Sheepsean wrote: Enjoyed the game and the occasion .It seemed surreal to be there with such a massive crowd.For me we were simply up against a world class team and thought we done very well.Bit disappointing to go 9-0 down within a blink of an eye.But proud of the lads and how the fans also gave it there best .The only bad feeling i had at the end was from the heineken.

Only major downside from the association with this competition, only p8ss por beer sold in the grounds...

Enjoyed the game and the occasion .It seemed surreal to be there with such a massive crowd.For me we were simply up against a world class team and thought we done very well.Bit disappointing to go 9-0 down within a blink of an eye.But proud of the lads and how the fans also gave it there best .The only bad feeling i had at the end was from the heineken.

www.ercrugby.com/eng/matchdaytv/play/media/id/9996

There are (very brief) highlights of the match on the Heineken Cup website, i.e. two of their tries and our penalty try.

Re: the pitch invaders. It wasn't only kids and teenagers on the pitch, I saw several -_-s who should have known better bugging the players. The stewards didn't seem to even attempt to stop them. Although in fairness, the majority of stewards I saw on the main stand side were teenagers too which seems a bit ridiculous to me.

RuggerMan wrote:

sea_point wrote: McSharry is definatelty a keeper on this form, reminds me of a younger Jimmy Downey (physcially and skills wise)...

Similar builds physically, but very different styles of player.

Downey was a pure bosher (and a good one at that), but didn't have many 'skills' of note.

McSharry played at outhalf all through schools so has good vision and distribution skills, allowing him to serve as a playmaker, but also has the strength and footwork to get over the gainline himself.

Totally disagree Downey was not a bosher with Connacht, he had a very high skill level. He's used by Northampton exlusively in that manner (because basically they think the sun shines out of Jon Clarke's a**). He was a much more sublte player with us, still could do the bosh but was a good deal lighter back then and showed more pace and hands...

Diom wrote: @Connman : That's crappy alright! If the stewards cannot ensure that the crowd stays off the pitch then they should at least prevent them from approaching the visiting team's players.

Agreed.

@Connman : That's crappy alright! If the stewards cannot ensure that the crowd stays off the pitch then they should at least prevent them from approaching the visiting team's players.

sea_point wrote: McSharry is definatelty a keeper on this form, reminds me of a younger Jimmy Downey (physcially and skills wise)...

Similar builds physically, but very different styles of player.

Downey was a pure bosher (and a good one at that), but didn't have many 'skills' of note.

McSharry played at outhalf all through schools so has good vision

Your talk about the Ref being Hit altho it doesnt seem to be true, It was the one negative point of the night for me. As I was leaving th Clan terrace to the College Road end, 2 Toulouse substitutes were doing their warm down, One chap was rolling his arms while the other was timing him. Even tho alot of the Connacht fans that took to the field in an attempt to get to the exit gates quicker were walking away minding their own business I did see a few teenagers (16-19) annoying the hole of one of the Toulouse Subs,tapped him on the back on more than one occasion, Toulouse Player acknowledged him but a few seconds later he came back and done the same thing.....I was disgusted with the young lads behaviour....Respect where Respect is due, or else stay off the Pitch...Would hate to see us getting a bad name from some d@ckhead of a youngster who was prob never at the sportsground before!!

theCulk wrote: We made plenty of noise in the main terrace. I'm still hoarse haha.

It's a wonder you had any voice left at all from the Stoop, I was all whispers until Wendesday...

theCulk wrote: We made plenty of noise in the main terrace. I'm still hoarse haha.

Details are sketchy but I think I was talking to you in Foxs Saturday night! There seemed to be a group of us on the College Road end & another group at the Bohermore end making all the noise! I think the problem with the Old Main Terrace is that a lot of the vocal season ticket holders opted for the Clan Terrace. Can anyone from the Clan Terrace fill us in on how we sounded? There seemed to be no shortage of voices your side!

Some great photo's from the folks at Sporting Occasions, so many happy excited faces. Great to see....

sportingoccasions.photoshelter.com/galle...011/G0000SKcsRS2dbC8

We made plenty of noise in the main terrace. I'm still hoarse haha.

sea_point wrote: Nice work DSO, have to admit watching from the UK had to choke back a tear when the team came out on the pitch. Deadly envious of everyone who could attend, but you did me proud I'm glad to say...

DaSpecialOne wrote: This is a video taken from the Main Stand Terrace during the Team intros at the start of the Connacht v Toulouse game!

I was hoarse leaving the Sportsground & we were still chanting when they were doing their warmdowns! I was still hoarse for most of Sunday but that could have been compounded by the session after the game! Great atmosphere in both the Grounds & town!

Found it hard at times to get a chant going in the Old Stand but I hope our group made up for them!

I thought the chanting of 'Connacht Connacht' when Toulouse were doing their warmup laps of the pitch before kickoff was great. Each terrace took it in turns to follow them around!!

Nice work DSO, have to admit watching from the UK had to choke back a tear when the team came out on the pitch. Deadly envious of everyone who could attend, but you did me proud I'm glad to say...

DaSpecialOne wrote: This is a video taken from the Main Stand Terrace during the Team intros at the start of the Connacht v Toulouse game!

So many points I want to make after Saturday night, so I'm going with bullets!

• First of all, congrats to the branch on pretty much everything. The ground looked great with all the new connacht rugby merchandising (especially at the back of the clan terrace). The flags, the fireworks, the music, the choir, the marching band, the guys on stilts, the black and green flags on the pitch, the big screen etc etc. None of that organises itself so fair play. As stated previously, this game was mainly a showcase of how enjoyable a night at the rugby can be, and everyone I spoke to enjoyed the experience thoroughly. Hopefully they'll come back!
• The game overall: clearly a disappointing scoreline because I'm sure we all dreamt of a miracle result, but when you consider the team Toulouse put out, I think it was a fair reflection, but one we can still be proud of (I know two of their tries were dodgy but they should have scored others so it balances out). During the game I felt we could have played more territory, but in hindsight, that may have just resulted in them having more possession and running through us even more. Bottom line for me is Toulouse are in a different league, and as Cows said, it's a team that could probably give the all blacks a good rattle.
• The atmosphere: There were luls at times no doubt, but in general I thought it was brilliant - especially during that 5 minute period before and after our try. Hearing the fields of athenry belted out was amazing, and I hope anyone who called for us to sing the wests awake will quieten down now. Bottom line for me when it comes to a song for us to sing is people need to know it (not learn it), and EVERYONE knows the fields. Anyway, that's a side issue.
• The buzz in town: Again, I thought it was great to see so many people in the pubs before and after because of the game - having missed the Toulon game I hadn't experienced that before for one of our games. Having the heineken cup branding all over the place added to it too. Hopefully the pubs will realise that a successful connacht rugby team will bring in big business, so perhaps they'd be willing to come together and give a few quid back to the cause!
• The friendliness of the players: I bumped into swifty outside a pub on quay street and got chatting to him briefly - he said the players relished the occasion and he couldn't get over the atmosphere. He also said they felt like they were chasing shadows in the first half. Spoke very briefly to Tiernan and Eoin Griffin also - both sound lads, but it really struck me how young they are seeing them up close - Griffin in particular looks like a harmless young lad! Finally, ended up chatting to Ronan Loughney outside another pub and he was ultra sound - he was still chatting to the lads when I went to grab a cab! I asked him about the scrum where we won the penalty try. He said they felt they went well in the previous scrum, so Ethienne Reynecke made the call to go for it, and told Frank to leave it in at the back. Worked out nicely!

That's all I have time to write, but my main feeling is Heineken Cup rugby at lived up to the hype, and then some. Really hope we can get a win or two in our remaining games, and somehow qualify again for next year (a Leinster win might be our best bet I think!).