Farrell’s fond memories of European assignments

Tom Farrell wasn’t a wet week in the Sportsground when he made his Champions Cup debut for Connacht and now the 26-year old is hoping for another springboard against his native Leinster this evening as they prepare for Europe next week.

It’s only the second time that Connacht have qualified for the Champions Cup on merit but Farrell, drafted in by Pat Lam as emergency injury cover in January 2017, would have been forgiven for wondering what all the fuss was about when he arrived in Galway after a stint with Bedford Blues.

“I arrived in Galway on the Monday and I was playing in the Champions Cup on the Saturday. It was weird. It was against Zebre at home.”

Farrell, who has chalked up 55 appearances for the province, now appreciates that guys like John Muldoon and Michael Swift spent years of toil before they got the chance to play in Europe’s top competition while he enjoyed the experience within days of arriving.

I was quite lucky. It just fell at the right time. I was fortunate that there was quite a lot of injuries in the centre. Pat put me on the bench against Zebre and I got maybe 25 minutes and that was the start of it. The following week I was on the bench for Toulouse away which was a cool experience.

He is looking forward to the start of the Heineken Champions Cup next weekend at home to Montpellier but first there is this evening’s eagerly awaited clash against Leinster when he will team up with another Dublin native Peter Robb in a centre clash with former Connacht star Robbie Henshaw and Joe Tomane.

Farrell goes into this evening’s clash in top form, having come off the bench to score two tries in the win over Cheetahs before making his first start of the season in the win away to Ospreys last weekend.

Bundee Aki is back for Connacht to crank up the pressure for game-time but Farrell, who was brought into Ireland training camps by Joe Schmidt last winter, has a simple goal for this campaign.

“I want to continue where I have been with Connacht over the last year or so.

Trying to maintain my place in the team is first and foremost. We do have quite a lot of centres at the moment.

"Even with Bundee away we still had three or four of us in the senior squad with a couple of the young lads in the academy pushing through now as well. For me it is just trying to keep my place and go from there.”