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Finlay Bealham, Kieran Marmion, Jack Carty and Tiernan O'Halloran were among a very strong Connacht Eagles line-up last weekend. James Crombie/INPHO

Friend 'surprised, disappointed' by warm-up woes as Connacht ramp up to face Glasgow

“I know we’ve got the talent,” Friend said as he looked back on a heavy A inter-pro loss to Munster, “to me it’s a mental thing.”

INTER-PROVINCIAL A matches carry only as much currency as you invest in them. And Andy Friend laid a fair chunk of good silverware on the table last weekend under the Eagles banner against Munster A.

The southern province played a strong hand themselves, but to lose 49-12 a week from the beginning of a new season was a painful watch for Friend.

“I was really surprised, really disappointed,” said the Australian.

“If we rock up to any team with that sort of attitude then we’re going to walk away with our tails between our legs.”

A suspected concussion for Ultan Dillane added injury to the insult, but as he prepares to welcome Glasgow to an empty Sportsground on Saturday (kick-off 17.15), Friend signalled that he won’t accept a similar drop off in intensity over the weeks ahead.

He laments that he did not see the performance coming as they suffered a third straight defeats to a Munster side in various guises. The Pro14 encounter was easily written off due to two red cards, the first inter-pro match was a close-run thing, but to ship 49 points was an utterly deflating watch.

“I know we’ve got the talent. To me it’s not a talent thing, to me it’s a mental thing.

We talked to the players about being confident, clear and calm about your role. Did we do that last week? No. And we didn’t have that fight and hunger which to me is synonymous about a Connacht jersey.

“We didn’t give up, but we were guilty of not working hard enough on Saturday. That’s just so foreign to us.”

The western province’s efforts to bounce back would no doubt be aided by the presence of a battle-hardened, homegrown stalwart Eoin McKeon yesterday announced his retirement from rugby at the age of 29.

“He’s a great team man and a very talented footballer. He’s a Galway man, Connacht pride themselves on their homegrown players, and he’s certainly left a legacy there in terms of what he’s contributed to Connacht rugby,” said Friend.

eoin-mckeon-dejected-after-the-game McKeon walks off after Connacht's loss to Toulouse in January. Morgan Treacy / INPHO Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO

“It’s always sad when you see somebody choosing to hang up their boots when you still believe he’s got something there to show.

“But Eoin obviously has had a lot of time to think about that, he’s an intelligent man off the field and I know he has big aspirations for life after rugby too so I’m sure he’s going to be fine.

“He can walk away very proud of what he has given ro Connacht Rugby.”

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    Mute Umpaloompa
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    Nov 29th 2020, 6:28 PM

    A head coach who’s never been involved with a heads up style team decides this is how he’s going to play…
    All the talk of happy at training seems to have caused us to lose our aggression.
    A new coach who rewarded form over reputation would have got us off to a good start or at least set us on a path that we can build on.
    Farrell and co are out of their depth. It’s going to be mid table mediocre for the future

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    Mute PScald
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    Nov 29th 2020, 7:01 PM

    @Umpaloompa: with all due respect what a load of nonsense.. the guy is barely in the chair and having done what was least expected (beating Wales and Georgia losi g to England and France) we are calling for his head..
    For who? Scott Robertson? And what about the millions the IRFU would have to spend to buy out current coaching contracts in the middle of a government bailout?.. Get up the yard and give it time

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    Mute Umpaloompa
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    Nov 29th 2020, 7:43 PM

    @PScald: Yeah I know it won’t happen because it would cost a fortune and the IRFU only have their self to blame. Do you think any top club would go for him if we did get rid of him?
    He claims to be implementing a heads up style yet we now have Joe’s style less the skill level and execution. I don’t see much light at the end of the tunnel

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    Mute Chris Mc
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    Nov 29th 2020, 8:38 PM

    @PScald: might as well wait another 2 years to do what plain and simply obvious.

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    Mute Rudiger McMonihan
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    Nov 29th 2020, 9:07 PM

    @PScald: it’s not simply a win or loss it’s the manner in which those results happened. The style of play is abysmal. They crash the ball up every time. It’s so predictable that a team with a bunch of semi pro players could stop it. He also picked 8 players in his 23 that were over 30 years old against Georgia. What benefit did the likes of Earls and Healy get from playing in that game?

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    Mute PScald
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    Nov 29th 2020, 9:09 PM

    @Umpaloompa: 100% a top club would have him as head coach. Top test teams would have him as defense coach.. I’m not sure about Catt or Easterby but I have faith in Farrell being a success..
    Let’s be honest he’s dealing with playing his 3rd and 4th choice outhalf and trying to find an alternative to Murray.. today was sh1 t but they won. Next week will be a good test

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    Mute PScald
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    Nov 29th 2020, 9:09 PM

    @Chris Mc: what is plain and obvious?

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    Mute BMJF
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    Nov 29th 2020, 9:35 PM

    @Rudiger McMonihan: yeah 8 players over 30
    In a friendly joke of a tournament – this should have been the summer tour to USA and likes of Harry Byrne needed time

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    Mute PScald
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    Nov 29th 2020, 10:03 PM

    @Rudiger McMonihan: a team with a bunch of semi pro players didn’t stop it.. they lost…

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    Mute Connachtabu
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    Nov 29th 2020, 10:56 PM

    @BMJF: Harry Byrne! Seriously? He currently is unlikely to get in the starting 15 Leinster in a H cup match for 4-5 year and is no6 oH in the country after sexton, burns, carbery, his big bro and carty!
    Lovely to watch him in the last 20 for L in nothing Pro14 fixtures.
    Work in progress, I think.

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    Mute Daniel Murphy
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    Nov 29th 2020, 6:48 PM

    Time for Leo and Stuart, methinks!

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    Mute Stuart Quinn
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    Nov 29th 2020, 6:53 PM

    @Daniel Murphy: I’ll get my coat

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    Mute Chris Mc
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    Nov 29th 2020, 8:40 PM

    @Daniel Murphy: farrell and easterby are doing a great job.

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    Mute Luke O'Mahony
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    Nov 29th 2020, 6:37 PM

    tu rebus omnibus non est punctualis

    It should be the teams motto !!!

    Firefighting a different issue each week is ignoring the bigger problem. If you continue to play the same predictable way you’ll end up chasing your tail all the time

    Develop the pod attack to introduce alternatives not just the middle man single carries , the dummy runner they have introduced isn’t working either. Try a vertical pod or move the pods out to the centre , do something creative and different

    As for the backs , bring the wingers into the midfield , get the full back running hard lines into a switch play , and at least pass the ball to where the player is going instead of where he is .

    Be creative for once

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    Mute Kingshu
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    Nov 29th 2020, 7:34 PM

    I wouldn’t call for a coachs head so quickly but the coaching team have made some basic errors. In the initial squad only having 2 LHs even as fans we could see that was a mistake, how can a professional coaching team make that error. McGrath or Eos should have been in from the start and playimg this game. Playing Bealham at LH? Did Farrell really think he was a better LH than McG or EoS? What was learned? Nothing we already didn’t know. It wasnt fair on Bealham either, how is he going to prove his worth at TH with that game? Playing him at TH and EoS would have taught us a lot more, could have given them both a chance to move up the pecking order. If he wants a player in the squad that can cover TH and LH then play Porter there, as Bealham may not make a squad.

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    Mute BMJF
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    Nov 29th 2020, 9:33 PM

    Ah sorry but I’d have respect for Ryan if he called as it was – ‘ that was total muck, totally unacceptable.. we need to take a hard look at what we’re about.. we can’t fix this in one game but we’ve got to improve next week” is what should have been said!! Sick of this small issues we can easily fix waffle

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    Mute Agrippa
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    Nov 29th 2020, 10:18 PM

    Don’t know why but think i would prefer Ryan to concentrate on his own game which is normally top class rather than be burdened by the captaincy at this relatively early stage in his senior career

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