Given Mack Hansen’s impending disciplinary hearing and coach Mark Sexton’s announced departure, it may not have been the merriest festive season for Connacht head coach Pete Wilkins.
On the pitch it has been similarly disappointing – a 7-17 loss to Ulster over Christmas saw the club plummet to 13th in the URC, but the show goes on when Lyon arrive in the west for Saturday’s Challenge Cup third round at Dexcom Stadium.
“Frustrating,” was Wilkins’s response to the recent events at Dexcom. “I think one of the values of rugby has been the respect for referees. Obviously, in the professional era, it becomes more complicated,” he said.
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“If there’s been a conversation started in the public or the media, so be it. I don’t think that was Mack’s intention but, look, we’ll just see how tomorrow goes and hopefully a fair hearing will take it from there.”
Sexton’s departure from Connacht has been “bubbling away” for a few weeks, giving Wilkins time to compile a list of possible candidates.
“You know the rugby grapevine is like news, [it] tends to get out pretty quickly,” he said. “So it doesn’t take long before you’ve got either agents or other coaches reaching out to say they might be interested in the role. And I think that’s important for us – I take some degree of satisfaction from that. There’s a role at Connacht that is seen as very appealing.
“We’ve not spoken to anyone directly yet but we’re certainly at the stage of those initial contacts and seeing who we might [speak to].
“Unfortunately, coaches do move on from time to time. Mark has had four years here, started in the academy with that development officer role, did a terrific job and did well enough that I was keen to bring him up into the pro set-up. And he’s done a really good job since then.
“It’s a shame he wants to move on but, again, that’s people’s stage of life; that’s professional sport, and it’s one of those things. We’ll look to obviously fill that role and tweak the coaching group moving into next year.”
After a disappointing result against Ulster and ensuing “frank reviews”, Wilkins is preparing Connacht for a top-of-the-table pool clash against Lyon, currently one point behind Connacht who have taken full points from their two fixtures against Zebre and Perpignan.
“It’s a big challenge. Lyon have flirted with the bottom end of the top 14. They’ve got a good wind to move themselves a little bit further up the table. They’ve got an incredibly strong roster and some of the firepower, particularly in the midfield and outside backs, is unbelievably threatening. They’re the best in the top four teams for successful offloads. They play with width. They look to put a bit of air on the ball. So it’s a big challenge in terms of shutting them down.”
However, Wilkins believes his side is confident of making it three from three to continue leading the pool.
“Anytime we play a French opponent, particularly here in Galway, we feel confident – obviously respecting the threat that’s coming, but we do feel confident. And we feel like we should be winning that game if we again fulfil our potential.
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“There’s enough there to keep us on edge; there’s enough to give us confidence. Part of that is the first two wins and then, of course, the other is what sort of side Lyon send over. Sometimes they’re at full strength, sometimes they’re not, sometimes it’s somewhere in between.
“So there’s a few unknowns as well, and it’s really where our Lyon prep probably moves with our Ulster reflection, in that we have to get our stuff right. If we say we’re going to do something, whether it’s big picture in terms of what we want to achieve the season or whether it’s in a specific area of the game ... we’ve got to do it.”
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