Supporters Goals for Connacht in Season 2006-07

By Sea_point
August 22 2006

Ok it's that time of the summer, with the new season only a matter of days away what are the aspirations of the Connacht Supporters for the season ahead. Where do we see our team finishing the upcoming 2006-07 season?

I think we'd all agree that inargural Magners League Champions might be just out of our reach this year. But we want progress this year, don't we? Real progress not just the "Oh sure we're losing games by less" conmment.

So how do each of measure what is acceptable progress for Connacht Rugby in the year that lies ahead, where will we be at the end of May 2007, what will we have achieved, what progress made..??

What do we want, as against what do we really believe we can achieve..

The Seapoint View:

Personally I think our focus this year has to be on the Celtic League for the whole season. Our main target has to be to qualify for next seasons (2007-08) Heineken Cup, whether that is as the play-off qualifier, or by rights as one of the top three Irish teams at the conclusion of the season.

I would love our guys to qualify from a Challenge Cup group containing Quins & Bath to the knockout stages, but my brain tells me that there is one Class side too many in our group for us to deal with. If we were to progress to the knockout stages again this year, do we really have the stregth in our squad depth to challenge the mighty clubs of England & France when the competion begins to reach it's climax. Sadly the answer is no,  that's not an answer borne of dissapointment or frustration but a pragmatic realisation of our true strength at this time.

This should be our year to say, OK we've given the CC a good belt for the last couple of seasons and almost climbed the mountain. This year let's focus on our consistency in the league and try generate enough momentum through the season to ensure a HEC place by rights. It is a possibility, and certainly if we can storm out of the blocks at the beginning of the season and take advantage of the plethera of home games first up we could have banked a goodly sum of points from which we could build a serious challenge for HEC qualification...

Right, that's what I think. Nothing earth shattering I know, but what about the rest of the greater Connacht Rugby family out there...???