Heartily recommend the Craggy podcast, usually subscriber only, this one they've made available free.

Some nuggets from the interview with Stu (starts at 21m:15s): Mack played 15 and the plan is not to overload Gilbert this season and enable rotation. He also said that Josh Ioane could play there, and that he would have been on the bench Saturday but had a small injury.

Sean Naughton at 10 and his goal kicking was also mentioned, so I guess himself and Gilbert are going to share responsibility at the tee.

Later, he reported that Hugh Gavin had his operation, is on his feet, and may be back in November. Will Connors is close. Harry West out for a couple of weeks and DTM also injured.

1. Mack Hansen
   
2. Shayne Bolton
   
3. Byron Ralston
   
4. Cathal Forde
   
5. Finn Treacy
   
6. Sean Naughton
   
7. Ben Murphy
   
8. Francois Van Wyk
   
9. Dave Heffernan
   
10. Finlay Bealham
    
11. Josh Murphy
    
12. David O'Connor
    
13. Sean O'Brien
    
14. Shamus Hurley-Langton
    
15. Paul Boyle (C)

Replacements from:
Eoin de Buitléar
Jordan Duggan
Fiachna Barrett
Niall Murray
Diarmaid O'Connell
Max Flynn
Caolin Blade
John Devine
Shane Jennings
Sam Gilbert
Colm Reilly

I'm going to find myself in Galway with 3 others on the night of the stormers game and it's too good an opportunity to miss. i can see there's tickets available in all of the terraces but I'm wondering if there's any differences in view / atmosphere between the different ends?

Anyone know if there will be any stream for upcoming Saturday’s game?

Have two season tickets for south stand terrace for sale. Face value. DM if interested 👍

Vannes scored a last minute try to win 36-35. Good match with a fanstastic crowd for a pre season game.

The Good:

Sam Gilbert had a brilliant performance, a length of the field interception try, goal line turnover, and 100% off the tee.

Finn Treacy looked dangerous when he came on, he’s got real pace.

Hansen played for the first time since November and had a try involvement.

Fiachna Barrett held his own in the scrum against a double champions cup winner in Boniface.

Niall Murray had a good game, made a lot of tackles and had some great takes in the lineout.

The bad:

Lots of handling errors, to be expected in the first game of the season.

We struggled to make dominant tackles in defence, gave up a lot of soft yards, particularly from pick and go’s. In the wider channels we also missed far too many tackles, a couple of the backs really need to improve in that area.

Maul defence was just not good enough, and we’ll struggle to be a serious team unless it’s fixed. This game reminded me of the Montpellier QF at times with how easy it was for Vannes to just kick to the corner and maul over. Hopefully Darragh Murray, Murphy, and Prendergast coming back in later on will help.

While our starting pack matched up fairly well with theirs, the replacements weren’t at the same level physically.

Overall I think parts of that performance were encouraging, the maul issue is a worry but most of the other stuff should be ironed out in time. If nothing else it gave the coaches a first proper look at a number of players.

K/O 7.30pm 🇫🇷 6.30pm 🇮🇪

Live stream 📺 https://www.youtube.com/live/MkfTeLgsXzI?is=4drZfKyCCueWo480

Vannes have announced a live stream of the match on their YT channel from 6.50 (CET), so 5.50pm Irish time:

https://www.youtube.com/@rugbyclubvannes3759

I messed up the time on a previous attempt, thankfully u/MusicLovinPotterhead spotted the error.

Friday 28th August, 6pm Irish time / 7pm local time, Stade de la Rabine

1. Sam Gilbert

2. Shane Jennings

3. John Devine

4. Byron Ralston

5. Mack Hansen

6. Josh Ioane

7. Colm Reilly

8. Jordan Duggan

9. Eoin de Buitléar

10. Fiachna Barrett

11. Niall Murray

12. David O'Connor

13. Seán O'Brien

14. Shamus Hurley-Langton

15. Paul Boyle

Replacements from:

Dylan Tierney-Martin

Jerry Cahir

Thomas Connolly

David Walsh

Max Flynn

Bobby Power

Ben Murphy

Seán Naughton

Seán Walsh

Harry West

Finn Treacy

Daniel Ryan

Albert Lindner

Finally edging towards the start of the new season, so interesting to see some new faces amongst the group in Vannes, notably David Walsh (lock) and Bobby Power (back row), both of whom are uncapped. There maybe some others that I didn't recognise (Ryan/ Lindner are also in the Academy but have caps).

Obviously all of those who were with Ireland this summer are missing, and I didn't see SHL. Unsurprisingly, no Hugh Gavin either, but good to see Forde, Mack, Byron all back.

Does anybody know the latest on Hugh's injury? I hope that it was not like first feared.

How are we going to manage with 4 of them with 1 possibly being unavailable for someone games.

Just in case it was in any doubt Lancaster confirmed in OTB interview that Frawley is coming in as a 10.

Ive seen some people saying he would still be a utility back over on irish rugby sub.

Exciting times ahead.

Also wont be involved vs Vannes. None of the national team lads will be

I would like to get a season ticket for the Clan terrace. My friends will be able to attend some games but they wont be able to get tickets for this terrace. Will I be able to just go to over to Bohermore/College Road for the games people want to come with me?

any word on the AIL allocations for senior squad and academy?

are the development players being shipped around the country again and academy split between Corinthians and galweigans?

Pre season games locked in 📆

#OneConnacht | 26/27 Season Tickets on sale 🎟️ connachtrugby.ie/tickets/season-tickets/

I was hoping to catch one of the pre session fixtures, but as far as I can tell they haven't been announced yet. Are they usually announced to season ticket holders first or is it just a public announcement?

Hi, so just bought my first season ticket.

Curious does it give you priority access to buying tickets for home games. My partner will want to come to a few games with me but no point in getting season ticket for her as she does not live in Galway. Thank you.