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With the Christmas period nearly over and most people full of turkey and tins of sweets, it seems like months since Connacht’s loss to Ulster last Friday. I hope everyone got all the presents they wanted, and that Santa was good.
What is Connacht’s gift after a disappointing performance against Ulster? They get to face Leinster in Dublin on New Year’s Day. The rugby equivalent of a bag of coal.
Players we haven’t seen much of:
What I wanted to talk about today was maybe some of the players that I think Connacht could give some more game time too or players that I would like to see play more in 2023. The big one is Shayne Bolton. Shayne unfortunately has had zero injury luck in his short time with Connacht but the few appearances he has played, its evident the potential he has. He is a big strong running player who can hang physically with most players. The worry is he moves on at the end of this year and we never got to see what we had with him. Connacht fans wouldn’t be surprised if he did move on and then flourished with another club. So, let’s hope we see him back and playing soon.
Jordan Duggan has amassed thirty-one appearances for Connacht but this season he has not featured regularly at all. Jordan last season played in big games and put in some big performances when key players were missing through injury. You would hope that the experience in those games would have helped him progress and push on to another level for him. I think Jordan has some good potential and would like to see him feature more regularly towards the end of the season when rotation will be key.
Shane Jennings is a real unknown for Connacht. At only 21 he is still very young but having played for Ireland at u20 level and for the Irish Sevens teams, it wouldn’t take Sherlock Holmes to work out that Shane has talent. His preferred position is centre but like a lot of backs at Connacht, I would assume the expectation would be for Shane to cover a few positions. The issue for Shane is that the centre position is not the easiest to break into. A mix of Bundee, Tom Daly, Tom Farrell and now the additions of Hawkshaw and Byron Ralston means getting minutes will be tough. I still think Connacht would regret not giving him some minutes to gain some experience and see what talent he has.
The last player I will highlight is Oran McNulty. Oran featured last season a few times at full back and at wing. I thought he impresses and shown some real sparks at times. He was solid under the high ball and has speed to burn. The Connacht coaching staff seem to be reluctant to play Porch at full back and Tiernan O’Halloran, while a great servant to the club, his best days seem to be behind him. It could be in Connacht’s best interest to play Oran more regularly and see if he can be the regular full back for the next few seasons.
Contract Renewals:
One topic I wanted to bring up is contract renewals at the club. The majority of players at the club have contracts that expire at the end of this season. Some of the big names that have expiring contracts are Kieran Marmion, Caolin Blade, Tiernan O’Halloran, Gavin Thornbury and John Porch to name a few. To my knowledge, no player has been offered a new contract yet. I do know that players sign contracts months before they get announced to the public. I won’t pretend to be an expert on Contracts in rugby, but it is worrying that some of these big names that Connacht fans would want to see sign on for another few years, have yet to be offered contracts. You would have to question what the hold up is? The longer you leave it, the more chance a player will be persuaded to leave by another club. It is a risky strategy and one that could easily backfire. Connacht cannot afford to lose some of the talent on their books. We know how tough it is to attract talent to Connacht so letting that talent leave because you left it too long to offer would be silly. Let’s hope we hear more positive contract news in the new year.
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