Elwood keen for Connacht to show ambition on and off the field

RUGBY:ERIC ELWOOD has turned the ledger to a blank page, aware that Connacht's seven victories and a draw in 22 league matches last season – they finished above Aironi, Glasgow Warriors and Benetton Treviso in the table – has been relegated to a footnote despite a conspicuously successful opening season as coach.

League fare begins with a trip to Italy on Saturday. Closer to home there have also been swingeing changes in terms of squad personnel and an ambitious three-year plan that will herald the redevelopment of the Sportsground, not only in terms of structure but in the manner in which supporters will be embraced and coddled.

Elwood enthused: “We have to show the ambition off the pitch and on the park. The IRFU and the PGB (the Connacht Professional Game Board), that work has been done. My job and the squad’s job is that we are in the business of winning rugby matches.

“If we can tie the on-field and off-field together, increase the profile within Connacht, put bums on seats and win rugby matches then we’ll have a brand that people will be proud of and want to play for: that’s very important to us.

“It is the start of the three-year programme. I’d like to think the work the lads did last year in the league didn’t go unnoticed. We have 15 news guys coming in; the key for those players is to take up the mantle and build on the work that was done last year. The key word is improvement.”

It’s a squad that contains many promising young players but is not callow in terms of league experience. Elwood points to the exposure Eoin Griffin, Tiernan O’Halloran and Eoin McKeon, to name but three, have enjoyed both for the province and at underage representative level and also new recruits Paul O’Donohue, Niall O’Connor and TJ Anderson.

He admitted: “They’re good young Irish players, who I believe are capable of playing at that level. They have now been given the opportunity and that’s important. It is also important we have our indigenous players coming through too. We have got to be strong in ourselves, have an identity and a strong Connacht presence on the team. If our guys are good enough they’ll get that exposure as well.”

The departure of core players from last year like Fionn Carr (Leinster), Jamie Hagan (Leinster), Seán Cronin (Leinster) and Ian Keatley (Munster) makes for a tougher challenge but Elwood refuses to be maudlin. “You can look at it two ways. Yes we are disappointed is the honest answer. We must be doing something right if other teams are coming in and looking at our players. Ideally we would like to build our team around those Irish players. It’s disappointing when you lose four starters in our team. That’s just the nature of the business. We have 15 new players come in and it’s important that we try and gel those players early.”

A considerable injury list has hampered the province in pre-season defeats to the Exeter Chiefs, an Ireland XV and most recently, Saracens in London.

Elwood can see a progression in terms of performance but craves the return of several key players.

“What’s killing me is that we have a couple of key injuries. If I had a clean bill of health, I recognise that we have opportunities for us and I am not going to make any excuses for that. The sooner you can win, the quicker it will give you confidence.

“We lost six games last year where we should have taken points. Closing out those games comes with experience. That is one of the harsh lessons we are learning. We’ve young guys and part of their development is learning how to close out those tight games to enable us to avail of those opportunities.”

Connacht play five of their first eight league matches away from home and one of those will be a trip to Edinburgh where Elwood will be reunited with his predecessor as Connacht coach and former halfback partner for Ireland, Michael Bradley. “We’re best pals, very close; that’s no secret. Game three is going to be exciting in Edinburgh. He doesn’t care as long as he gets his four points and I’ll feel the same. We might have a quiet beer (afterwards).”

First there is the small matter of trying to cadge some points from Benetton Treviso at the weekend.