Bristol have untold amounts of money. Richest club in Europe with a billionaire owner. Actually think that Pat is the highest paid Coach in rugby too. Love Pat, but cant warm to Bristol, they will buy success though.

Think I counted 15 new signings on Bristol Instagram page.......easy to see the attraction with pockets that deep. Felt a little painful seeing him & Conor in the Bristol colours.

I'm not sure how eager Lam would be to go back to coaching in New Zealand to be honest. I know it's all New Zealanders' dream to play for/coach/whatever with the All Blacks but some of the stories about his time at Blues are really nasty stuff, and that's his home town.

"We’ve kept in contact with Joe about the job, like we’ve kept in touch with Vern Cotter and others. Where do I start and stop? There’s Jamie Joseph, there’s Warren Gatland, there’s Pat Lam and others and we will consider a number of options. Joe is among those options." - NZ Rugby CEO Steve Tew

Nice to be on the shortlist ...

Just read back that Fanning article......how will he comment on Rassie's exit!

And now RTE are saying Rassie is triggering his 6-month clause.
Not holding my breath for Fanning's apology though.

To be honest I quite enjoyed the article. Granted it conforms to the (S)Indo standard of one fact per thousand words, but I smiled through it as it reminded me of a similarly bitchy article he wrote when we signed Tom and Bundee. In both cases his "sources" seem to be at other provinces rather than in head office (note that he's careful not to refer to Lam's paymasters as the union or the IRFU). If they don't rate you til they hate you, this article bodes well for the summer and beyond.

Thats a shocking article, only one man being arrogant there and its not Lam. Tabloid rag. Thanks for sharing, just another one to add to my list to avoid

"In a self-serving, semi-coherent and arrogant ramble", well i guess Mr Fanning would know all about that!

Indo only does infotainment...not a worthy "news"paper...and the Sindo is worse

Indo has lost a lot of credibility they probably shouldn't have had in the last few months. I think the recent Aidan O'Shea one got huge backlash. That said, if I want to know if Lisa Murphy and Ger Kean are back together I know where to look.

connemara man wrote: Saw it earlier, it's a ridiculous article, the more people click into it the more he'll be allowed to write. Ignore ( there's an irony in me saying this as I've shared it myself)

That's fair, I feel bad for sharing it but I'll leave it up because it'll give those who read it a good reason to avoid Fanning's pieces in the future.

Saw it earlier, it's a ridiculous article, the more people click into it the more he'll be allowed to write. Ignore ( there's an irony in me saying this as I've shared it myself)

independent.ie/sport/rugby/connacht-rugb...rewell-35789658.html

I appreciate the irony in writing a hack job on somebody accusing them of being morally bankrupt but it's a shame that so many people seem to have an axe to grind with Lam. Quite telling that they are all external to Connacht though.

I think that's fine to an extent, anyone would want the longest contract possible but all he's really saying is that he would have been free to leave a year later imo. I wouldn't even mind that but then he sort of makes out the IRFU contract is the reason for players and coaches being on edge/not knowing their future/leaving their jobs, which we know is not true. He knew that Bell and Ellis were gone before he signed the contract and maybe the IRFU could have done more to keep them but maybe they couldn't.

However, once those two were gone, and being faced with a skeleton crew for one year then having to pick up new coaches midseason and bed them into an existing system very quickly with little room for error, and the difficulty of trying to sign coaches when he only has one year left on his contract - well at that point signing for Bristol is a really easy decision, plus one year or no.

I'll always be happy with what Lam did for Connacht and what they achieved together, but the reality is the contract worked out really well for him on multiple, not just monetary levels. At the same time being very optimistic it might also work out for Connacht as Keane can pick his own backroom for the most part, and they will all come in together, which most coaching teams clearly much prefer to joining an existing ticket midway.

I don't want to be a complete begrudger but it just feels a bit like Lam's trying to shift the blame for an underwhelming season and its probably the first time he's criticized the IRFU because he doesn't have to hold back any more.

My reading of Pat's statement is as follows.
Two year contract with 3rd for review, BUT a 6-month termination clause ALSO included- can be invoked anytime.

On renewal Pat expected a clear cut contract of 3 years. Both sides know one another at this stage so the L plate should be off, with both sides fully committed. That the IRFU offered the same original terms is disconcerting. It suggested a lack of faith in Pat and denied him job security for the duration. From his viewpoint, they were asking for another 2-3 years but still holding the 6 month termination clause in force..