www.the42.ie/connacht-andy-friend-new-era-4123813-Jul2018/

I know it doesn’t guarantee anything but I really like everything Friend is saying. Found this part very interesting:

“While Keane – previously an attack coach with the Chiefs in New Zealand – looked to drive the attacking side of Connacht’s game last season, Carolan will be given additional responsibility in this department under Friend.”

Thought KK’s New Zealand style heads up rugby didn’t work and our back play was fairly poor all year. Wonder will Carolan persist with it as he’s said before that he likes his teams to play in that mould.

Also delighted that they went out to Ballina, it’s a great club and hopefully we’ll be able to pull a few lads away from GAA up there and they’ll start feeding into our underage system.

Nice little piece here on Andy and I tell you another thing if this is his first week in Ireland he has being sold a red herring on the weather front !

www.foxsports.com.au/rugby/australian-co...30a64ad2f183e617b024

Murray Kinsella reporting that Friend to link up with the Irish squad on the Australia tour at some stage

media.giphy.com/media/3o6Zt004uv3Hhr36lq/giphy.gif

I could be wrong but I think the IRFU are mentioned in every official release for a hiring, coach, player or otherwise, for the provinces.

phatguerilla wrote: Previous work as a skills coach and arriving in June are both big pluses for me. Should be able to help the aussie signings settle in and if he's friends with Nucifora that's probably not a bad thing. Love for the club game makes a lot of sense for Connacht.

The skills coach jumped out to me as well. I think we never recovered from Ellis leaving as skills coach.
Fingers crossed that we get our skills level back up to our previous standard.

The other thing that I noticed was the press release.
Connacht and the IRFU announced.
I wonder who really fired KK us or David Nucifora ? Especially when Friend came so close to getting the Ulster job.

I hope he has afew contacts to get high quality signings on our budget.
Here hoping that he is very successful

A bit of insight into the hiring of Andy Friend: www.rugby.com.au/news/2018/05/24/andy-friend-connacht-signing

He seems pretty active on social media, and it's heartening to see there is a lot of good will for him from some very good players and coaches (Cooper Vuna, Ugo Monye, Danny Care, Phil Greening [who had a few great words about Connacht too], Laurie Fisher, Nick Easter, etc).

Hopefully he goes well here, he's made a good first impression anyway.

pinky wrote: (It's too hot out to get my coat, so I'll just log out for a while and think about what I've done).

Not enough time Pinky!

RogueXV wrote: but since Friend only became available in April

Ah he was always available really.
Winter, spring, summer or fall. All we had to do was call. And he'd be there ...

(It's too hot out to get my coat, so I'll just log out for a while and think about what I've done).

Got Quins promoted, had a Premiership record of W22 L22 and went W8 L5 in both his Super Rugby seasons. As a unit coach he'd probably be skills which is the one we're missing, and coached with Wallabies in RWC 2003.

Against that wasted half a decade in Japan, there's a player heave (gulp) on his record and his record with Oz 7s was mediocre.

But the question everybody is avoiding... Is it OK to pronounce his name like The Inbetweeners?

Previous work as a skills coach and arriving in June are both big pluses for me. Should be able to help the aussie signings settle in and if he's friends with Nucifora that's probably not a bad thing. Love for the club game makes a lot of sense for Connacht.

Like Connemara man I'm cautiously optimistic. The prospect of the first proper preseason in three years is welcomed news. I assumed the search for Keane's replacement began months ago and maybe it did in some form but since Friend only became available in April the Board didn't have anyone waiting long in the wings before KK was let go. He obviously fits the bill of Grassroots to Green Shirts so they have corrected Keane's perceived weakness with community relations. Wouldn't count his time at 7s against him and it could be an asset if he can incorporate its expansive style into the 15-a-side game. Here's hoping he sees out his contract and is able to build success year on year.

Glad we've made a quick appointment. I wonder if the new Head Coach is bringing any new coaching staff with him or are Peter Wilkins, Nigel Carolan, and Jimmy Duffy staying in situ.

www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-05/andy-frie.../9730956?pfmredir=sm

wp_rathead wrote: Interesting piece on him here:
citynews.com.au/2018/gavel-the-good-friend-of-rugby/

Very interesting. Can imagine this had a lot to do with his appointment

He loves club rugby, but is not a fan of the current Super Rugby believing the conference system is confusing and says the money in the sport is going to the top when more should be going to grassroots and developing the skill level of players.

Friend says: “We are trying to build the pyramid from the top down and it doesn’t work. It is not about the people at the top who play Super Rugby and coach Super Rugby, it’s about the grassroots and building the pyramid from the base.”

In other words, a need exists for far greater quality support for the development of junior players and coaches in their formative years if rugby in this country is going to be successful again.