Connacht coach Pat Lam is looking for more than sunshine "to top up the tan" when he takes his injury-hit Connacht to Italy this week.
Bottom of the table after two successive defeats at home, Connacht's next fixture against Zebre in Parma will come as some relief. Connacht have never lost to the Italian side, home or away, and Saturday presents a real opportunity for the defending champions to get their season back on track.
“The reason we have done so well against them is that our mindset is around respect,” says Lam. “No Italian team has gone a season without winning games, and when you look at the teams they beat, it’s the teams I believe have not prepared for mentally.”
The Italian side is a bonus point ahead of scoreless Connacht, who have suffered the worst possible start to their Guinness Pro12 title defence, but Lam believes the poor start can be turned around.
“There are a lot of circumstances and cards that we have been dealt, but all it does is bring the culture and the way we do things to light. It’s great we have been able to do it when things have been going well, but now is when it really counts.
Provide motivation
“My whole philosophy is about better – better people and better rugby players – and this is the time you get it. I’m not happy about where we are at and I’m disappointed but I know how to get out of this situation and the learnings that will come from this situation.”
Lam says Connacht’s early season fall will provide motivation.
"I asked everyone to stand up if they had ever been at the bottom in the professional era, but only a handful stood up – the ones you know, the Muldoons, Loughneys, the Browns – so they now get a sense of what these guys have been through before, why John Muldoon was in tears last year.
“Now we are all in the same boat, we have a great opportunity, at least we can experience it as a group. That gives us the motivation of the process we go through.
“Yes, we have lost two games, but I look at why we lost and how we are going to get better, and how we apply it next week. The season is 22 games, and this, collectively as a group, will hold us in really good stead.”
However, Lam is still dealing with a heavy injury list, confirming flanker Nepia Fox-Matamua is ruled out until November with a hamstring injury, wing Danie Poolman is following concussion protocols and Ireland Sevens player Josh Rowland is out for up to six week after surgery on an ankle injury. The only return to date is Denis Buckley.
