Connacht are building for an exciting future

The new rugby season is upon us, and rarely, if ever, has there been as much excitement about what we’re going to see from Connacht over the coming months. Saturday's win over Benetton did little to dampen that – in fact, a bonus-point victory only underscored the sense that much is possible this time around.

After the existential crises of the noughties, Connacht has had a steady upward trajectory in the decades since but there was a nagging feeling of potential being untapped in recent seasons, owing to a variety of factors.

A lack of stability on the coaching front since Andy Friend’s departure in 2023 has hindered progress and last season, in particular, was a horribly inconsistent campaign which culminated in a 13th place finish in the URC and a jarring 43-40 loss to Racing in the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup.

That Racing game was one which summed Connacht up in many ways. They played some thrilling attacking rugby but mixed that with a brittle defensive effort against a side that played 67 minutes of the game with fourteen men away from home. Connacht won many plaudits for their efforts, but that doesn’t exactly cut it in the professional game.

Plus, Connacht are past that. Pats on the back for moral victories are no good any more, especially after the watershed moment of 2016 and that season’s PRO12 triumph. Connacht, as an entity, knows it’s possible to be much better and much more competitive.

What does that look like? Consistent participation in the Champions Cup and regular top-eight finishes in the URC look like realistic goals.

Saturday’s opening round win represented a morale boosting start for a team with high ambitions this season. The reason for those ambitions are plentiful, but there’s one reason that’s head and shoulders above the rest.

There are few bits of sporting news that will stop you in your tracks, make you sit up and take notice. But, when the news broke shortly before the official announcement that Stuart Lancaster was to become the new head coach of Connacht this summer, it made plenty of people take note.

The province deserves an enormous amount of kudos for going out there and getting Lancaster. Showing that level of ambition – and actually delivering on it – is a real statement of intent and shows that Connacht is keen to establish itself as a more regular contender among the top sides in European rugby.

The naysayers will point to Lancaster’s underwhelming record as a head coach, but there are mitigating factors. His period as England boss coincided with the pressure cooker of a home World Cup in 2015, the pressure of which was only increased by the memories of their 2003 triumph in Australia adding to the sense of expectation. His most recent stint at Racing failed to go to plan and when he left the French club, they were twelfth in the Top 14.

Nonetheless, on these shores, Lancaster’s reputation remains very much intact.

His period as Leo Cullen’s number two at Leinster has been widely documented as a roaring success, delivering a Champions Cup in 2018 and four league titles. It was Leinster’s consistency over that time that came to be most impressive; indeed, their failure to deliver more often on the European stage is probably the only blot on the copybook.

And so opens the Connacht chapter for Lancaster. In forming together the managerial and coaching structure, the Connacht chiefs appear to have struck a nice balance; the instalment of Billy Millard as the province’s General Manager of Performance will help look after some of the off-the-field matters and allow Lancaster focus on his work on the field.

Throw in the addition of experienced Australian Rod Seib as Lancaster’s assistant, and Collie Tucker providing a link to last season’s coaching group, and it looks like a really good mixture.

The great thing for the incoming management group is that there is acres of room for improvement.

How many times last season did Connacht slump to defeats to teams you’d expect them to take points off? Indeed, even in some of their inter-pro matches the same failing of missed opportunities was evident in a two-point loss to Munster at the start of the season and in two back-to-back defeats to Ulster and Leinster over the Christmas period.

Aside from the inter-pro matches, which always take on an added sense of importance, there are other teams Connacht should target. Ospreys, Lions, Benetton and Cardiff were the teams immediately above Connacht last season; overtaking and finishing ahead of all four of them provides an achievable target for this season.

With all of that in mind – and not forgetting the great possibilities that lie ahead in the Challenge Cup, too – there’s plenty of room for Connacht to make a lot of ground this season.

Off the field, there are exciting developments to generate an even greater sense of purpose. The stunning aerial footage of the recent work at the Dexcom Stadium in Galway is another illustration of the province's ambition to build for the longer term.

The new stand and associated training facilities are seriously impressive and will help generate sustainable revenue over the medium term. Modern facilities for the players to use on a daily basis will also, undoubtedly, be a useful tool in attracting talent to the west.

Add it all together and it's quite the formula that the Connacht hierarchy have put together for future success.

With the entire province pulling together, it could mark the start of a bright new era for rugby in our region.