This is an amazing signing! Delighted to hear this must be Lams handy work. Just what Connacht need to push on and shows that Connacht are serious about pushing the Sport to the limits in this Province.

Regards Devon Toner, Look I wouldn't turn my nose up at him coming good to have some Back up there. But at the same time Devon would strengthen our squad depth he wouldn't improve the quality in the team. I would be worried it would be a payment in advance for Dave McSharry or Robbie Henshaw in a couple of years!

salmson wrote:

ummm, wrote: So how is this going to work exactly?

The Super XV season has just started, is Clarke lining out for Chiefs at the moment? When will he cease to be a Chiefs players and become a Connacht player?

The Super XV final is August 3, so while he'll be available for day one of the league I'd home the aim would be to get him intergrated into the team for the first round of European fixtures, the guy can't play 15 months straight through wothout a break.

stuff.co.nz wrote: www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/super-rugby/...Clarke-Ireland-bound

Chiefs co-captain Craig Clarke will join team-mate Richard Kahui in heading overseas at the end of this year's Super Rugby competition.

Clarke, who turns 30 in August, has signed with Irish club Connacht in Galway for three seasons and will not be available to play in this year's ITM Cup with his Taranaki team because he is expected in Ireland in mid-August.

Kahui announced last week that he was heading to Japan to play for the Toshiba club for two seasons after the 2013 Super Rugby season ends in early August.

Clarke, who has been at the heart of the Chiefs' successful engine room in 57 games, has followed hard on the heels of the All Blacks back and said he could have gone a year earlier if he had not enjoyed the franchise's winning Super Rugby run in 2012.

Married just three weeks ago, Clarke and new wife Veree decided it was time for a new "adventure", and with the big second-rower's impressive bid to win the attention of the All Blacks selectors unsuccessful, it was time to taste European professional rugby while he was still young enough.

"Me and my wife just feel it's the right time," Clarke said.

"We were thinking about doing it last year but during last year's campaign things were chugging along really well and I was enjoying it, so I thought I'll do this season as well."

Clarke admits it might have been different if he had been able to crack the All Blacks, but has no regrets, believing he gave it his best shot.

"It certainly would have made things different [if I had made the All Blacks] but I was really stoked with my form last season and I'm not sure if my knee injury towards the end of the campaign had any effect on my chances, but I was really chuffed with how it went and I want to replicate that this campaign."

It won't make any difference to his All Blacks hopes, which have now gone with this announcement, but Clarke said he would not be resting on his laurels.

"I gave it a real decent crack but I don't want to rest on last season's performance because otherwise I'll go backwards. I want to be a better player than I was last season.

"I'm a proud Chief and I want to do everything I can to get the success that we experienced last season."

Clarke said he had chosen Ireland because it was a case of being the best offer at the time.

"Then after the initial approaches it was a case of looking at Galway, the club, the people involved and all the different options."

Former Blues coach Pat Lam has taken over as head coach of a rebuilding Connacht club where former Waikato captain and Chiefs prop Nathan White plays.

Clarke said had spoken to Lam, an experienced northern hemisphere campaigner as both player and coach, and been given some useful advice on European rugby and life there in general.

Connacht - the fourth club in Ireland behind Leinster, Munster and Ulster - has ambitions of building into a more competitive force, using the likes of Clarke and White to blend experience with a strong depth of good young talent.

Chiefs coach Dave Rennie said Clarke's "impeccable standards on and off the field" had helped raise the bar in the team environment.

"He is a passionate Chiefs man and was a massive part of the success we had last season," said Rennie.

"His leadership, his work ethic and his attention to detail have continued to impress me.

"We'll miss him, but it's a great opportunity for Craig and Veree and we wish them all the best."

swift4prez wrote:

The IMF wrote: Whiff of Cordite showing some out of character bitterness on twitter there a while ago but I guess we are going to have to get used to this type of thing now!

"This Clarke signing is odd - spending big, expensive foreigners, directly supporting Connacht were all formerly not on IRFU agenda."

In the interests of fairness this was followed up by

"That said, coup for Connacht - excellent signing, potentially Muller esque in his impact."

I just don't get the attitude, like we haven't earned a bit of investment. After Ireland were destroyed in NZ it seemed the majority of commentators were clambering to have 4 strong provinces rather than 3 + 1. Now it just feels like most of those same people are questioning the IRFU's investment in Connacht in case it should mean less investment for the other 3.

first bit there, you'll be a happier man if you unfollow people like him and harpin on rugby or whatever this name in. they change like the wind.

second part there is, yes it was seen we were the same as the others, but now the other two provinces munster and leinster (ulster keep to themselfs) are now wanting to put us down as they are worrying about themself. they think were a waste of money and they badly want that money.
last year leinster had the best squad EVER blah blah, now the truth has hit home, they have an ageing team.
munster have a good group of young players but there coach seems a bit all over the place.

when thing are going well, it easy to look down at people and be happy.

They're Blogs and all about getting numbers on the Blog pages, so much like Franno in the Independent, George Hook on RTE and Stephen Jones in the Sunday Times they are deliberately obtuse to engage readers/listeners...

Ga1wegian wrote: He is highly thought of in NZ - quote from article on Cheifs chances this season:

"Now the Chiefs think like winners, with a spirit epitomised by captain Craig Clarke, the sort of angular, sharp-edged, tireless worker who would have fitted seamlessly into any of the great Waikato sides from the amateur era.

Taking their cue from the captain, the Chiefs actually out-Crusadered the Crusaders in last year's semi, and the confidence from the title victory will make them even more dangerous."

link - www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/super-rugby/...-Chiefs-to-win-title

Lets hope he gets through this season unscathed and he is ready to go with us at the start of the new season

To me, this signing has all the hallmarks of our signing Bruce Farley back in the day (although Bruce was admittedly a few years younger). If it works out like that we'll have ourselves a reet good un....

So we'll all be tuned in to Sky Sports 4 at 6.35am Friday to get a closer look.

entertainment.ie/tv/display.asp?channeli...=time5&submit=Search

Is there an official Clan venue to watch it

ummm, wrote: I think WoC were being sarcastic towards the IRFU more than anything else

I take your point and given your superior knowledge of the WoC boys will concede you're probably right. Though by reading the comments their original tweet has generated it seems I'm not the only one that misinterpreted it as an anti Connacht point.

I really enjoy the creativity in the WoC anaylsis and genuinely think it is one of the best sites out there for the trainspotters among us and would like to think the standard of their analysis won't be affected by an anti Connacht bias - which unfortunately is more than can be said for one or two of the people that comment on it religiously.

i agree with you swifty to an extent but we need 4/5 2nd rows of decent standard to maintain a decent level of performance and results over a season.
clarke(wow) and muldowney are great signings and kearney is a promising back up player but after that swift+sorry) is at the end of his career and will be a year older then. a brian hayes or ben marshall would supplement squad nicely in this position without breaking the bank.
this might convince miah to stay and fetu too! ( budget permitting).
great start to the week.

merchantdon wrote: I've wondered about this myself but i reckon the negativity is because we are not doing what "others" feel we should be doing. Were like the poor relation that's come into an inheritance or suspected inheritance and are starting to move above our perceived "place"

agree, were taking players they would like in there team, rather then signing players who cant make the ie leinster team, the rejects really

The IMF wrote: Whiff of Cordite showing some out of character bitterness on twitter there a while ago but I guess we are going to have to get used to this type of thing now!

"This Clarke signing is odd - spending big, expensive foreigners, directly supporting Connacht were all formerly not on IRFU agenda."

In the interests of fairness this was followed up by

"That said, coup for Connacht - excellent signing, potentially Muller esque in his impact."

Have i missed all the NIQ signing we have made this year? Henry, Carr and Muldowney are all IQ so this is our only NIQ signing to date. With the financial difference between the money available in NZ and what we were offering Macca to stay i wouldn't have thought he would be on to much more money (complete speculation my end mind as I have no clue what type of money he was on but then i doubt WoC do either).

I just don't get the attitude, like we haven't earned a bit of investment. After Ireland were destroyed in NZ it seemed the majority of commentators were clambering to have 4 strong provinces rather than 3 + 1. Now it just feels like most of those same people are questioning the IRFU's investment in Connacht in case it should mean less investment for the other 3.

I've wondered about this myself but i reckon the negativity is because we are not doing what "others" feel we should be doing. Were like the poor relation that's come into an inheritance or suspected inheritance and are starting to move above our perceived "place"

The IMF wrote: Whiff of Cordite showing some out of character bitterness on twitter there a while ago but I guess we are going to have to get used to this type of thing now!

"This Clarke signing is odd - spending big, expensive foreigners, directly supporting Connacht were all formerly not on IRFU agenda."

In the interests of fairness this was followed up by

"That said, coup for Connacht - excellent signing, potentially Muller esque in his impact."

I just don't get the attitude, like we haven't earned a bit of investment. After Ireland were destroyed in NZ it seemed the majority of commentators were clambering to have 4 strong provinces rather than 3 + 1. Now it just feels like most of those same people are questioning the IRFU's investment in Connacht in case it should mean less investment for the other 3.

first bit there, you'll be a happier man if you unfollow people like him and harpin on rugby or whatever this name in. they change like the wind.

second part there is, yes it was seen we were the same as the others, but now the other two provinces munster and leinster (ulster keep to themselfs) are now wanting to put us down as they are worrying about themself. they think were a waste of money and they badly want that money.
last year leinster had the best squad EVER blah blah, now the truth has hit home, they have an ageing team.
munster have a good group of young players but there coach seems a bit all over the place.

when thing are going well, it easy to look down at people and be happy.

Wonderful signing, and fu@k the begrudgers elsewhere. Great work by Tom Sears et al.

I think WoC were being sarcastic towards the IRFU more than anything else

Whiff of Cordite showing some out of character bitterness on twitter there a while ago but I guess we are going to have to get used to this type of thing now!

"This Clarke signing is odd - spending big, expensive foreigners, directly supporting Connacht were all formerly not on IRFU agenda."

In the interests of fairness this was followed up by

"That said, coup for Connacht - excellent signing, potentially Muller esque in his impact."

Have i missed all the NIQ signing we have made this year? Henry, Carr and Muldowney are all IQ so this is our only NIQ signing to date. With the financial difference between the money available in NZ and what we were offering Macca to stay i wouldn't have thought he would be on to much more money (complete speculation my end mind as I have no clue what type of money he was on but then i doubt WoC do either).

I just don't get the attitude, like we haven't earned a bit of investment. After Ireland were destroyed in NZ it seemed the majority of commentators were clambering to have 4 strong provinces rather than 3 + 1. Now it just feels like most of those same people are questioning the IRFU's investment in Connacht in case it should mean less investment for the other 3.

I saw O'Connor play in the U20 World Cup in 09- would be great if we got someone like him. And O'Connor is the epitome of a Connacht name - he'd fit in perfectly!

This looks like a great signing, second row looks like it has gone from a position of relative weakness to strength thanks to these new signings. Another 7 and 10 (preferably a utility type) and we'll be pretty much set.

If we're looking for another flanker how about this lad?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brendon_O%27Connor

Brendon Ryan O'Connor he's gotta have some Irish blood!

As for a utility 10 I think this lad would do.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Taylor_%28rugby_union%29

Just a few suggestions Pat!

Wow. Just wow. This has improved my Monday no end! There was obviously sterling work put in behind the scenes to pull this off so well done to the branch and all involved.