Bloody Bristol, at the start of the season they snub us by not turning up for a friendly.

Then to rub salt into our injury they steal our head coach........ I never liked Bristol anyways, a really bad weekend there years ago.

In the time Pat's been at Connacht, he's argued the IRFU into funding proper video analysis equipment, given players the confidence to try to win games with their skill, and changed the mindset from conservative, minimise errors at all costs to accepting that mistakes just mean more practice is needed, the entire backroom staff have been part of this, he's been talking about the need to set up a culture that is self sustaining for a while.

Without knowing his ultimate ambitions there's no way of knowing why he took the Bristol job, huge salary, but from a coaching point of view, his reputation in NZ before coming up here wasn't great, for all we know he wants to prove his ability by the improvement he can bring to struggling clubs with a view to going home.

With all the coach suggestions I'm surprised not to see Eric Elwood's name, he stepped aside for family reasons at the time, with him coming back in as kicking coach, perhaps he can afford enough time for coaching now? Pat has talked in the past about meeting Eric for a debrief of matches, so even when he wasn't involved in coaching, he was still in the loop.

Whoever takes over, Pat's going to be a very hard act to follow.

a few months ago I would have said Dave Rennie is a perfect fit unfortunately Glasgow have got in ahead of us as he takes over from Townsend next year

Hard one to stomach. Pat Lam is a gentleman. He has helped give us so many memorable days and has helped in building something that appeared impossible a few short years ago. For all that I can't but wish him and his family the best of luck.

I see the appeal in Bristol. Massive money, nice city, massive fanbase, huge scope to grow the club and basically starting from ground zero but throwing money at the problem was against everything I saw Pat Lam as standing for. Of course you have to invest to succeed but with a few key signings and build a team from there. Bristol's approach to things the last few years to me looks to have been very scatter gun.

I'd have hoped Pat would give it more time but he probably feels there isn't much further he can take things here.

Anyway what's done is done. We hit on Pat as the right man almost by default the last time. We can't cheap out on a new head coach. We can't compete with the kind of money teams like Bristol offer but we still have a lot going for us and we have to put our best foot forward.

That has to be sorted in the background. There needs to be positive signs soon though, lots of good players out of contract who'd be happily picked up by other clubs.

In the meantime, lets hope the dressing room harmony won't be too affected and we move on to Sunday's huge game.

Gutted for Connacht but great for Pat to go from lowest paid Irish province coach to top paid English Premiership coach. What a difference he made to everybody with even a small interest in Irish rugby. No longer do we all have to mimic Munster in their glory days to have any success. Credit to all involved in recruiting Pat for their vision and ability to think beyond the obvious (limited) options. Maybe this is hopelessly optimistic but I'll trust in the process, and wait to see who Connacht recruit to bring this team and the future squads on the greater success. Right now I hope everyone gets focused on Wasps who don't rate us one bit judging by the coverage of their match yesterday.

i would just hope that we could attract someone a step up from Jackman in terms of experience and higher profile club management

although I agree Bernard is trying to do some of the same things that Connacht have been doing

I see that Boylesports have cut Carolan into 7/4 to be next head coach, doubt it will happen

RoadRunnerR1 wrote: Dangerous to assume there's a financial benefit from Pat leaving before his contract was up. The contract he signed may well have had a provision to allow him to talk to Premiership or Top 14 teams without the requirement of a compensation payment. Would explain why this announcement was made so early as in all probability Bristol will not be a premiership club for much longer.
This is a big gamble for Pat. Bristol may have a billionaire owner but he's not such a big fish in the vast ocean that is premiership rugby. And revenues for championship clubs pale in comparison to their premiership rivals. Even if they get promoted back at the 1st time of asking, we've seen this year & with the likes of London Welsh before them how hard it is just to stay in the premiership let alone compete for a top 6 champions cup slot or ultimately top 4 & potential champions. Even for a coach as good as Pat undoubtedly is it's a big ask & he'll earn every penny he's paid.
Nothing lasts forever & Connacht are undoubtedly in a far better position than they were before he came but then again so are his coaching credentials. By no means has this been a one way street. Still i'm very surprised by his decision to leave now and I hope that Bundee's twitter statement isn't one of a man that feels a little betrayed. After all the highs of last year & the big presentation at the Aviva the whole stadium & future development (Current re-signings apart) has gone a little bit flat lately. I think it's really important that coaches & players alike see the potential for future improvement & development and I really hope that the stalled new stadium & total indifference of the IRFU (opting to pay the GAA for use of Pearse stadium in their bid to win the 2023 world cup rather than contribute to a new Connacht stadium to serve the same purpose) hasn't been a factor in his decision.
I think Bernard Jackman would be an ideal replacement given the brand of rugby Grenoble have played for the last few seasons in a top 14 that seem's to loose more and more flair every year in favour of their version of robot wars but who ever it is the professional games board need to get it right first time. If they do, I can see Connacht rugby going from strength to strength. If they mess it up, well I for one don't even want to think about it.

I didn't, I asked the question...
I'm pretty sure it was pretty much a gentleman's agreement between Connacht & Pat that if he received an offer he felt he wanted to pursue that Connacht would not stand in or place barriers in his way..

With regards to Berch & Grenoble, he wouldn't be a bad replacement in some respects. Bernard's stated intention for Grenoble this season was to minimise the recruitment of expensive foreign imports and make more use indigenous players via development. Top14 is a difficult place for any Coach to make a fundamental shift like that and the signing of Muldowney was an attempt to bolster his very young/inexperienced Second Row options...

www.planetrugby.com/news/grenoble-boss-j...ing-transfers-trend/

How difficult will it be for us to sign new players or hold onto the important ones until we sign a new coach ? I'm sure any player would have reservations about signing a contract not knowing who the gaffer is going to be. I hope the branch knew about this a while and the wheels were turning on getting another coach/coaches in.

£750k PA according to IT. Hard to say no tbh.

Problem with any Irish coach is inability to attract top players from abroad the way Lam could. Thus I would love another NZ or Aussie coach. But any coach, no matter where they are from, is going to have that sense of community that Lam has helped instill in Connacht; especially the visits to clubs and schools across the province.

That's just making it more awful. No "thank you" from me for that post

Just watched the Bristol presser on facebook so you wouldn't:

Between Bristol platitudes and my dry heaves I garnered 2 important pieces of info:
- they wanted him now
- he insisted on seeing out his contract rather than having it bought out.

That rather suggests that the deal he signed in January 2015 to start June 2015 was the standard "2 year pus 1 year option", so no payoff from Bristol.

I'm not sure which stage of the Five stages of grief I'm in currently, but I'm surprised I haven't seen this yet

#LamOut

Dangerous to assume there's a financial benefit from Pat leaving before his contract was up. The contract he signed may well have had a provision to allow him to talk to Premiership or Top 14 teams without the requirement of a compensation payment. Would explain why this announcement was made so early as in all probability Bristol will not be a premiership club for much longer.
This is a big gamble for Pat. Bristol may have a billionaire owner but he's not such a big fish in the vast ocean that is premiership rugby. And revenues for championship clubs pale in comparison to their premiership rivals. Even if they get promoted back at the 1st time of asking, we've seen this year & with the likes of London Welsh before them how hard it is just to stay in the premiership let alone compete for a top 6 champions cup slot or ultimately top 4 & potential champions. Even for a coach as good as Pat undoubtedly is it's a big ask & he'll earn every penny he's paid.
Nothing lasts forever & Connacht are undoubtedly in a far better position than they were before he came but then again so are his coaching credentials. By no means has this been a one way street. Still i'm very surprised by his decision to leave now and I hope that Bundee's twitter statement isn't one of a man that feels a little betrayed. After all the highs of last year & the big presentation at the Aviva the whole stadium & future development (Current re-signings apart) has gone a little bit flat lately. I think it's really important that coaches & players alike see the potential for future improvement & development and I really hope that the stalled new stadium & total indifference of the IRFU (opting to pay the GAA for use of Pearse stadium in their bid to win the 2023 world cup rather than contribute to a new Connacht stadium to serve the same purpose) hasn't been a factor in his decision.
I think Bernard Jackman would be an ideal replacement given the brand of rugby Grenoble have played for the last few seasons in a top 14 that seem's to loose more and more flair every year in favour of their version of robot wars but who ever it is the professional games board need to get it right first time. If they do, I can see Connacht rugby going from strength to strength. If they mess it up, well I for one don't even want to think about it.

Like everyone, absolutely gutted at the announcement and particularity disappointing so that Pat's not seeing out the final year of his contract.

I understand the in and outs of why he has chosen not to, it is a big opportunity that's been put to him regardless of the monetary incentives and no doubt they offered a premium to secure their man as early as possible (I don;'t know the terms of Pat's contract but would hope there is some financial benefit to Connacht in acceding to his early release). But it doesn't make it easier to swallow because knowing Pat he will have had his plan in place for next season also and there inevitably will be some negative fallout from that from a Connacht perspective whether it's player unrest or embedding a new Head Coach.Other fallout could include Bristol targeting some of our better players as contracts near conclusion.

Bristol is very much a sleeping giant of English Rugby. But in saying that, not without enormous issues as represented by the fact that it has spent half of the last two decades in the second Tier of English Rugby.

It is likely at this stage that Pat will be coaching a Championship Club next season, but I suppose there is a similarity between what he's done here with us and what Bristol hope he can do to their club.
But expectation levels will be hugely different though, and especially after what he has achieved with us.

Though from Day One he will be expected to deliver an immediate return to the Premiership as comprehensive Champions of the Championship, playing the brand of rugby that worked for Connacht (which won't necessarily have the same results week in/week out in the premiership). You don't also get the time to implement a huge cultural shift when there is a lot of money at play in a big club like Bristol..
Expectation at a club that even in a season with ten games gone where they have yet to win a single game but they still average 13,500 gates per game will be huge...

He will have a lot of resources at hand that Connacht and the IRFU cannot afford to provide, including a totally refurbished Ashton Gate ground with Capacity for 27,000 - www.bristol-sport.co.uk/stadium/the-plan/progress-update/ , whereas a new/upgraded Sportsground is stillonly a pipe-dream for Connacht.

As I said I can understand the attraction on a very basic level, if he succeeds it will be almost as big but in a very different way an achievement as he has had with us.

Down to everyone involved in Connacht Rugby now to ensure that Pat's legacy and vision continues regardless after his departure..

Bristol Rugby wrote: Bristol Rugby is delighted to announce the appointment of Pat Lam as the Club’s new Head Coach.

The 48 year-old – who led Connacht to their first ever major trophy in 2016 – will join Bristol in June ahead of the 2017/18 campaign.

“Pat was the outstanding candidate in our search for a new Head Coach and impressed the board with his coaching ability, experience and enthusiasm for the task ahead. We’re very pleased to appoint an individual of his quality,” Chairman Chris Booy said.

“The board has been patient in our approach to ensure we have the right man to take this Club forward in the long term. Pat has transformed a Connacht team into Pro12 champions and we believe he can build a squad, a culture and an environment that can be successful in the Aviva Premiership.

“Mark Tainton and the existing coaching set-up will continue in their roles with the target of securing our Aviva Premiership survival. They have done an excellent job so far in instilling some real fight and positivity into the players and we are confident that Mark has the ability to keep Bristol in the top flight.”

A Samoan international during his playing days, Lam returns to the English Premiership as a coach after winning the 1997-98 Premiership with Newcastle Falcons and the 2000 Heineken Cup as captain of Northampton Saints.

A coach with a burgeoning reputation and an impressive CV, Lam spent five years as head coach of Auckland and four years as Head Coach of Blues Super Rugby, before joining Connacht in 2013.

He added: “I’m excited about the opportunity to coach and lead Bristol Rugby – a proud club with history, tradition and a bright future ahead. What appeals to me most after speaking to Steve Lansdown and Chris Booy is their passion, vision and long term commitment to inspire fellow Bristolians worldwide through rugby success on and off the field.

“As with my decision to help Connacht Rugby four years ago, my coaching philosophy is very much aligned to assisting them in making Bristol Rugby a club where the Bristol community can be inspired and Bristol players have a genuine pathway to represent England by the quality of our rugby programme.

“I’m committed to Bristol irrespective as to what happens in the short-term – everything is in place for the club to be a force in the future and I’m honoured to be invited to join the journey.”

Read more at www.premiershiprugby.com/news/pat-lam-co...#iWZrvy10WlBb11pv.99 [
/quote]

OK - so here we are. We're at a crossroads now whereby our next selection of Head Coach is absolutely vital. We need to kick on. In terms of stadium development (moving far too slowly for my liking) as we won't be Pro12 champs forever and in terms of coaching and team. A real statement of intent required in the next couple of months. Some interesting names thrown in so far. Uncertain really Jackman at this stage.

Absolutely sickened. I just hope he doesn't bring any players with him.