Connacht V Edinburgh

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Connacht V Edinburgh

At Sportsground, 7.35pm
Live on TG4 Deferred on BBC Alba (being shown 'live' after the Glasgow game at 9:30pm)

Referee: Leighton Hodges (WRU, 47th competition game)
Assistant Referees: Andy Brice, Olly Hodges (both IRFU)
Citing Commissioner: Gordon Black (IRFU)
TMO: Dermot Moloney (IRFU)

Previous meetings

12/9/14 Edinburgh Rugby 13 - 14 Connacht Rugby 3,777
15/2/14 Connacht Rugby 11 - 7 Edinburgh Rugby 4,038
29/11/13 Edinburgh Rugby 43 - 10 Connacht Rugby 3,515

Form

1/1/15 Connacht 24 - 16 Munster 7,745
26/12/14 Ulster 13 - 10 Connacht 17,107
19/12/14 Leinster 21 - 11 Connacht 16,007

2/1/15 Edinburgh 20 - 8 Glasgow 15,810  
27/12/14 Glasgow 16 - 6 Edinburgh 6,945
19/12/14 Edinburgh 48 - 0 Treviso 2,768

Official blurb

Pro 12 website wrote:Connacht 's two game losing run in the Guinness PRO12 ended with their momentous victory over Munster on New Year's day.

Connacht have won their last five games in all tournaments at the Sportsground and are unbeaten there in all eight games this season.  

Edinburgh Rugby's only defeat in their last five fixtures in all competitions came at Glasgow Warriors in the first leg of the 1872 Cup clash. Edinburgh's only victory on the road in their last nine away games in the PRO12 came when they visited Munster on the opening round this season - their only victory over an Irish province since December 2013.

Connacht have won three of their last four encounters with Edinburgh and, following their 14-13 victory at Murrayfield in round 2, they are seeking a first ever league double over the Scotsmen. Edinburgh's only victory in Galway in their last five visits since 2008 was 24-23 in December 2012.

Teams

Connacht

15. Mils Muliaina
14. Darragh Leader
13. Robbie Henshaw
12. Bundee Aki
11. Danie Poolman
10. Miah Nikora
9. Kieran Marmion

1. Denis Buckley
2. Tom McCartney
3. Rodney Ah You
4. Quinn Roux
5. Aly Muldowney
6. John Muldoon (captain)
7. Willie Faloon
8. Eoin McKeon

Replacements:

16. Dave Heffernan
17. Ronan Loughney
18. Finlay Bealham
19. Ultan Dillane
20. George Naoupu
21. John Cooney
22. Jack Carty
23. Dave McSharry


Edinburgh

15 Jack CUTHBERT
14 Dougie FIFE
13 Matt SCOTT
12 Phil BURLEIGH
11 Tim VISSER
10 Greig TONKS
9 Sam HIDALGO-CLYNE

1 Alasdair DICKINSON
2 Ross FORD (Captain)
3 WP NEL
4 Anton BRESLER
5 Ben TOOLIS
6 Roddy GRANT
7 Hamish WATSON
8 David DENTON

Substitutes
16 Neil COCHRANE
17 Rory SUTHERLAND
18 John ANDRESS
19 Fraser McKENZIE
20 Tomas LEONARDI
21 Sean KENNEDY
22 Jade TE RURE
23 Andries STRAUSS

They've got the anglo-welsh cup I suppose.

Connacht really slipped up badly here, Lam better get the focus right for the remainder of the season or they will undo all the good work so far!

Connacht had 3 extremely hard fixtures prior to this game, which they all played at full strength. Ultimately they couldn't sustain their energy level for the Edinburgh game.

An astonishing stat in today's Scotsman:

THE importance of defence to the recent transformation in Edinburgh’s fortunes is illustrated by the statistic which tells us that in their first nine games of this season (up to the break for the autumn international window) they managed four wins and a draw and conceded 27 tries at an average of three per match.

Compare that to the eight matches they have played since hostilities resumed, in which they have managed six wins, and conceded just seven tries at an average of 0.875 per match.

You can add to that stat in that the last two games the opposition have scored no points in the second half.

Interestingly, this change in fortune has also coincided with Omar leaving and Stevie Scott taking over defence.  He says it is not down to him but the foundations that have been put in place, but he's obviously doing a good job at it.

Edinburgh's coaching staff are actually pretty lean - I think all the have is:

Alan Solomons - Head coach / attack coach

Stevie Scott - Forwards / defence

Random French guy - skills (is he even still there?)

Head of S&C


And that's it! The only people you see in the coaches box during games are Solomons and Scott.

Not to p*ss on anyone's chips, but it's probably worth noting that of the 6 wins, 2 of them have been against London Welsh and 1 of them was against a Trevisio team who were a shambles.

Not saying that things haven't improved because the team performed well against Glasgow and Connacht, but when half the wins are against two of the worst teams around then it's not a huge improvment

That is very true - the next 6 games will be a true test of where we are just now.

It's a good point. How we get on against the two French sides and the Ospreys will show us if the improvements can be sustained. The first win against LW involved probably the worst 40 minutes I've ever seen from Edinburgh. That first half at Murrayfield was utterly abysmal, and it wasn't that long ago.

Smashing the soap dodgers was fun, but we need to now go on a run and win the next three, then I'll reconsider participating in the petition for Solomons' P45.

Edinburgh have announced that the home game against the Ospreys will be at Myreside, as Murrayfield will be used for the Wales game a few days later.

I like Myreside as a pitch and venue, but you hope they've not just realised that they can't play at Murrayfield that weekend!