ANDY FRIEND SAYS he will have no official say in helping Connacht find his successor, as the province prepare for life without the popular Australian.

Last week Friend announced he would be leaving Connacht at the end of the current season, in a move which had been widely anticipated.

The former Brumbies and Harlequins coach joined Connacht as head coach in 2018. After bringing some stability back to the province following Kieran Keane’s one-year stint in charge, Friend stepped up to the position of director of rugby ahead of the current season, with senior coach Pete Wilkins becoming head coach. 

Speaking to the media for the first time yesterday since announcing his decision, Friend confirmed the Connacht squad had been aware of his plans for some time, and added that he has not been asked to help the province with their search for his successor.

“No, I haven’t. No. Certainly not an official role,” Friend said.

“Willie [Ruane, Connacht CEO] and I converse regularly, and he often asks my opinion on things, but no, that process there is a process for William and the board, and if he does ask me my opinion I’d be happy to share it, but at the moment I haven’t been.”

Friend admitted he hadn’t envisaged spending so much time at The Sportsground when he first agreed to take on the job.

“Having been around rugby for a long time, when you sign a three-year contract, you’re not even guaranteed the first three years.

I certainly wasn’t envisaging five years. When Willie offered me a two-year extension, it was a pretty easy decision because we’ve loved our time here. But at the time, I also said, ‘If I do stay on the next two years Willie, that would be it.’

“But five years later – four and a half years later at the minute – loved every moment of it and really want to see these last six months out and hopefully finish with the best footy that we’ve played.”

This weekend sees the province return to URC action following the international break, with Connacht heading to Thomond Park on Saturday for an interpro derby meeting with Munster.

Connacht do have their Ireland internationals available for the game but Friend is likely to be missing some key players, with Mack Hansen is expected to miss out after picking up a thigh problem during Ireland’s win over Australia last Saturday.

Meanwhile Tiernan O’Halloran is also out due to a hip issue, but Peter Dooley, Shayne Bolton and Dominic Robertson-McCoy have all returned to full training following injury layoffs.

Connacht currently sit 12th in the URC table – just one point above Munster – ahead of what is a crucial game for both sides.

“I’m not here to speak for them, but they’re a very proud side,” Friend continued.

“I’ve no doubt they’re going to come full guns blazing and, and be wanting to stamp their mark on the game as early as they can. 

We know what to expect. We’ve expected that before we’ve had it before. And I said last year, I thought we were unfortunate enough to not to come away with a win, the year before we had a win there so we know it’s not uncharted waters for us, but we also know we have a lot of work to do.

“If we are going to come away with a win, we’ve got a lot of work to do to make sure that happens.”

The Connacht boss added that the province spent much of the international break working on improving their attacking threat in the opposition 22.

“I think in all areas you can always improve but certainly some of our attack, our ability to nail our opportunities when we get into the 22… We needed to be far more clinical than that, we’re sixth-best in the competition to get into the 22, but we’re certainly sitting down the bottom in terms of points scored.

“So that would tell you that we’re making errors when we get in the 22 and that’s been a key focus for us, to try and tidy that up.” 

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