AS EVER WITH Connacht, they provide no shortage of variety in their game and each of their four tries against Ulster in this afternoon’s return to rugby had its own particular charms.
John Porch’s came courtesy of a terrific Jack Carty assist. Bundee Aki gleefully trampled Ian Madigan for his and Jack Aungier’s debut score was a fine forward effort.
But none made the current crop feel like the 2016 vintage quite like Kieran Marmion darting onto an inch-perfect grubber kick.
The try for the scrum-half was merely the cap on a day when the 28-year-old seemed to not only relish, but command every minute of action he was involved in.
The first-half of the season, pre-lockdown, was a tumultuous time in a variety of senses for Marmion. He probably didn’t need a five month break, but a break has served him well none the less.
Roll the clock back through the year and Marmion is omitted from Ireland’s World Cup plans. Caolin Blade’s brilliant performances take away any certainty over his position as Connacht’s front-line 9 and his chance to move to European champions Saracens was scuppered by their salary cap fiasco.
Throw a back injury in among that and it’s more than a few hurdles to overcome.
August 2020 and Marmion very much looks like a man entering the prime of his career.
“Kieran was one of them. he came back, you could see he had a real hunger about him.
I’ve only known him for two years. In those two years, you know he’s a competitor, but this is a new level for Kieran.
“I just thought his performance out there was brilliant. He shut down a couple of really good Ulster attacks just through his hunger and his ability to put his body on the line.”
“With every minute that passed (that) he was putting his body in front, getting up and saying ‘I’m still good to go’, he just kept gaining in confidence.”
Coaches and players were prepared for the restart period to be a physically punishing one with athletes put under intense pressure after the extended spell away from the game. Yet the sight of Gavin Thornbury being carefully lifted onto a stretcher came as another jarring reminder of the danger involved in rugby.
The lock was able to issue a thumbs up on his way to the tunnel and hospital, Friend reported that he was at least awake and talking after the worrying head blow.
Thornbury aside, it was a day of massive positives for Connacht. Their fluid attacking game in full effect on the first day back and a resilient defensive effort to back it up and keep a title-chasing Ulster from taking a lead at a crucial stage in the second half.
“That was a crucial period,” Friend noted of the stint Jonny Murphy spent in the sin-bin, a period that began with Ulster pulling the score back to 21-20.
“Two sets of players who hadn’t played in five months, lots of cramp, it’s reasonably warm in Dublin today. That just showed the hunger, to dig deep in that period, which the boys did.
“Some really strong carries. Ulster were coming off the line hard to try and win that ball back. We were really pleased with our discipline and patience there.”
Team of the W/E
Feel free to disagree
1. Loughman – Busiest LH by a long shot. Most carries/ tackles of any prop this w/e and nearly 80 mins on the pitch.
2. Heffernan- standout HK of the 4. Can actually throw which is a big plus for ireland
3. Porter – no real standout at TH but porter pick of the bunch
4. Baird – big engine on the guy and had an assist too.
5. Treadwell – v busy on both sides of the ball. Might get another Irish cap soon the way things are going with injuries in the second row.
6. Dorris – tight between POM and himself but the victors get the spoils. Huge tackle count.
7. Butler – all action display. Really rounded player, worth a look at for ireland
8. Stander – constant menace in defence and carried plenty of hard ball. 4 turnovers. Boyle was excellent too
9. Marmion – between KM and Murray for this. Marmion was excellent on both sides of the ball. Saved 2 tries.
10. Sexton – stood up in defence and was excellent off the tee. Hopefully a sign of things to come.
11. Wootton – guy grabbing his chances and taking them. V busy all day. Mention for earls.
12. Aki – one man wrecking machine. Few centres in the world score the try he did.
13. Chris Farrell – motm on the night and pretty unplayable for the duration. Enjoying the space afforded to him by a better partner in midfield. Mentions for Tom Farrell and ringrose.
14. Conway – a brace on the night. Irelands first choice winger by a mile.
15. Porch – the standout fullback of the weekend. Comfortable on the ball in a position that’s becoming a problem for Ireland
@Jim Demps: I’d probably have gone with dillane over threadwell but otherwise fair enough. Very close between farrell and ringrose, two outstanding performances and if the other guy was picked no one could complain
@Tim Magner: I keep it to the jersey numbers on the day so Dillane would have been against Baird. The 5s were holland- who did well, thornbury who did well also but went off injured, Fardy who I’m not sure was even playing and treadwell. Thought treadwell went really well with the core parts of the role.
@Jim Demps: ah yea fair enough and I thought baird had a fine game last night. There was none of the fireworks we’d expect from him but he showed a different part of his game and put in the ugly grafting that Ryan brings to the leinster pack. Fardy had maybe the worst game I’ve seen from him in a leinster Jersey, could age be catching up on him? I believe leinster will beat sarries but I don’t know if they’ll do it without Ryan. Itoje can dominate a game from the 2nd row and I don’t think toner of fardy will cope with him and it might be a year or 2 too early for baird
@Tim Magner: hard to judge on just one performance but he was so poor there might be a few worries alright. Had a quick look at the stats earlier and he made 1 tackle in the hour or so he was on the pitch. Not sure if that’s a mistake by the stat counters or not but if it’s correct then he’d want a long hard look at himself.
@Jim Demps: in fairness that’s not like him. Even as a munster fan I do like fardy, he’s an old school dog that brings huge leadership. If we do meet again in a semifinal it wouldn’t surprise me at all if he’s the motm
@Tim Magner: yeah I’d agree with that. V out of character performance.
@Jim Demps: Conways under 12′s defending for lowes try would cancel his place in the side.
@Jim Demps: so you have four Munster and four Leinster. Yet Leinster won… not sure how that works out haha
@Jim Demps: nothing there I’d quibble with Jim. Ringrose over Farrell maybe but that’s about it. Thought Thornbury was having an excellent game before his injury and would be worthy of consideration. If he stays injury free and got a run of form he could be in the Ireland shake up.
@Harry O’Callaghan: tbh I’m not in one bit surprised that a guy who thought conan was one of the best Irish players at the World Cup doesn’t understand how judging individual performances works.
@Tim Magner: he gave away a soft penalty or two, suggesting a lack of fitness. He should be better for the run out.
@Chris Mc: still gets the slot for me. Maybe you think he should have watched his opposite man for tips on mature defensive performances?
https://twitter.com/eirsport/status/1297267385221685255?s=21
@Kevin: I’m a big fan of thornbury. Needs to string a few games together but he’s certainly got the ability.
@Harry O’Callaghan: in a 27-25 game with a conversion between them do you not think 4 players apiece is fair? What other leinster players would you have added? To be honest I’d have had dillane ahead of baird
@Jim Demps: this is actually a good selection. Could possibly pick casey and toner even though they were subs. Had big impacts off the bench.
@Jim Demps: Pipe down, your team lost yesterday.
@Tim Magner: there should be a lot more Leinster players there because they won. It should be filled with players mostly from Leinster and Connacht. That’s how it works, because there players played better. That why there teams won. My team would be
1. Cian Healy
2. Heffernan
3. Porter
4. Baird
5. Dillane
6. Doris
7. Butler
8. Stander
9. Marmion
10. Sexton
11. Lowe
12. Aki
13. Ringrose
14. Conway
15. Porch
Bench-
16. Herring
17. O’Sullivan
18. Aungier
19. Fardy
20. VDF/Coetzee
21. McGrath
22. Carty
23. Conway/Farrell.
@Tim Magner: There should be a lot more Leinster players there because they won. It should be filled with players mostly from Leinster and Connacht. That’s how it works, because their players played better. That why their teams won. My team would be
1. Cian Healy
2. Heffernan
3. Porter
4. Baird
5. Dillane
6. Doris
7. Butler
8. Stander
9. Marmion
10. Sexton
11. Lowe
12. Aki
13. Ringrose
14. Conway
15. Porch
Bench-
16. Herring
17. O’Sullivan
18. Aungier
19. Fardy
20. VDF/Coetzee
21. McGrath
22. Carty
23. Conway/Farrell.
@Harry O’Callaghan: that’s not how it works Harry.. supporting a winning team doesn’t give your $h1t opinions more validity.. just makes you seem like a petulant w@nker.. but each to their own
@Rudiger McMonihan: Toner who spent 10minutes in the bin?
@Jim Demps: decent selection Jim. Probably have Dillane in for Theadwell, Ringrose in for Farrell ( both were excellent but Ringrose part of a better combo) and personally Murray for Marmion. His control of that game yesterday was outstanding..
@PScald: it does though, because those players played better. You can call me what you like. I genuinely don’t care. If you’re just going to call people derogatory things then that says more about you. Marmion was on fire today, Murray did absolute nothing yesterday. Casey should have started ahead of him. I’d have Cooney & McGrath ahead of Murray. But hey each to their own haha
@Harry O’Callaghan: Herring was not playing!!!
@Trevor Johnston: McBurney i meant
@Rudiger McMonihan: ah I think Casey did up the tempo but munster were playing against 14 men at that stage. Marmion was top class. Toner spent 10 in the sin bin was probably only on the field for 15 mins. The intercept was good but not enough to get him on the list
@Harry O’Callaghan: Herring? Come on man… At least read the match report so you can pretend you watched the match.
@PScald: yeah Murray was really good on Saturday. There’s a few positions there that the decision was tight and scrum half was one of them. 13 the same.
@Jim Demps: Conan was very good v Scotland. It might have been different had he played v Japan.
@Jim Demps: what has this got to do with Conway not keeping the line
@PScald: do you honestly think that was a yellow card?
@Chris Mc: yeah it was, for multiple infringements by Leinster at lineouts after a warning
@Chris Mc: the infringement itself while a penalty was not a yellow. But the yellow was for repeated infringements. And certainly would be a huge reason for toner not being selected on the team of the week for lack of time on the pitch alone
@Chris Mc: Conway’s defending for Lowe’s try was terrible. Wootton esq, . even Allende in his first game let him know but Lowe’s defending for Conway’s try wasn’t great either.. I’m not trying to get into your player, my player just pointing that out.
@Harry O’Callaghan: I’m glad you dont care. Genuinely a good quality to have in life not caring what other people say, so respect and valid point on the name calling.. I would counter though that I also don’t care and if you act like a petulant w@nker I’ll call you that.. but also wisdom is learning from mistakes and criticisms… Which I strive to do that, I hope you can too..
@Harry O’Callaghan: You may be right, team wins ergo players played better. It’s the ring argument in American sports. I would disagree, I don’t believe Tony kukoc is a better player than Charles Barkley but he has multiple rings and Chuck doesn’t… you would concede Leinster are the better team. Yesterday the inferior team went to the superior team and were a missed conversion away from tieing the game.. in my mind it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that more of their players may be selected for a team of the week for performances in that game.. Peace ✌️
@Jim Demps Good to have you back Jim
@Sean Martin: best comeback since POM against England in 2017. 2 legends
@Sean Martin: haha never mind me. Isn’t it great to have a bit of Irish rugby to be watching?
@Jim Demps: Isn’t it? To be honest as a Connacht man I wasn’t expecting that win yesterday but delighted with it! Looking forward to hopefully another cracker when we play your boys next Jim!
Relax, long long session ahead.