Odds favour Elwood taking over from Bradley

Date Published: {J}

HATS off to Connacht. The men in green have certainly turned their fortunes around after their Autumn struggles and Michael Bradley’s announcement that he was stepping down as squad coach at the end of this season’s campaign. Back then, they looked like a team going nowhere and in danger of drifting further into rugby’s backwoods.

We thought at the time that Bradley’s revelation was premature and that it would do nothing for squad morale but, if anything, it has galvanised the Connacht players into giving the former Irish scrum half a worthy send off. The Cork native has been at the Sportsground for seven years and nobody can doubt his commitment or loyalty to the Westerners’ cause during that time.

Initally, Bradley’s announcement that he would be resigning the following Summer appeared very bad timing to say the least given their awful start to their Magners League campaign, but Connacht are now on the brink of reaching the Challenge Cup semi-finals for only the second time after flying through their European pool unbeaten.That home date with Bourgoin in April has the makings of a great occasion and a full house at the Sportsground is guaranteed.

Remarkably, Connacht have made the quarter-finals as top seeds which would have seemed an outrageous proposition when the group draw paired them against English Premiership outfit Worcester and regular foes, Montpellier.

Frankly, Connacht looked a forlorn bet to squeeze into the last eight, but nobody could have predicted that John Muldoon and company would be the only team with a 100% record after the Heineken Cup and Challenge Cup group campaigns. Those away wins over Worcester, in particular, and Montpellier were outstanding achievements and reflected well on the squad’s pride and resilience given their ongoing struggles in the Magners League.

They had the hard work done before heading off to Spain at the weekend to take on the amateurs from Olympus Madrid, but the team still showed a professional attitude in recording a massive 66-nil victory. This ten-try rout underlined Connacht’s well being with Adrian Flavin (two), Keith Matthews (2), Fionn Carr, Niva Ta’auso, Miah Nikora, Mike McCormish, George Naoupa and Muldoon all taking advantage of the token defensive resistance offered by their hosts.

Now, the onus is on Connacht to replicate their European form in the admittedly more competitive Magners League. They are again in a familiar position – rooted at the bottom of the table – but, in general, have been more competitive so far in avoiding the tonkings which marred previous campaigns. The squad’s stock is rising, they have momentum, but now is the time to carry it through.

Off-the-field, well kind of, there is growing speculation that Bradley’s replacement will be his long-time assistant and former Irish outhalf Eric Elwood. The Galway City man was a great servant to the province as a player and has now surely attained the necessary level of experience to be appointed to the top job. The downside, of course, would be Elwood’s familiarity with the players and, as a consequence, his appointment wouldn’t provide the fresh impetus that an ‘outsider’ would bring.

On the other hand, however, it would sent out a strong message from the Connacht Branch that they have the faith in ‘one of their own’ to mastermind the province’s future campaigns. It’s also reasonable to assume that Elwood would have his own tactical ideas as well as offering a different slant to some of their match preparations. Clearly, Elwood has served his coaching apprenticeship but it remains to be seen if Gerry Kelly and his branch colleagues opt for what would be a popular local appointment.

For more, read page 55 of this week's Connacht Tribune.