Delighted with that news. I said yesterday I had no faith in those making the appointment but they've proved me wrong in a massive way. They have shown with this appointment that we do mean business.
We needed something big to get the public onside after the messing around of the last couple of years and this is a huge step in bringing a feel good factor back to Connacht.
Its important not to underestimate the task ahead but this is a huge first step and it's a vote of confidence in Connacht by both Lancaster and the IRFU that there is potential there given the right structures.
Decent chance his son, Dan, joins too I guess?
He’s apparently leaving Racing, saw some article linking him with Glasgow recently and Nigel Carolan saying while he (Nigel) wasn’t involved with recruitment he would be a great acquisition.
He started against Connacht in Challenge Cup, Owen Farrell came on after 47 minutes. I don’t remember anything good/bad standing out about him.
Great great news
One thing I like about Stuart's appointment, he has an ethos in rugby which Connacht respect and love… He believes in community..
Fantastic appointment. Can't remember being this happy with Connacht news in a long time
Payne is a an excellent technical coach…
IMHO, I think it better to separate the two roles distinctly.
Technical coaches develop an aspect of the game and are very hands on.. They interact with the player sand want to create better players and more cohesive unit.
Head coach (or Managers) doesn't taking training sessions (Andy Friend didn't take any) but manages the Technical Coaches and man manages the players (from escalation point of view). He picks the overall team and has that separation from the team to be more objective. This job is way more stressful.
Being a good Technical Coach doesn't mean you would be a good Manager.. and visa versa… Both involve a deep knowledge of rugby but skills needed are different. It is also coming more apparent that some good Technical Coaches aren't as inclined to become Managers as quick as before… While better paid, stress is way higher, you shelf life is reduced and your options especially regionally can be severely reduced… You can very quickly be in a one bedroom flat in Japan very quickly…
Look at Felix Jones, Nigel Carolan, Jarad Payne, Mike Prendergast… They have options, each of them they are considered top class operators who can add to almost any professional outfit in Europe…
Cheer up mate!! Life's too short.
Well done to Connacht and IRFU on a brilliant appointment. Can't think of anyone better to bring Connacht on the next part of their journey.
the article says that Lancaster will do that himself, and that the coaching ticket is complete now.
I'd prefer if they actually got someone in to help with that all the same. Even if Lancaster lead it, just to have someone to take some of the weight from him
Just read he is taking the defence portfolio so no other coach arriving. That is disappointing.
That's a phenomenal appointment.
Absolutely quality, would have loved to see him back at Leinster. I think he will be brilliant for Connacht!
Boom !! Great appointment I'm absolutely delighted.
Need a defence coach now… Seriously would love to have Jarrad Payne for that…😀
Votes are in..
That’s a very impressive and very welcome appointment.
Gives badly needed hope to the province.
There are still concerns about him as a head coach I think, but its a massive appointment all the same.
LLancaster , wow
I'm very happy with that appointment, welcome Stuart.
https://www.connachtrugby.ie/news/stuart-lancaster-appointed-head-coach/bp3434/
It is indeed Lancaster!
There's no chance it's Gatland. He'll get an international job with big money from a nation looking to improve.
More likely it's a successful AIL or underage coach than that.
It better not be Payne.
He'd be a good assistant coach to have around. Maybe for defense.
I'm putting my fictitious money on it being Gatland.
Maybe its himself 🤞
I can't see how the #Tuesdays can be anything but a reference to Lancaster
Apparently Connacht have their new head coach. Jackman (I know) saying it's a 'real statement of intent'.
Only person I could think it would be for Jackman to be waxing lyrical like that is Lancaster?
I would be happy to down swords based on your final paragraph. 🙂
For me I'm absolutely delighted Sexton is leaving I hated every aspect of his attack plan and how it removed our two most naturally attacking players in Carty and Farrell. I hated the constant rotation. I hate to see JJ selected, shovelling the ball along. Granted it can look slick enough when it clicks and the metrics look good but at the expense of absolutely any defence. Mossie meh, don't care. Senekal seems a loss alright.
I wasn't enamoured with the Wilkins appointment especially the 3 years however I also felt that Connacht knew him well, had promoted him to head coach with Friend above him for the first while and tbf it wasn't a disaster initially. It wasn't a massive success either. Then Friend left and he selected his own team of young coaches and it all fell apart.
I see a cautious and careful approach to bringing a new young coach through. Just because it didn't work doesn't mean that the care, professionalism and culture weren't correct.
Anyway, hope we get someone who can deliver a balance of attack and defence and 8th place for a few seasons in a row.
Well, considering Humphrey's wasn't HPD when Wilkins was appointed, its hard to lay any of the blame at his door. For all we know, Connacht could have recommended Wilkins be appointed
They did a crap job hiring Wilkins and if his inexperienced pal gets the job then it's a complete joke.
I do think that a new coach will be announced for Connacht sooner rather than later. With the IRFU having appointed McMillan in the past couple of months, they know exactly what coaches are out there and are available
Don't think it's double speak at all. If you want to read it that way fair enough. I've probably explained my point badly.
All businesses need elements of continuity in terms of building systems that work but they also need to change what clearly doesn't work and need an appropriate setup to lead the vision they are looking to get to.
In terms of having continuity under Wilkins we didn't have much. Wilkins by his own admission was incapable of managing the coaching team while he was also firefighting trying to be involved in areas of the coaching like defence where he shouldn't have had to be getting involved if the coaching setup was working. By his own admission he was trying to do many things and as a result was doing nothing to the level he'd like. A head coach shouldn't feel in a position where they feel alone and without an appropriate person to relay their concerns to and rightly or wrongly that's clearly how Wilkins felt. How we ended up in that position is worrying.
In terms of continuity with the likes of Senekal, Lawlor, Sexton etc it was clear Connacht could do with keeping these lads but they didn't feel they could progress their careers at Connacht which is a problem. With the likes of Lawlor and Sexton especially they learned a lot on the job with Connacht but someone else is the main beneficiary of the lessons they learned. Keeping those lads is the continuity you want to have.
In terms of change you change when it's obvious that people are out of their depth e.g. Fardy or that there is nobody suitable in the building to take on the head coach role and lead the coaching setup. To me it was obvious that Wilkins was a completely unsuitable choice as head coach even with a limited budget and if you surveyed supporters at the time I think a large majority would have been similarly circumspect. That's not to say supporters know best as we clearly don't but in that instance it was obviously an unsuitable appointment at best and the three year element was the particularly crazy thing when there were so many question marks hanging over his suitability for the role.
I'll get behind whoever they appoint now as I think we have taken small steps to rectify the mistakes of the past but i'm just not as positive as you are that the process of finding that person is going to give us the best chance of finding the best candidate for the role.
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