The pain is far too familiar for Connacht Supporters... [/quote]

As the second half progressed kept thinking we need to get a score to keep the heads up.. familiar foreboding.. left Landsdowne drained..

On Sunday I was angry, angry that they blew it. Again....

On Monday I just felt sorry for the players that had to leave the field unable to continue with Ireland winning and sit and watch the game gradually being lost by their replacements...

My main problem with the performance on Sunday, was the performance just a week earlier where they were marginal favourites against the Aussies. Nothing every changes with Irish Rugby, we can play like world beaters in games where we're given no chance and like drains when a win is expected against decent opposition.

I have no expectation that any corner has been turned by one Autumn International no matter how brilliant the performance in the first half, and it was just that...

The pain is far too familiar for Connacht Supporters...

I have never been so gutted by a sporting result. As borders said, the atmosphere was just unreal at the end. I've been to many Ireland games particularly Sunday fixtures where there was zero buzz, but right from the off it was great on Sunday. Like I always say, it's the teams responsibility to give the crowd something to shout for, and they defintiely did that. Our first half performance was as close to perfect rugby as it gets, especially considering the opposition. We were almost faultless. The second half was always going to include a New Zealand purple patch, and I felt the belief in the crowd was waning a little when it came, but around the 70 minute mark it really came back. From then until half way through the 80th minute, it just got louder and louder. Hats off to the all blacks for having the self belief and bravery to get the final score they needed to win. They really are a class act.

A few things that crossed my mind having watched some of it back last night:
- Sexton and Toner will be singled out for the most notable mistakes, but both guys played so well, I feel now that it would be harsh to criticise (not that it stopped me in the immediate aftermath)
- POC will feel he should have done better in defence for their second try, but he was just out on his feet
- Nigel Owens had a great game - listening to the ref link you could really appreciate that. There was times when McCaw and co seemed panicked, and they were in his ear the whole time, but he dismissed them time and again. However, the penalty at the end seemed harsh in the extreme. I've watched it again a few times, and perhaps by the letter of the law it was a justifiable call, but he hadn't been reffing the game like that up to then, so why start in the last minute?

Anyway, it's done now. Still gutted but I'm sure I'll stop thinking about it by the end of the week. A famous away victory for Connacht against Toulouse will make up for it somewhat, and who knows, maybe we'll beat the kiwis for the first time in the world cup when it really counts!

My pick of the weekend:

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Terrible weekend, but some major positives to take away. As has been said here, if Ireland can play like that for the 6N with any degree of consistency it'd be a grand slam, no questions. Just have to hope that it wasn't a one off amazing performance.

I know all the players gave great performances but how good was Dave Kearney? This is a guy that wouldn't even have started if McFadden hadn't been injured. The dude has serious potential and if I was Zebo and Gilroy I'd be worried about getting back into the team.

Leaving the Aviva yesterday was like leaving a funeral. What an absolutely sickening way to lose against them. Don't think I've ever been so gutted leaving a sporting fixture. The first 40 mins were incredible from us though. We would have destroyed Australia playing like that. If Schmidt can get any kind of consistency into the team we could easily win another Six nations in the next couple of years.

connachtexile wrote:
Great performance and great game. As for the result it hurt worse then nearly any other result in a long long time.

That about sums it up. This is probably even tougher to take than France in 07. That was the chance of a lifetime and we let it slip. The performance was heroic but didn't think we had the conviction to close it out. As soon as that final penalty was awarded we were in trouble. We tried to face up to one last defensive effort but the players were out on their feet.

Mistakes were made in a number of areas but that will always happen to some extent. However, there will be more than a few players enduring sleepless nights over costly errors.

The atmosphere up there was superb and really reached a crescendo in the last minute. I have never seen so many devastated fans at the end of a match. Proud of the team for the first time in a long time and while it may be a strange thing to say at least everyone was gutted today. Results in the last couple of years have increasingly being greeted with a shrug of the shoulders. The national team is and always will be the measure of Irish Rugby and hopefully this can be a turning point. I don't rate this team too highly but today gave glimpses of what may be possible.

Things that killed me about the game.

1. Devin Toner giving away the stupidest penalty in the entire November series. He needs to take a long hard look at himself in the mirror.
2. Sexton missing two easy kicks. The conversion was bread and butter to him and you could tell by how long he took with the second half penalty that he completely over-thought it.
3. Losing Best, POM and BOD to injury. All replacements did well but these guys were picked for a reason. Having 2 of your subs playing for 60 mins in a game like that is not ideal as you want fresh legs especially against the Kiwis.
4. Owens being the pedantic d*ckhead that he was. Felt he was having a great game until that decision in the last minute.

Great performance and great game. As for the result it hurt worse then nearly any other result in a long long time.

Toner and Murray were almost my man of the match up until Toner gave away that horrible penalty and Murray invited Cruden on with a pointless in field box kick.

I didn't truly believe it was possible they'd win until the clock went red, I think the problem is a few of the players felt it was won at that stage, fitzpatrick raising his hands at a ruck thinking it was over was criminal imo.
In the end though you can't go 55-60 minutes without scoring and expect or deserve to win so for all the excitement of the tries and the quality of the performance there was still too much lacking.

I feel sick. Empty.

Feels like such an injustice.

We weren't good enough in the second half, but my god some crucial mistakes.

The stupid fucking penalty Toner gave away lost the game in my opinion.

Between connacht being absolute shite these days and this stuff at national level, feel fed up of rugby.....

Would have liked to have seen Tuohy start at least one of the November internationals but the NZ one probably isn't the one to bring him in on. Not hopeful at all about this game but you never know.

Darcy starts because Joe didn't want to play a makeshift and inexperienced 10/12/13 set up of jackson marshall and henshaw and Darce was the only one of sexton/darce/bod that he knew at the start of the week was fit. I think the reasons he gave for his selections were sound and I think that even though he didn't jump up and yell it he's made an attempt to name a team he thinks has the most chance of winning.
While marshall could be Ireland's 12 for the next 10+ years I don't see why that necessarily means he needs to start against nz this year. While he and cave were good against Edinburghs seconds tonight I don't think they or Touhy made the case that Joe had gotten his selections wrong either.

So name your Ireland 23. And not an "if everyone was fit" 23.

There are 16 Leinster players because few other than Marshall, Touhy and Marmion have much of a shout for inclusiont. The number of injuries has kept players like Gilroy & Zebo out of the squad.

You've lost patience after two games before the team hasn't settled into the new management and understood what's required of them? Jesus, even Kidney had a longer period before people turned on him.

I've lost patience with Schmidt already. Scapegoating Marshall for the inadequacies of O'Driscoll and other senior pros in the Oz game is shameful.

What's this with 16 Leinster players in the 23? Including past-it's like Darcy and O'Driscoll and never-will-be's such as Toner. Joke!

Agreed he was diabolical against Oz and on form should have being dropped. Admittedly half the team should have joined him but he's the youngest and was probably the worst player out there last week performance wise.

In a way I'm happy Robbie didn't make the squad for this one. I watched him closely at the game last week when he was on and to me he looked super nervous, and he ran around the place like a headless chicken. I'd love to see him get some proper time during the 6 nations.