Connacht v Samoa 9/11/10

[TRF_Olyy]

Samoa 7s try was down to, frankly, shocking defence by Connacht.
The Connacht 7s runs up out of the line for some reason (the ball was nowhere near to being thrown) and the other Connacht defender on the left of the ruck was holding onto one of the Samoan players, so there was a massive hole the Samoa 7 just ran down

Good match so far though, Connacht holding their own much more than I thought they would! As Peat said, I reckon Samoa will win, but am not counting out Connacht

 

[Peat]

60 minutes in and Samoa's second yellow card! The first was a deliberate knock on by the scrummie in Samoa's 22, Connacht could only get a penno in at that time. Samoa missed one just at the end of the period. 12 scored a lovely try a moment ago, its not 19-22 and the hooker got yellowed for a high tackle on Willis.

Connacht now 10 m and imo lucky not to be down to 13 another high tackle but then Griffin was gong low.

 

[Peat]

Almost over, 26-22, Muldoon scored. Griffin MotM and I have to say I am big time impressed. There's been a lot of hyped young Irish centres and this one is right up there.

edit: And all over.

 

[coonor]

A famous win for Connacht. The back three were impressive. Willis was good and so was the scrum half that replaced him. Griffin was brilliant. the scrum and lineout worked very well. Muldoon controlled everything well when he came on. A great experience for some of the young guys and this could be a great boos for Connacht.

 

[Sam Owen]

6-10 after 20 minutes, Samoa's 8 got the only try so far although Samoa came verrrrry close from a charge down. Great inside ball for their try. Very physical so far. Connacht come close on occasion.

16-17 at half time, there's a game on here. Connacht brought it to 9-10 with another penalty, personally feel the ref might be having a word there. Samoa's 14 set up some lovely position with a great run when returning, nearly bunded the Connacht 13 Griffin over his line, bit later the Samoa 7 spots a hole in the fringe defence and is on, 17-9. Connacht struck back more or less straight away with lovely hands down the backs, in particular Griffin's draw and give followed by Nathan's inside ball were good for Tuohy to score.

For me its the Connacht backs standing out, slightly harsh as there's plenty of other good players on the pitch - but Willis is a slippery little weasel, Monahan and Tuohy both look reasonably useful. Griffin in particular impresses me, he's only 20 but can tackle, has nice hands and a good step. Very useful player. Thought it in the JWC and think it now. Reckon Samoa will win this, but could be in for a scare.

Hope this helps Sam. Samoa's full-back has been counterattacking well for my money, and the forwards are going well but too quick for me to get numbers!

Samoa 7s try was down to, frankly, shocking defence by Connacht.
The Connacht 7s runs up out of the line for some reason (the ball was nowhere near to being thrown) and the other Connacht defender on the left of the ruck was holding onto one of the Samoan players, so there was a massive hole the Samoa 7 just ran down

Good match so far though, Connacht holding their own much more than I thought they would! As Peat said, I reckon Samoa will win, but am not counting out Connacht

60 minutes in and Samoa's second yellow card! The first was a deliberate knock on by the scrummie in Samoa's 22, Connacht could only get a penno in at that time. Samoa missed one just at the end of the period. 12 scored a lovely try a moment ago, its not 19-22 and the hooker got yellowed for a high tackle on Willis.

Connacht now 10 m and imo lucky not to be down to 13 another high tackle but then Griffin was gong low.

Almost over, 26-22, Muldoon scored. Griffin MotM and I have to say I am big time impressed. There's been a lot of hyped young Irish centres and this one is right up there.

edit: And all over.

A famous win for Connacht. The back three were impressive. Willis was good and so was the scrum half that replaced him. Griffin was brilliant. the scrum and lineout worked very well. Muldoon controlled everything well when he came on. A great experience for some of the young guys and this could be a great boos for Connacht.

Thanks guys, because of your posts I got a fair Idea of how the game went.

Dissapointed we loss though and a little bit frusterated :wall:
but good on Connacht.

Thanks again brothers.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

While I don't want to take anything away from a good win for Connacht, Samoa playing a quarter of the match a man down will certainly have had an effect on it!
I imagine there'll be highlights (the tries, at least) on rugby dump tomorrow/the day after

 

[Peat]

I think if Samoa had been at full strength all the way through they'd have won it. I think Samoa were definitley on top in the forwards battle most of the time, will be interesting to see the stats as a lot of the time they seemed to have more of the ball... that second sin binning killed it, shortly afterwards Connacht were able to score from a close in scrum and you got the feeling it buoyed Connacht enough to see it through. Seemed to be a lot of tired legs out there for Samoa at the end too. Ultimately discipline cost Samoa the game, you can't give away that many close penalties and that many yellows. Take nothing awa from Connacht though. Played well and deserved it.

 

[Shaggy]

I think if Samoa had been at full strength all the way through they'd have won it. I think Samoa were definitley on top in the forwards battle most of the time, will be interesting to see the stats as a lot of the time they seemed to have more of the ball... that second sin binning killed it, shortly afterwards Connacht were able to score from a close in scrum and you got the feeling it buoyed Connacht enough to see it through. Seemed to be a lot of tired legs out there for Samoa at the end too. Ultimately discipline cost Samoa the game, you can't give away that many close penalties and that many yellows. Take nothing awa from Connacht though. Played well and deserved it.

Yeah, Samoa did looked a little bit tired towards the end, but as previously mentioned, they did play a significant part of the game with 14 players. I think the right team won on the day

 

[ranger]

The Samoan coaching staff got a bit too cute there.. I see the value of picking one or two left-field local players, but that side they put out was shocking. Only a handful of those players could make a case for the top 22.

They underestimated Connacht and deserved what they got. Hopefully they will show the rest of the teams on tour a bit more respect and try to keep the core the same.

 

[isaac4leinster]

This was a Samoa A team versus a Connacht A team, it hard to take much from the match. I presume that we will see a 'relatively' full strength Samoa team on Saturday, though they will stripped of their best players. Have Mapususa, any of Tualagis (I know Alesana is serving a ban), Tagithakenbai etc in the squad or were they released by the clubs?

 

[Peat]

The Samoan coaching staff got a bit too cute there.. I see the value of picking one or two left-field local players, but that side they put out was shocking. Only a handful of those players could make a case for the top 22.

They underestimated Connacht and deserved what they got. Hopefully they will show the rest of the teams on tour a bit more respect and try to keep the core the same.

They had to I feel. I mean, they could have played their first choice XV and let Connacht soften them up for Ireland, in which case they'd have probably lost the game against Ireland. That was always going to be a junior team.

The worrying thing is that was a very junior team for Connacht too. No Duffy, Keatley, Murphy, Matthews, Carr, JOC, Cronin, Hagan, Wilkinson and few others I can't remember off hand. Griffin played U20 rugby last year McKeon that started will play it this year... the main thing to take from this match is that there are a lot of strong, confident young lads at Connacht with their hands up to play a part in the season.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Connacht played a similar team against an Italian side in the Amlin Cup and lost. To beat Samoa/Samoa A is a great result but you can't really read anything into the game. It should boost their backups confidence though.

 

[coonor]

I think there were times where Samoa played with some good skill and showed why there so good at sevens however Connacht played well and this will go down in Histroy as the lowly Irish province of Connacht beating Samoa, an international team.

 

[ranger]

They had to I feel. I mean, they could have played their first choice XV and let Connacht soften them up for Ireland, in which case they'd have probably lost the game against Ireland. That was always going to be a junior team.

The worrying thing is that was a very junior team for Connacht too. No Duffy, Keatley, Murphy, Matthews, Carr, JOC, Cronin, Hagan, Wilkinson and few others I can't remember off hand. Griffin played U20 rugby last year McKeon that started will play it this year... the main thing to take from this match is that there are a lot of strong, confident young lads at Connacht with their hands up to play a part in the season.

Nah man they need to be sending in their top side as much as possible. I don't think its a case of being "softened up" at all.
Samoa is a very changable side, what they need going into world cup year is a bit of consistancy. They need to develop partnerships and combinations. Sending in an absolute B team is not the way to do it, they should really have 10 firstchoice players in any team, and rotate the inexperienced players in. Its no use playing a team of strangers against anyone.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Highlights there for those that are interested
Think the yellow for the high tackle was a little harsh, the Connacht player had tripped and was on his way down when the tackle came in, would've been chest high if he hadn't fallen

 

[Sam Owen]

Thanks Olyy, much appreciated.