Connacht v Cardiff Blues

[An Tarbh]

<div align="center">Connacht v Cardiff Blues</div>

Connacht still hold slim hopes of picking up the final Irish Heineken cup spot although they'll be relying on results elsewhere going in their favour, add to that the none to easy task of beating this Blues side and one sees how stern a task Michael Bradley's side face.

For the visiters they're in an entirely different boat and still have an outside chance of taking the ***le although like Connacht they'll be relying on results elsewhere to help them out.

Xavier Rush is back to lead the Blues in a match that will see Deiniol Jones making his 100th appearance for the Blues. Robbie Morris returns to the Connacht side having missed the victory over the Dragons.

A win for Connacht will also see Leinster crowned champions.

Connacht: G Duffy; M Mostyn, M Deane, K Matthews, D Riordan; T Nathan, C McPhillips; B Wilkinson, A Flavin, R Morris; D Gannon, A Farley (capt); J Muldoon, J O'Connor, C Rigney.br />Replacements: J Fogarty, R Loughney, M McCarthy, R Ofisa, R Shaw, A Dunne, O Treviranus.

Blues: Ben Blair; Jamie Roberts, Tom Shanklin, Gareth Thomas, Tom James; Nicky Robinson, Jason Spice; Gethin Jenkins, T Rhys Thomas, Taufa¿ao Filise, Deiniol Jones, Scott Morgan, Maama Molitika, Martyn Williams, Xavier Rush (capt).
Replacements: John Yapp, Gareth Williams, Bradley Davies, Ben White, Mark Lewis, Richie Rees, Dai Flanagan.

Referee: Nigel Owens (WRU).

 

[Cymro]

Interesting to see the bench for the Blues, good to see Bradley Davies back in the mix!

 

[An Tarbh]

So all relatively easy for the Blues if the scoreboard is anything to go by, Connacht's slim European chances are now firmly gone while the Blues equally slim ***le chances remain intact.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Watching Connacht is torturous. They have no imagination - their only idea of a backline move is for the inside centre to crash it up the middle.

On commentary John Kelly said Gavin Duffy had a good game - I felt he was appalling. His handling was no better than schoolboy standard while he never fixed defenders with his passing. The shameful thing is that he was an outstanding prospect at schools level yet hasn't developed his talent since then. Danny Riordan and Conor O'Loughlin are other talented backs who are going nowhere fast. John Hearty was an excellent prospect as an u21 (playing in a world cup final) who has seen his career stall since moving west. For misusing talent like this Michael Bradley should be fired.

 

[An Tarbh]

Makes it all the more frightening then that the IRFU have such a high opinion of him.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Makes it all the more frightening then that the IRFU have such a high opinion of him. [/b]

Absolutely. It's not so much that Connacht are losing games that's the problem (they are woefully underfunded), it's the way they're losing. Zero imagination. Poor gameplans. Ridiculous levels of squad rotation.

I could be wrong but Connacht have only beaten one team away from home in the Magners League since 2004 as far as I'm aware - the now defunct Borders. That's pathetic.

 

[An Tarbh]

<div class='quotemain'> Makes it all the more frightening then that the IRFU have such a high opinion of him. [/b]

Absolutely. It's not so much that Connacht are losing games that's the problem (they are woefully underfunded), it's the way they're losing. Zero imagination. Poor gameplans. Ridiculous levels of squad rotation.

I could be wrong but Connacht have only beaten one team away from home in the Magners League since 2004 as far as I'm aware - the now defunct Borders. That's pathetic.
[/b][/quote]

well they got a last grasp win at the Dragons a couple of weeks ago but that's not saying much in fairness.

 

[Sir Speedy]

Looking at this, It's embarrassing to think that Llanelli lost here a few months ago...Blues still have a chance to win the ***le after this, but I can't see the Dragons winning away at Leinster.