Lam claims Kieran Keane is the 'perfect guy' to succeed him as Connacht boss

But the Chiefs attack coach won’t be able to link up with the province until the end of July.

PAT LAM SAYS Connacht have got the perfect man to replace him in Chiefs attack coach Kieran Keane.

Lam said he was delighted with the appointment of the former Tasmam head coach and current Chiefs assistant coach, and he promised he would do his best to aid a smooth transfer of power.

It was also confirmed that Keane will not be joining the province until the end of July at the earliest, but Lam said that Connacht have secured the right man to carry on the development despite this delay.

“It’s a great fit. Our paths crossed many times back in New Zealand,” said Lam.

“He has gotten results in rugby and there are a lot of people that have worked closely with him that speak very highly of him, whether it’s his peers or the players themselves.

“KK is the perfect guy, I’m really, really pleased. The boys will really enjoy him, he’ll drive them hard. He loves playing the game with an attacking style. It’s fantastic, I’m really happy.

When they told me they were looking at Kieran Keane, I said: ‘perfect choice, he’d be ideal’.

“But the biggest thing is he has a lot of experience, he is very comfortable in his skin. He’s not going to come over here and try and prove ‘look, I’m a head coach’. He’ll come here and continue to drive the plan and fit in nicely.”

While there will be no official overlap in Lam’s and Keane’s time in Connacht, the incumbent insisted he will continue to do his best to ensure his successor is well informed and will be ready to take the reins.

“We had a good chat, but not to the depth that we will have later. We had a good hour of a chat, he talked about my time here and we’ll continue that when the time is appropriate,” said Lam.

“[My door] will be open but my situation is different because I was available to come in immediately.

“As I said to Kieran, even when I’m over the other side of the water we’ll stay in touch. This place is, and will remain, a special place to me. I’ll be very much in contact and available to him.

“I know what I’m leaving and what he’s coming in to, and I wanted to make sure all the systems and structures are in place that these guys can continue to grow and develop as rugby players and men. He has the same philosophy, which is great.”

Connacht CEO Willie Ruane. James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO

Connacht CEO Willie Ruane confirmed Keane will not be joining the province before his contract expires at the Chiefs.

The final regular-season game in Super Rugby takes place on 15 July, but should the Chiefs reach the knockout stages, as they have done in the last five seasons, Keane might not arrive at the Sportsground until early August.

According to Ruane there will be no disruption to pre-season as Keane’s assistants will be in place, although he was not in a position to confirm who those assistants would be.

The future of current forwards coach Jimmy Duffy and backs coach Conor McPhillips – both former Connacht players – has yet to be confirmed, but Ruane would not clarify their positions.

“You can expect some change,” said Ruane. “We’ll be confirming those over the next few days. We are pretty advanced in terms of where we are at. I’m genuinely very happy, actually excited, with what we had there, but I can’t confirm it just yet because we are just working through the finer details.

What I would say is you will see some change because we obviously have Dave Ellis’ [skills coach] slot, so we’ll be filling another role there, so you can expect some change. I think we will be able to announce more on that in the next few days.

“I’d love to say he [Keane] is going to be here right from the very start, he’s not. But really good planning should address that.”

Ruane insisted he would not get too hung up on a leak surrounding the identity of the coach, which resulted in most of the squad finding out via the media rather than from the province itself.

“They [the players] only found out actually, just before we made the announcement [on Monday]. I think the players have been very understanding of the process we have gone through.

“It’s not something I’m mad about, but that’s just the way it is. I’m not going to get too hung up on it.”