HC round 2 - Munster vs Perpignan and Toulouse vs Connacht

First topic message reminder :

No thread, so thought I might as well make one.

Munster: Felix Jones; Keith Earls, Casey Laulala, James Downey, Johne Murphy; Ian Keatley, Conor Murray; Dave Kilcoyne, Damien Varley, Stephen Archer; Donncha O'Callaghan, Paul O'Connell; Peter O'Mahony (capt), Sean Dougall, James Coughlan.
Replacements: Duncan Casey , James Cronin, BJ Botha, Billy Holland, CJ Stander, Cathal Sheridan, JJ Hanrahan, Denis Hurley

Perpignan: James Hook (capt); Joffrey Michel, Tommaso Benvenuti, Watisoni Votu, Sofiane Guitoune; Camille Lopez, Tom Ecochard; Sebastien Taofifenua, Romain Terrain, Paulica Ion; Luke Charteris, Guillaume Vilaceca' Jean-Pierre Perez, Alasdair Strokosch, Justin Purll
Replacements: Maxime Delonca, Kisi Pulu, Jean Baptiste Custoja, Sebastien Vahaamahina, Dewaldt Duvenage, Tommy Allan, Richard Haughton, Dan Leo,

Pot Hale wrote:You suspect the quality on the benches is going to make the difference in the Connacht match.  Tired legs are going to tell.

You jest, me Gavin Duffy is on. It's in the bag  

Why was that a penalty to Toulouse surely it was just a knock on? Looks like they might have scored from it

I can't see a grounding?????? This bloody tmo

Ref has cost connacht that. That was not a penalty from the knock on

Couldnt see a grounding either. What did the ref ask?

Wow - this Leicester match is full of try scoring. And TMO decisions.

Montpellier lose a try-scoring opportunity for a forward pass.

35-25 with ten minutes left.

Parks gets a simple drop goal attempt - and fluffs it.

Toulouse 14-16 Connacht with ten minutes left.

Gonna be a tight finish.

If this is ireland New Zealand all over again i will cry

Connacht take advantage of a knock on and kick right up to the try line for a throw in.

They catch. Attack. Toulouse drive them back. They're losing ground. Now on the 22.

But back come the men from the West. Keeping the ball. Punching through for the hard yards.

Late tackle surely??

Who expected this one to be so tense? Although we should have - Connacht dragged Saracens close to the edge too. Hang in there this time

That wasnt a knock on!!

Henshaw came of age. Hope the injury is minot

Come on Keep patient now...keep shape

Penalty kick to Connacht. This could be the clincher. A five point margin beckons for Parks.

And he misses.

Two minutes to go.

Connacht defending like dervishes.

Ive never seen a dervish tackle but they must be good at it.

30 seconds to go.

Tuslouse looking for the penalty as they work their way up field.

Time up.

Next dead ball.

Wonderful stuff!

Connacht you complete legends!  

What a weekend for irish rugby!

Yyyyyyedsssssss!!!!!!

Fully deserved unbelievable!!

Biggest upset in Heineken cup history?

And they've done it.

Connacht have beaten Toulouse.

In Toulouse. Brilliant result.

Connacht need a new flyhalf that 'runs' a game and they won't be sitting at the bottom. I'm not being hard on Parks but Connacht play to a syle that need a different flyhalf

Blimey Connacht - well done!  

Wow! Amazing result! If there was a result and a performance to make up for that ABs defeat that was it! What a show of commitment at the end!

   
Well done lads, didnt watch the game wish I had. What an incredible result.

Agree 100% fly. The biggest thig for me was the patience at the end. Lads being very careful not to give penalties at breakdown. And we ran everything. I love it. Now we need to sort out our rabo performances. Also, our scrum was so steady. Everyone competed at the breakdown.

Fully deserved too as i thought their 2nd try should have been awarded and the penalty leading to Toulouse try wasn't a penalty.

Connacht , historic result. This is Ireland's year!

Leicester get their five points against Montpellier.

Wonder what the odds are on Connacht getting a result next weekend at the Sportsground?

Well done lads!

To think between decisions and out misses what the margin might have been is amazing.

rodders wrote:Wow! Amazing result! If there was a result and a performance to make up for that ABs defeat that was it! What a show of commitment at the end!

Yeah this weekend has been some shot in the arm after that sickener of a result.Thumping wins for Leinster,Ulster and Munster before Connacht pull off the mother of all upsets.The best thing about it was they didn't do it by kicking everything and scoring in 3's they played some seriously good rugby and defended really well.

WOW!!! Well done Connacht!!

Well Done Munster! Wins for all four of the Provinces  

wolfball wrote:Agree 100% fly. The biggest thig for me was the patience at the end. Lads being very careful not to give penalties at breakdown. And we ran everything. I love it. Now we need to sort out our rabo performances. Also, our scrum was so steady. Everyone competed at the breakdown.

The key thing was the aggression and line speed in defence in that last 90 seconds, Connacht were out on their feet but they refused to allow Toulouse into drop goal/penalty range - it was heroic , the stuff of legend.

It all needs to be repeated now.  No I'm not isolating Connacht.  The Irish consistency thing must be dealt with by all sides now in readiness for the same efforts next week.

Connacht are under less pressure to repeat than the others but they certainly now have a bigger carrot than the other three!  A double win against Toulouse would really bulk up the confidence levels.

Some bad/good results over the weekend.

Castres bore Ospreys to death.
Cardiff duke it out with Glasgow and win.
Quins demolish Racing Metro.
Ulster demolish Treviso.
Leicester win a humdinger against Montpellier.
Clermont dispatch Scarlets.
Saracens romp against Zebre
Toulon scrape home against Exeter.
Leinster stun Northampton
Gloucester tough it out against Edinburgh
Munster demolish Perpignan
Connacht shock Toulouse.

We need to beat Toulouse at home. None of this heroic minnow nonsense. Show the heads of European rugby we are worth our place.

Rodders: The key thing was the aggression and line speed in defence in that last 90 seconds, Connacht were out on their feet but they refused to allow Toulouse into drop goal/penalty range - it was heroic , the stuff of legend.

Yeah, the line speed was sensational time and time again.  And as all guys are saying - there was no panic in it - it was doing a job they drilled themselves to do and they stuck to it even as the time ran down and nerves might have hit them.

You already have woftball in my eyes. I'm not sure Connacht need to prove anymore that they deserve to be there. Anybody who thinks orherwise is deluded.

Noves will look at that line speed though and try to design feints to outwit it now. So training will have to be alive to what Toulouse will have learned from this encounter and try to anticipate it

Bloody hell! Just seen the score, well played Connacht
Bottom of the Rabo v 2nd in the Top14 what a shocker!

Hope this is enough to stop yet more Connacht player pilfering from the other provinces.
Yes they are having a tough season but left to develop and they will start to provide a decent number of internationals.

Why have their league results been so poor this year? I didn't think they had it in them to beat Toulouse.

I think I'd be much more surprised that they can't seem to get wins in Pro12 more than I'd genuinely be surprised at this win.

No, I didn't expect them to beat Toulouse, I'm not going that far.  But I regard them much more as a side that can win these kinds of games than the side that can't seem to win in Pro12.

I think a few player changes and their fortunes in Pro12 would change quite dramatically

SecretFly wrote:I think I'd be much more surprised that they can't seem to get wins in Pro12 more than I'd genuinely be surprised at this win.

No, I didn't expect them to beat Toulouse, I'm not going that far.  But I regard them much more as a side that can win these kinds of games than the side that can't seem to win in Pro12.

I think a few player changes and their fortunes in Pro12 would change quite dramatically

They had Henshaw at 15 which wasn't the case in a lot of their pro 12 game, with the exception of Poolman and Faloon (but he is not better than Heenan) they had a full team out today.

Really think a player like Madigan would suit this Connacht team perfectly. If they had someone like that I think they would be a mid table team atm. Not that I'm blaming Parks for their position but his style doesnt really suit the rugby they play.

wolfball wrote:We need to beat Toulouse at home. None of this heroic minnow nonsense. Show the heads of European rugby we are worth our place.

Would much prefer you to beat Sarries, just so I can read all the hilarious excuses on here from their No.1 fan .