Steph Nel, Connacht's newly installed coach, says he likes the challenge of working with an underdog. In which case, when he says he loves Ireland and the western province especially, you believe him. One could hardly imagine Irish rugby offering a more inequitable challenge, on the senior circuit at any rate. Connacht have just come off the worst Guinness Interprovincial season of any province - beginning with record defeats to Munster and Ulster, and ultimately going on to extract just one bonus point from six games in which their defence leaked 40 tries. On top of which came the IRFU's decision to trim Connacht's budget by an estimated u £200,000.
However, Nel and Connacht seem well met. Born and bred in Pretoria, Nel played under-age rugby for Northern Transvaal before retiring injured at 21. So he began coaching, ostensibly as a hobby, before being handed the reins at Waterkloof - one of the biggest rugby schools in South Africa - and guided them to the under-19 national title. His subsequent cv included stints with Pretoria Boys High School, Pretoria University and Cape Town before being asked to take over at the Griffons, formerly Northern Free State.
From there he went to the South West District Eagles, who finished fourth in the Currie Cup last season.
At this juncture in his coaching career, Nel reckoned he "either had to make a big jump into the Super, or get one of the four big provinces in South Africa, or else go to Europe, and I was fortunate to get a phone call from Connacht".
Nel knew of Connacht's troubles last season but having cut his teeth in similar circumstances with Griffons, the 35-year-old South African is optimistic. "It isn't anything new to me. As a senior coach, I'm used to taking the underdog and try to lift them."
He admits to detecting a lack of self-confidence on arrival in the west, and says it is being restored by hard work and a 30-20 defeat to Bedford and a 57-3 win over L'Aquila. "Hard work" appears to be his mantra, coupled with "discipline" and "changing the mindset. I wouldn't say we're there yet, but we're working towards it."
Because of the IRFU cutbacks, they maintain only 19 full-time contracts for a four-month period. Long-term injuries to new recruit Tom Keating and Simon Allnutt have left them thin in the back line. Their primary strengths would appear to be up front (where South African hooker Marius Uijs has made a big impression and Junior Charlie is back on board after his contentious omission last season) and, as ever, the points scoring and leadership of Eric Elwood.
For all his stated preference for open running rugby, Nel concedes that, similarly, Connacht will have to tailor their style. "We'll have to play our own way, we don't have the resources of the other provinces."
He describes himself as a "passionate" coach, "very positive in approach, with a very simple philosophy. The ideal game should be a game without scrums, without line-outs, without phases even. It should be very, very dynamic. It should excite people, it should exhibit the flair and skill of each player and he's got to use all of it and I've got to design a pattern for him to fit into."
Fledgling days yet, but Nel thus far appears to have made a very favourable impression. More than anyone else, however, you sense that Connacht can ill-afford to start like they did 12 months ago when travelling to Donnybrook this Friday, and to counter Connacht's brittle self-confidence, Nel has brought in "an attitude coach".
"Again, it's a simple thing, if you work very hard, your ball skills improve and so does your confidence. And then let's say we achieve one win. Our confidence would be right up then and we'd become a threat all of a sudden."
