At the pre-match press conference for the Challenge Cup quarter final against Grenoble, Connacht captain John Muldoon gave an enlightening insight into the commitment the players are putting into a high-skilled game.
Much has been made of the impact that skills coach Dave Ellis and backs coach Andre Bell have had on the side - with the westerners playing some highly entertaining rugby. Pat Lam has his charges playing a lot with ball in hand, and clearly they've done a lot of work on passing and other skills that most take for granted.
But the commitment to the cause goes beyond what anyone else has thought, with not even an injury excusing players from working on their skills, as Lam interjected at yesterday's press conference:
Even the guys on crutches do them [skills drills]. Dave [Ellis] has got a lot of variety, so he’ll work with them even if he can’t move their feet or if they can’t do things with their shoulders but can use their feet, so it’s enjoyable.
Sounds like Dave Ellis' skills as a coach are pushed hard given the high numbers of players that are on the injury list for the Galway based team.
That's not the most enlightened detail about how skills are viewed to come from the press conference though. John Muldoon illustrated how the attitude towards skills has changed from when Pat Lam came in telling players to carry around a rugby ball to now:
Each year, we've probably adapted and tried to bring it forward. This year, it's about awareness from the individual; what skills do you need to do?
Last year, we used to fill out sheets and go to see the management. You'd go in and tick off certain stuff . This year, you send in an individual sheet on a Sunday night or Monday morning to all of the management to show them what you're doing and then it's up to you.
You say, 'on a Tuesday afternoon, I'm going to do X, Y and Z'. You try and pair up with somebody around you that's doing the same thing and you fill in with them on a Tuesday or a Thursday.
For example; if I wasn't happy with my breakdown work, my handling. . . you drive that yourself and if the management see something that you're not aware of or you've chosen to ignore they'll give you a poke in the right direction.
A flash in the pan or here to stay? It definitely sounds like the processes put in place by Pat Lam means that the Westerners could be here to stay.
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Picture credit: Paul Mohan / SPORTSFILE
