THE LAST 12 months have carried no shortage of significant moments and landmarks from Connacht that made us stand back and have one of those joyously baffled ‘I never thought I’d see the day‘ reactions.
And, 11 days out from the start of their Guinness Pro12 title defence, they’re still doing it.
The word complacency has never been something we associate with the men of the west, yet that’s one of the main stumbling blocks head coach Pat Lam has been preaching vigilance about:
“I’ve spoken to coaches and senior players, we’ve got to be right on the lookout around complacency,” Lam said overlooking the Aviva Stadium pitch where he hopes his team can defend the Pro12 title next May.
“It can’t be me running that, it can’t be just John (Muldoon). That helped us get back to business as usual and back to everyday: ‘what-do-we-do-well and what-we-can-do-better…”
Lam repeats the two questions to make a mantra which every Connacht player must buy into. At the beginning of the season, as if anyone needed reminding of how successful Lam’s methods have been, he placed the big shining fruit of their labour on display in the team room.
“We put the trophy at the front and talked about what it represented: pretty much just hard work, only an outcome of the work put in as a team and by the whole organisation. Recognising what it was and that it’s now part of history.
The desire is to achieve things, it’s not rocket science, it’s all about the work we do every day at the Sportsground. It was an outcome, but we continue the journey.
“The purpose of Connacht Rugby is to try and inspire the community with success. And there’s no doubt the trophy represents some serious inspiration for the people of the west of Ireland. But it’s now part of history.
“It’s now our business to try and inspire them through more success. So understanding how we did it is key.”
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Lam and 11 coaches who didn't win the Pro12 at the Aviva Stadium today.
Of course, Lam is the catalyst that brought everything together for Connacht’s sensational 2016. Though Joe Schmidt’s future remains somewhat up in the air, the Samoan quickly brushes off talk that he may step up to the job on Landsowne Road.
“Everyone makes their own decisions, but it’s nothing to do with me,” he says.
“It’s exactly that [something I can't control]. Everyone involved with Irish Rugby would like Joe to stay, with the work he is doing.”
He’s fully-focused on Connacht and how they are going about repeating the process which yielded such unexpected fortune. If anything has changed, it’s that he has come down heavier on lapses than before.
“I’ve been pretty sharp-eyed looking at everything and I came in pretty hard in the first week to make sure there was no slip in standards.
“I’ve been there before where we’ve won Championships and the following year is always tough to back it up. I can’t control on-the-field, I can control what we do in the week; standards around how we prepare, how the staff prepare and if we do that we give ourselves the best chance.
If you break it all down, the secret of our success is teamwork. It’s not about the individual. It’s all about the team.”
He added: ”It’s about continuing the way we do things. Our culture is really around the training week and what we do in our preparation.
“If we do that, we get better. if we get better, then we can cope with what other teams will bring. But if we slip in standards other teams will overtake us.
“I know I keep going over it, but what we do at the Sportsground (in training) is massively important.”
That importance is amplified by Connacht’s relative lack of resources in comparison to not only their three Irish rivals, but the rest of the league as a whole. So just as Lam has moved to consign the Pro12 trophy to history, he deftly avoids speaking about the players who won’t be part of his squad this season.
Robbie Henshaw has crossed the Shannon, Rodney Ah You crossed the border, AJ MacGinty moved across the Irish Sea and Aly Muldowney has made a home in the Alps. Yet rather than dwell on the difficulties of recruitment, Lam places the emphasis on those who have been retained, the players who can continue their growth and let all the good habits rub off on the new boys.
“We’ve got really good retention as well compared to recruitment. As I said to John and all the key guys who know the game really well, it’s only as good as the other 10% getting up to speed on how we play. Because if they don’t get up to speed, that’ll be how strong we are.
“Put it this way: the fact that it’s my fourth year, I’m working with a lot of guys I’ve worked with before, so they understand me, I understand them and they understand what we’re trying to do.
“That’s massive compared to when you bring new people in.
“If you’re able to retain players it means that your development of them is going in the right way and you want to keep them. So it helps the continuity of the programme.”
Onwards and upwards.
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'The trophy represents serious inspiration for the west of Ireland, but it’s now part of history'
THE LAST 12 months have carried no shortage of significant moments and landmarks from Connacht that made us stand back and have one of those joyously baffled ‘I never thought I’d see the day‘ reactions.
And, 11 days out from the start of their Guinness Pro12 title defence, they’re still doing it.
The word complacency has never been something we associate with the men of the west, yet that’s one of the main stumbling blocks head coach Pat Lam has been preaching vigilance about:
“I’ve spoken to coaches and senior players, we’ve got to be right on the lookout around complacency,” Lam said overlooking the Aviva Stadium pitch where he hopes his team can defend the Pro12 title next May.
“It can’t be me running that, it can’t be just John (Muldoon). That helped us get back to business as usual and back to everyday: ‘what-do-we-do-well and what-we-can-do-better…”
Lam repeats the two questions to make a mantra which every Connacht player must buy into. At the beginning of the season, as if anyone needed reminding of how successful Lam’s methods have been, he placed the big shining fruit of their labour on display in the team room.
“We put the trophy at the front and talked about what it represented: pretty much just hard work, only an outcome of the work put in as a team and by the whole organisation. Recognising what it was and that it’s now part of history.
“The purpose of Connacht Rugby is to try and inspire the community with success. And there’s no doubt the trophy represents some serious inspiration for the people of the west of Ireland. But it’s now part of history.
“It’s now our business to try and inspire them through more success. So understanding how we did it is key.”
Of course, Lam is the catalyst that brought everything together for Connacht’s sensational 2016. Though Joe Schmidt’s future remains somewhat up in the air, the Samoan quickly brushes off talk that he may step up to the job on Landsowne Road.
“Everyone makes their own decisions, but it’s nothing to do with me,” he says.
“It’s exactly that [something I can't control]. Everyone involved with Irish Rugby would like Joe to stay, with the work he is doing.”
He’s fully-focused on Connacht and how they are going about repeating the process which yielded such unexpected fortune. If anything has changed, it’s that he has come down heavier on lapses than before.
“I’ve been pretty sharp-eyed looking at everything and I came in pretty hard in the first week to make sure there was no slip in standards.
“I’ve been there before where we’ve won Championships and the following year is always tough to back it up. I can’t control on-the-field, I can control what we do in the week; standards around how we prepare, how the staff prepare and if we do that we give ourselves the best chance.
He added: ”It’s about continuing the way we do things. Our culture is really around the training week and what we do in our preparation.
“If we do that, we get better. if we get better, then we can cope with what other teams will bring. But if we slip in standards other teams will overtake us.
“I know I keep going over it, but what we do at the Sportsground (in training) is massively important.”
That importance is amplified by Connacht’s relative lack of resources in comparison to not only their three Irish rivals, but the rest of the league as a whole. So just as Lam has moved to consign the Pro12 trophy to history, he deftly avoids speaking about the players who won’t be part of his squad this season.
Robbie Henshaw has crossed the Shannon, Rodney Ah You crossed the border, AJ MacGinty moved across the Irish Sea and Aly Muldowney has made a home in the Alps. Yet rather than dwell on the difficulties of recruitment, Lam places the emphasis on those who have been retained, the players who can continue their growth and let all the good habits rub off on the new boys.
“We’ve got really good retention as well compared to recruitment. As I said to John and all the key guys who know the game really well, it’s only as good as the other 10% getting up to speed on how we play. Because if they don’t get up to speed, that’ll be how strong we are.
“Put it this way: the fact that it’s my fourth year, I’m working with a lot of guys I’ve worked with before, so they understand me, I understand them and they understand what we’re trying to do.
“That’s massive compared to when you bring new people in.
“If you’re able to retain players it means that your development of them is going in the right way and you want to keep them. So it helps the continuity of the programme.”
Onwards and upwards.
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