Connacht Team Talk Thread VI - Some like it TOH

This won't happen for financial reasons, we'd be very limited trying to recruit coaches mid season anyway.

Id be of the view that if Wilkins DOES coach something it goes to crap. This year his primary focus is defence I believe which tells its own story.

I'm genuinely lost why people think Wilkins is a good technical coach but that could be just my bias. From memory Edinburgh were poor under him as defence coach and were keen to ditch him and since he's joined us he's jumped from role to role with very little if any discernable improvement and usually I see regression where he's involved.

I think where Wilkins must be good from what I've seen and heard is as a stats or video guru in the background.

The best technical coaches I could see with my untrained eye since Friend came in (where it was very obvious they improved what we were doing) were Nigel Carolan and Dewald Senekal.

Wilkins seems like a good person but ultimately he's out of his depth in terms of being a head coach who is ultimately responsible for the predictable frustrating game plan that we persist with. Everyone has to take a part of the responsibility for each area but ultimately it falls on him. For any half decent teams playing Connacht the recipe to win is pretty straightforward. A strong defensive line and play territory and we'll burn ourselves out going through multiple phases going nowhere and with no kicking option as an alternative.

In terms of man management and leadership of the organisation as a whole I've rarely seen anyone who is so ill fitting to the role.

The recruitment and departures at Connacht has at best frustrating with notable exceptions like Ben Murphy and the squad appears to be lopsided to me. He's had more than enough time to shape his own squad and even with a limited budget he's not done well. Lots of players who serve no purpose have been brought in while we have glaring issues in key areas that have persisted for years. Quality players being messed around and no idea of the makeup of his best backline.

Willie Ruane has dug this hole for himself. The stadium getting done and the success of the trip to Castlebar will allow him to spin the positives but he has made two disastrous appointments as head coach. With Keane we cut our losses early but Wilkins feels more death by a thousand cuts and this will really come to be a problem when his staff are given the task of getting a respectable crowd for run of the mill games in the new stadium. Connacht is a hard sell at the moment even though in theory we've never been more marketable.

Tram is not shabby. Hasn't been for years

A lot of coverage this last week about supporting Munster, Ulster and Connacht to bridge the gap to Leinster. Probably just means Munster with the other two tagged on to make it sound like it's for the good of Irish rugby but if it's a genuine aim then I would like to see the IRFU and Connacht go after a known quantity, with a successful track record, with experience of working with Irish players to lead Connacht towards new heights.

With a squad that has 3 current Irish international starters, another 2 squad members and an NI international winger and some great young talent that is way underperforming.m, surely we will make a decent coach look pretty good.

Stuart Lancaster looks like he will be available at the end of the season. Pay him what he needs and give him the back room needed.

Eric D as DOR would be great

Shayne Bolton called up to the Irish squad together with Tom Ahern.

Apologies (damned autocorrect). Eric Elwood

Bolton arrived as primarily a centre, but to my eyes struggled with timing in attack and positioning in defence, and has since found a home on the wing. He is extremely abrasive and hits like a truck on both sides of the ball. He is the closest thing to James Lowe in Irish rugby in terms of power and willingness to come off his wing. However, he lacks Lowe's kicking and offloading ability, and has demonstrated a relatively limited skillset thus far. I would also be slightly concerned about his decision making in defence and fielding at the highest level.

To summarise, raw but a lot of upside. He has also had horrendous luck with injuries which have not helped him in getting enough gametime to round out his skillset.

Exactly what I would have written about Bolton. Abrasive and aggressive in attack and defence. Limited kicking and fielding skills but exuberance and enthusiasm at levels similar to Werner Koch. I would hope to see an appearance in the A game. Nash, Bolton, Osbourne wouldn't be a bad back 3

Nearly true but not exactly true. Lam had done his job at Connacht and he could see that the job was done and the downward spiral was in the offing. Everyone could see the Lam moves a mile off. It was time for a change and he jumped. And it's the same with ROG. He has done his job. Time to move on before his legacy becomes stale, if not already stale

I would say with confidence that if Lancaster is signed as head coach at Connacht it is a death warrant for our province for the next half decade. Yes we need a coach. Yes Wilkins is a patz. I feel sorry for him. It just isn't where he should be and he knows it. But Lancaster is a total d!ck.

Just a guess, but perhaps in training they wanted Bolton to assume a position in the opposition training team similar to Duhan Van der Merwe? Big, fast and powerful. Perfect to simulate the Scottish attack in training perhaps.