Edinburgh vs Connacht, 4th March 2016

Edinburgh Rugby   v   Connacht Rugby
Friday 4th March 2016, KO 19:35
BT Murrayfield

Edinburgh's only home defeat in any tournament this season was 14-16 to Munster in the Guinness PRO12 on 7 November.

Connacht have won their last five matches in all tournaments since their 18-21 defeat in Brive on 16 January.

The Irishmen have won their last two away games in the Guinness PRO12 and have not won three on the road in the competition since season 2002/03.

Edinburgh's only victory in their last four fixtures with Connacht was 16-13 in Galway in January 2015 whilst Connacht have been victorious on two of their last three visits to BT Murrayfield.

7.35pm. Live on BBC ALBA/TG4
Referee: Ben Whitehouse ( 19th competition game)
Assistant Referees: Sam Grove-White, Cammy Rudkin (both SRU)
Citing Commissioner: John Kirk (SRU)
TMO: Jim Yuille (SRU)

Head to Head

26  Played  26
14  Wins    10
10  Losses  14
2    Draws  2


Edinburgh
15 Kinghorn
14 Hoyland
13 Dean
12 Scott
11 Brown
10 Burleigh
9  SHC
8  Du Preez
7  Watson
6  Ritchie
5  B Toolis
4  Bresler
3  Andress
2 Cochrane
1  Sutherland

16 Turner
17 Dell
18 Berghan
19 A Toolis
20 Bradbury
21 Kennedy
22 Beard
23 Fife

Players not considered due to injury: Michael Allen (leg), Mike Coman (calf), Jack Cuthbert (knee), Grant Gilchrist (arm),Nasi Manu (neck), Fraser McKenzie (neck), Andries Strauss (knee and ankle) Jade Te Rure (knee) Grant Gilchrist (arm).

Absent on international duty: Alasdair Dickinson, Ross Ford, WP Nel, John Hardie, Stuart McInally

Connacht
15  Tiernan O’Halloran
14  Danie Poolman
13  Bundee Aki
12  Craig Ronaldson
11  Matt Healy
10  AJ MacGinty
9   Kieran Marmion

1   Denis Buckley
2   Tom McCartney
3   Nathan White
4   Quinn Roux
5   Aly Muldowney
6   Sean O’Brien
7   Jake Heenan
8   John Muldoon

Replacements:

16  Dave Heffernan
17  Finlay Bealham
18  Rodney Ah You
19  Danny Qualter
20  Eoin McKeon
21  Caolin Blade
22  Peter Robb
23  Fionn Carr

Injured/Unavailable: Shane Delahunt, Andrew Browne, Ben Marshall, Nepia Fox-Matamua, Eoghan Masterson, John Cooney, Jack Carty, Dave McSharry, Rory Parata, Darragh Leader, Niyi Adeolokun.

Ireland Squad: Ultan Dillane, Robbie Henshaw

Good to see Scott, Sutherland and Hidalgo-Clyne starting - the latter two will be desperate for some decent gametime!

Berghan being used as an impact sub again.

I have not seen much of Connacht (or recognise many of the players) yet, from my limited knowledge, that is a strong line-up.

Prefer Du Preez at 6 and after last weeks performance would have liked him there but Ritchie had a good last hour and it would have been harsh to drop him. Berghan on the bench is okay with me as long as he gets 30 minutes minimum. The Connacht scrum is meant to be crushing and would be a fantastic test for him. Cochrane was poor last week and is a bit underpowered in the scrum so he is lucky there is not really anyone else at the moment. He is usually solid and expecting a bounce back.

The backs are as good as it gets so overall happy with the line-up. Hope VC shows up to watch B Toolis and Watson. SHC needs to find form and will be desperate to show something.

Oddly enough, the bookies have us down as favourites for this.

Not sure I'm happy about SHC starting. Each time he's come back from being in the Scotland training squad he's been incredibly rusty and sometimes a bit chubby. Kennedy has not done anything bad in the last 2 games which is good for him.

des wrote:Oddly enough, the bookies have us down as favourites for this.  

Not sure I'm happy about SHC starting.  Each time he's come back from being in the Scotland training squad he's been incredibly rusty and sometimes a bit chubby.  Kennedy has not done anything bad in the last 2 games which is good for him.  

Am I right in saying ye have only lost 1 at home all season? I'd say that why favourites, but yeah that would be a strong Connacht squad, aside from Henshaw it is close to capacity

I think it will be a bridge too far but IF we were to get a win here, I'd say that is Top four close to in the bag.

Great to see a Connacht fan! i think there are only 3 of them on this forum

I think Edinburgh will do very well to win this, they were pretty lacklustre against the Scarlets and i think the West Irish side is better than the West Wales side, at least when internationalists are away.

Like many, absolutely puzzled over Andress continued selection, as for Connacht i'm extremely surprised Nathan White got released. They must fear the Edinburgh scrum

I like the Edinburgh side (good bench as well), and worth noting that only 5 of the 23 are NSQ, which is a positive balance.

My only query would be Dean over Beard, but I'm not going to moan about an opportunity being given to a young SQ centre, especially with Beard leaving at the end of the season.

VinceWLB wrote:Great to see a Connacht fan! i think there are only 3 of them on this forum

I think Edinburgh will do very well to win this, they were pretty lacklustre against the Scarlets and i think the West Irish side is better than the West Wales side, at least when internationalists are away.

Like many, absolutely puzzled over Andress continued selection, as for Connacht i'm extremely surprised Nathan White got released. They must fear the Edinburgh scrum

We are rare enough alright Vince! I've moved away from the west now so the Sportsground is a rare treat but hoping Connacht get through to the next round of the Challenge Cup, I'll be able to see them in London this year then. Thought about heading up for this game but employers decided I best stay put

Yeah surprised White has been released, but down to squeaky scrum time to paraphrase Sir Alex! That Edinburgh backline has some good fizz in it. Has Blair Kinghorn been starting much? Saw him for your u20s a while back and he looked ace.

I haven't seen much of Andress but if he is at the point of everpresent for Edinburgh I'm surprised none of the Irish provinces came in for him. Also congrats on snaffling Rory Scholes, he has been very strong this year for Ulster, and expect him to do well with Edinburgh!

Marshes wrote:

VinceWLB wrote:Great to see a Connacht fan! i think there are only 3 of them on this forum

I think Edinburgh will do very well to win this, they were pretty lacklustre against the Scarlets and i think the West Irish side is better than the West Wales side, at least when internationalists are away.

Like many, absolutely puzzled over Andress continued selection, as for Connacht i'm extremely surprised Nathan White got released. They must fear the Edinburgh scrum

We are rare enough alright Vince! I've moved away from the west now so the Sportsground is a rare treat but hoping Connacht get through to the next round of the Challenge Cup, I'll be able to see them in London this year then. Thought about heading up for this game but employers decided I best stay put  

Yeah surprised White has been released, but down to squeaky scrum time to paraphrase Sir Alex! That Edinburgh backline has some good fizz in it. Has Blair Kinghorn been starting much? Saw him for your u20s a while back and he looked ace.

I haven't seen much of Andress but if he is at the point of everpresent for Edinburgh I'm surprised none of the Irish provinces came in for him. Also congrats on snaffling Rory Scholes, he has been very strong this year for Ulster, and expect him to do well with Edinburgh!

He's off to Munster at the end of the season I beleive.

Andress is probably the 3rd best tighthead at Edinburgh but Berghan is young and developing. Solomons does not test players unless there are injuries and Andress stays healthy (a skill in of itself). He rarely wins a scrum and rarely loses one. He will give away 1 stupid penalty a game at ruck time and won't carry well. Perfectly good squad prop for when internationals are called up or injuries hit. He is meant to be off at the end of the season to Munster. Whether it has been confirmed or not is another issue.

Kinghorn started the last game and played pretty well. Needs to work on kicking out of hand but he can kick off the tee and Edinburgh are desperate for that. He joins the line often enough to be a threat from the limited bits I have seen (a few subs appearances, 80 minutes last game). Destructive at u20 level. High hopes for him to kick on at 10 or 15 and get into the Scotland squad in a couple of years time.

Pretty happy with that team, it's probably as strong as we can put out currently.

What i would say though is it's very young.

Avg age of the starting backs - 23
Avg age of the starting forwards - 25
Avg age of the starting 15 - 24.5

Hope the youngsters can cope.  I was critical of Solly in the past for not giving young players a chance, and I know his hand is forced somewhat with the 6 nations being on, but that is a young team with a number of Scottish players involved.

Yep, the make-up of the 23 is really encouraging from a Scotland perspective, and Solomons has (eventually) made good on this promise to get the youngers into the team. I'm starting to see the fuss over young Ritchie as well. He gave away some silly penalties in the last game but he's becoming more and more influential in a positive sense as well.

funnyExiledScot wrote:Yep, the make-up of the 23 is really encouraging from a Scotland perspective, and Solomons has (eventually) made good on this promise to get the youngers into the team. I'm starting to see the fuss over young Ritchie as well. He gave away some silly penalties in the last game but he's becoming more and more influential in a positive sense as well.

You do get the feeling that he is begining to trust his players a lot more now with a bit more rotation and using the bench. The changes from the bench pretty much won the game for them last week, something that never used to happen. Results have not always gone their way this season, but you do feel that edinburgh are in a better place. They could still be in the mix this year, especially if they win this game.

Good Edinburgh side and they have home advantage but I think that we are underselling a little how strong the boys from Galway have been this season and I think that the visitors will get the W in this game, although I would love to be proven wrong.

Is this game on TV can't find it on the schedule

Never mind it's on BBC2 Scotland

Just came on to say they've moved this to BBC 2. I went mental when I put on Alba and there was no rugger

Connacht 0-7 up.

Matt Scott off - looked like wrist damage.

Andress getting mullered at the scrum, hope Solomons is watching.

This Connacht scrum is very effective. Not many sides have taken Edinburgh this season

That's true Connacht have a complete package, strong up front and great handling in the backs, i think even Nel would struggle here.

0-14 down and Bresler in the bin.

Glad I switched this on.

Edinburgh lucky to only be 14 down. Connacht getting away with a lot of clearing out past the ruck and high tackles

Connacht defence very efficient and well organised. They don't commit many to rucks and just seem to fan out across the pitch at all times. Their rolling maul is a weapon too.

Just turned this on at the end there. Interesting score. Sounds like Connacht showing well, other than those high tackles.

Not massively inspiring stuff from Edinburgh, but you would have to say Connacht playing very well and well worthy of their lead.

Edinburgh looked a bit better the last 10 mins, so they really need to take advantage of the man advantage they will have.

Good to see a team of unheralded players playing so well together, unfortunately I don't mean Edinburgh!

WTF has happened to Clyne's kicking?

Absolutely bizarre. Aki wanders over unopposed.

In Edinburgh, tackling is clearly optional!

Tell you what. Stick yer high profile over paid "stars" Connacht are showing you what's possible with a good coach and a hard working squad that do what they do well.

Good game this, Edinburgh made of slightly stronger stuff these days and not going to roll over and die

Edinburgh lucky here, that was penalty Connacht at that scrum any day.

Cornell du Preez. He's like a combination of Denton, Strauss and Stuart Hogg.

Good score. Clyne has left 7 points out there now, which could be crucial.

Edinburgh getting their arses handed to them in the scrum.

Well, this is a game of two halves. I thought we were out of this at half time

This is a Pro 12 classic, great game this.

Watson slow to get off that scrum, TBP Connacht.

Should have kicked that penalty. We deserve a LBP at least for this second half.

And finally they did settle for a LBP.

Congrats Connacht, great win. What an amazing job Pat Lam has done.

That was an enjoyable game, for a few minutes in the 2nd half I thought Edinburgh could nick it. Well done Connacht they certainly justify their top spot.

Well done to the Galway laydeez.

Congrats Connacht, that was a great game.

Great though it was, that was really frustrating from an Edinburgh perspective. Connachts third and fourth tries should not have been allowed to happen. Two momentary lapses in concentration from the defence.

Why did it take us until 35 minutes to start playing?!?

Well done Connacht, everyone thought you would fade this season and they were wrong.

Decent second half from Edinburgh, but gave themselves far to much to do and unsurprisingly did not make it. Good to see them playing with a bit of ambition though. It is light years ahead of the past couple of years.

Great match to watch - a real see saw with Edinburgh coming back strongly in the second half.

Connacht get their third try bonus point in four games - table topping stuff.

Enjoyable game and good win for Connacht. Edinburgh deserved that bonus point at the end. Connacht are 6 points clear at the top but second place Leinster have 2 games in hand. Good to see an attacking oriented side topping the league again, like Glasgow last season.

Good game and well deserved win from Connacht. Not too unhappy with the LBP. Pleased with Hoyland and Allan.

funnyExiledScot wrote:Good game and well deserved win from Connacht. Not too unhappy with the LBP. Pleased with Hoyland and Allan.

Allan?

EWT Spoons wrote:

funnyExiledScot wrote:Good game and well deserved win from Connacht. Not too unhappy with the LBP. Pleased with Hoyland and Allan.

Allan?

His butler. Apparently he kept the Pimms flowing throughout the game, like any good footman should.

We need to stop giving teams massive leads at half time. Also we seem to play better in the 2nd half and this generally coincides with Berghan coming on. I'm not saying this is the sole reason but surely he's worth a start.

Well played Connacht, I think either team could have won that game (had SHC not missed his kicks) but Connacht did, so congratulations.