorted for ever more.

Thanks a lot Thomond you're a star.

I'm serious by the way keep the links and you will be sorted from lacrosse (a cross between hurling and hockey, looks pretty class!)to Usbekistani television.

Nice one Thomond brilliant man cheers!

So apparently the weather in Galway is atrocious. Think that helps the odds of an upset?

Come on westies! Weather looks like it'll suit connacht! Big from us in wee Ulster!

This should be a good one. First penalty to the Connachtians. Lovely mist covering the lens but you can see the ball split the sticks. 3-0 to the men in green. N

Am surprised Sky hasn't shown their 'as it stands table' yet.........does anyone else find that annoying!

Quins have the strength upfront and win a penalty but with the wind against kick for territory. Danny care looking lively. Pick n goes by the pack into the 22' ball goes out but great tackle. Quins still have it and they' re driving towards line. Marler takes the ball and is double tackled with a thump. Out the ball goes again to Smith and he goes over. Evans to convert and the ball spills as he runs so he quickly picks up and drop kicks but it goes wide. 5-3 to Quins.

Dusatouir touches down for Toulouse and its converted. 7-7 versus Gloucester. Table as it stands is Toulouse 20 qualified with Quins also on 20.

connacht offside at nearly every ruck so far and how the ref missed the high tackle?

Pot Hale wrote:Dusatouir touches down for Toulouse and its converted. 7-7 versus Gloucester. Table as it stands is Toulouse 20 qualified with Quins also on 20.

Will that be enough for a runner up spot?

Connacht, 'like a bunch of Hyenas'

20 points might be - too early to tell.

Toulouse have a penalty and Beauxis nails it. Gloucester 7-10 Toulouse.

Quins going thought he phases and holding on. On the halfway line.

And now Matanavou goes over for Toulouse and Beauxis converts. 7-17 to Toulouse.

Connacht taking full advantage of having the wind behind them and turning Quins with long kicks to touch.

Quins win line out and Evans kicks downfield for touch from a penalty awarded. They hold the ball and look to grind it forward. Out the back line and the backs look to crash through. In the 22, but it's slow going. Penalty to Quins. Will they kick for posts? Nope, they're going for touch.
They take cleanly and maul forward. The ball spurs loose and a big lanky Connacht picks up and gives the ball a lash with his boot somewhere forward. It's picked up by Quins but it's knocked forward by them. Scrum on the 22 to Connacht. Oh and Nigel gave out to people.

5 metre scrum to Quins after a great tussle with Connacht. Can they drive them over the line?

They drive and win. Penalty. Another scrum? Yes sir. Penalty try coming up?

Connacht do better this time, the ball squirts back and Quins knock it forward. Advantage played and Connacht hoof it upfield.

any links anyone?

can anyone answer this? DO they get the offside at the ruck? and join from the backfoot?

Connacht win a scrap on the ground - dodgily? - and o'Donohue kicks upfield into touch. Connacht infringe at the line out and penalty to Quins. Line out on the 30m mark.

Meanwhile Gloucester get a try back and it's 14-17 in Kingsholm.

Connacht meanwhile have Quins struggling in their 22.

Break in the game and a Connacht fan runs onto the field with a bag full of blood capsules for the Quins players to drink from.

Connacht just have plain old water.