Heineken Cup is our Holy Grail, insists Connacht coach Elwood

THE SENSE of expectation and confidence in the Connacht camp was palpable last night as coach Eric Elwood and his new backroom team were unveiled at a press conference at the Galway Sportsground.

Elwood has taken over from Michael Bradley appreciating the difficult challenge that lies ahead. However, and in spite of fears that the resources would be less than ever, the setup has been boosted by high profile appointments.

For the first time, they will have the services of both a backs and defence coach, luxuries that the other provinces have taken for granted for years.

Former Great Britain Rugby League player Mike Forshaw assumes the role of defence coach. Forshaw, 40, also spent some time in the union game with Saracens and joins Connacht from Wigan Warriors where he was strength and conditioning coach for the past few years.

Australian Brian Melrose has arrived as backs coach from the powerful Eastwood club in Sydney where he was head coach. He took the Wallabies U20 side to the World Cup in Wales in 2008 and has also managed the country’s sevens team. He coached the New South Wales Waratahs academy in 2004 before being appointed attack and kicking coach in ‘05 and ‘06.

Former prop Dan McFarland becomes Elwood’s assistant as well as forwards coach, one-time Ireland scrum-half Conor McPhillips comes in as video analyst while Tim Allnutt and John Muldoon remain as manager and captain.

It looks a formidable backroom team that was more than happy yesterday to also feed off the expertise of Ireland forwards and backs coaches Gert Smal and Alan Gaffney at their latest pre-season session.

On the playing front, the departure of outstanding number eight George Naoupu for Japan has been softened by the arrival of Ezra Taylor who has played for the Queensland Reds and Otago Highlanders while experienced scrum-half Cillian Willis and promising young Leinster wingers, Shane Monahan and Dara Fanning, have joined the westerners.

“Everything in Connacht is always going to be tough and hard,” Elwood accepted. “The beauty about the people who work here is that they relish those challenges. A lot of good work was done here last year by Michael (Bradley) and we’re just trying to build on that.

“With a small squad, it’s important that we don’t have too many injuries and if we do that, we’re confident in our ability. We’ve tried to change a few things and be a little more innovative in terms of a kind of boot camp system. We were over in the Aran Islands to give the guys a flavour of what Connacht might mean to the people of the province and also what Connacht means to the players. We were also in the Curragh for three days on a camp for leadership and a bit of bonding.”

Elwood’s time at the head of affairs will ultimately be assessed by his ability to get the team into the Heineken Cup. To do that, they must either finish in the top three of the four Irish teams in the Magners League or win the Amlin Cup, achievements that have been beyond them in the past. They came close last season, though, and Elwood believes that near miss will boost self belief.

“The Holy Grail is the Heineken,” Elwood admitted. “We want to set out our stall in the Magners League. That’s our bread and butter. It’s what you get judged on. You know the opposition even if there are two new teams from Italy. If we qualify for Europe through the Amlin, we will take that, but the big goal for us will be the Magners.”

After home friendlies on the next two Friday nights against Harlequins and Saracens, Connacht open their competitive campaign against the Dragons on Saturday, September 4th.

Chief Executive Gerry Kelly revealed that there’s a “95% chance” that Samoa will be at the Sportsground on Tuesday, November 9, prior to the Test against Ireland the following Saturday while their Amlin Cup engagements are against Cavalieri Prato from Italy along with Harlequins and Bayonne.