Shabby treatment of OÕSullivan leaves a sour taste

THE individuals in charge of Connacht rugby must have had a collective brainstorm in announcing the appointment of former Samoan international Pat Lam as their new Head Coach just hours before the province’s high profile Heineken Cup encounter against Harlequins at The Stoop last Saturday. In a lesson in bad timing, this was a classic.

Lam’s selection as the man to replace Eric Elwood may no longer have been a state secret, but the confirmation of his appointment ought to have been a stand-alone event rather than running the risk of being overshadowed by the onfield action later in the day. It smacked of a panic move, possibly the result of the continuing negative commentary, admittedly some of it not of Connacht’s own making, over the process of finding the new rugby supremo at the Sportsground.

It’s difficult to comprehend why Connacht CEO Tom Sears and the other stakeholders didn’t wait until this week to unveil Lam as the new Head Coach. It would have been a timely lift and taken some of the focus off the embarrassing rout at the hand of Harlequins. Instead, this important news appeared to be rushed out at 7.30am last Saturday but, by mid-afternoon, the only thing Connacht supporters were talking about was the hammering by Harlequins.

Frankly, the process of appointing the new Connacht Head Coach had turned messy. It seems ages ago since Elwood stunned the local rugby fraternity by revealing that he would not be seeking an extension to his contract at the end of the current season. In between, there was the surprising revelation that former Irish coach Eddie O’Sullivan wasn’t even going to be granted an interview for the position, while one of the six candidates eventually shortlisted walked away from the Connacht job. Something which should have been relatively straightforward had instead served up no shortage of intrigue for public consumption.

It’s over three months since Elwood announced that he would be stepping down due to the continued strain the role was taking on him. The former international out half has been a fantastic ambassador for rugby in the West, both on and off the field, but he had become so immersed in driving the province forward that other important aspects of his life were being compromised. The only way he could escape was to opt out altogether.

Elwood might have kept his counsel on future plans for a while longer, but once he informed Sears of that decision, he felt the next honourable move was to be up front with the players. It was a risky strategy, however, as Elwood could have lost the dressing room there and then – ‘hey coach, that’s not showing much loyalty to us’ could have become a popular refrain.

Players can be selfish buggers and their first priority is to look after their own corner, but the Connacht squad were acutely aware of the huge personal investment Elwood has made over many years in making the province a credible force on the rugby fields. Nobody was going to jump ship and start whinging about their coach, though the whole thing must at least have been something of a distraction.

Admittedly, they tend to do things differently in rugby as in the GAA world, no inter-county hurling or football manager would even countenance revealing in the middle of a campaign that he would be resigning at the end of the season. It simply doesn’t happen and if it ever did, the roof would probably cave in on that particular dressing room immediately.

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.