New boss Stuart Lancaster targets a return to Europe's top table for Connacht
Newly-appointed Connacht head coach Stuart Lancaster is confident that he can lead the province back to where they belong by qualifying for next season's URC play-offs and securing Champions Cup rugby.
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The Irish Sun
9 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Jack Conan solely focused on British and Irish Lions duty just days after URC glory with Leinster
WITH precious little time between lifting the URC trophy and linking up with the Lions, Jack Conan made sure to worry more about care of the dog than the hair of the dog. Along with the retiring Cian Healy and the injured Caelan Doris — for whom he stood in as team captain — Conan raised Leinster's long-awaited latest piece of silverware last Saturday at Croke Park after the 32-7 final victory over the Bulls. 2 Dan Sheehan and captain Jack Conan of Leinster celebrate with the URC trophy after the win over the Bulls 2 Jack Conan is solely focused on the Lions after the club season ended in glory This was cause for celebration but with Conan being one of 12 Blues players selected in the Lions squad for the upcoming trip to Australia, there was never going to be a huge amount of time for him to bask in URC glory. While he did not feature against Argentina at the Aviva Stadium last night, he was in UCD yesterday morning as a number of Lions players hosted a training session for 90 schoolchildren from right across Ireland. And pressed on how much time he had to enjoy his province's success, the back-row ace said: 'The afterglow went pretty quickly on Monday morning when you had to pack up for the next eight weeks of your life. 'We had a great few days, it was nice. A few pints on Sunday as well early doors, which was good. I felt fresh enough on Monday morning. read more on rugby 'I had to go down to Bray at seven in the morning to get the dog. I was home early, so I was being wise. 'Monday was good. We didn't have much to do. We just came in, met everyone and got our gear. 'We had a proper runout here on Tuesday, which was soul-searching stuff. We had to run out the demons. 'You'd love to be playing against Argentina, but it is what it is. Everyone has been training away for the last week without us, so hopefully get a run out soon.' Most read in Golf Just a few short months before starting all three Tests that the Lions played during their tour of South Africa in 2021, Wicklow native Conan was in the Leinster side for their PRO14 final win over arch rivals Munster at the RDS. That was the last major title the Blues got their hands on until they collected the URC crown last weekend so Conan, 32, will hope for the same again as he looks to follow up a trophy in blue with a big summer in red. 'Big weekend' - Peter O'Mahony embarking on hectic gardening project as he aims to add '300 plants' There are still some question marks over whether the 2024-25 season will be deemed a success or a failure for Leinster given their latest Champions Cup bid ended in a shock semi-final loss to Northampton Saints at the Aviva Stadium. Yet even though he acknowledges their defeat to the English Premiership outfit was a difficult one to take, Conan stressed any campaign that sees a team winning a trophy ought to be regarded as a satisfactory one. He added: 'I think any season where you win something can never be deemed a failure. 'Obviously we want to go well in both competitions. I think if it hadn't been for the performance against Northampton . . . even if we had lost that game but we performed really well, I don't think people would have said much about it. 'The problem is when you are winning most of the time, it papers over cracks a little bit, so we had to have a good hard look at ourselves. 'You get to win a trophy in Croke Park with all your mates. 'At the end of the day, I would have taken that. 'I definitely wouldn't say it was a failure but there's definitely more in this club and in the lads. 'Hopefully a big few years still now ahead of us.'
The 42
14 hours ago
- The 42
'Not here to make up the numbers' - Conan keen for his Lions shot
HUGO KEENAN, JAMES Ryan, and Jamison Gibson-Park are down the far end of the sin-kissed pitch in the UCD Bowl, getting through some running as they continue to recover from injuries. Jack Conan appears to have taken some sort of knock too, but he's in the middle of a bunch of kids, leading passing and sidestepping drills. The Leinster, Ireland, and Lions number eight has compression bandaging covering his entire right leg but when he strolls over for a chat, he explains that it's nothing to worry about. 'Bangs and bruises… too many pints on the weekend,' jokes Conan. He and his Leinster team-mates celebrated their URC success heartily last weekend, enjoying a couple of days together before the Lions contingent joined Andy Farrell's squad on Monday, while others headed for Dingle to keep the party rolling. 'Class,' says Conan of the days after the win over the Bulls. 'It was a bit weird in the changing room after, like we didn't know how to win. Lads were a bit awkward or something like that, but it was good craic. Advertisement 'We went to the RDS for a bit which was good and then just pottered into town and everyone did their own thing. We had a great few days, it was nice, a few pints on Sunday as well early doors which was good. It was enjoyable celebrations.' He was home early on the Sunday and on the road at 7am on Monday morning to collect his dog in Bray. The afterglow of URC success vanished pretty quickly as Conan packed up for the next eight weeks on the road with the Lions. He says that going into camp on Monday was like the first day at school. Conan lifting the URC trophy at Croke Park. Laszlo Geczo / INPHO Laszlo Geczo / INPHO / INPHO Conan trained with the Lions for the first time on Tuesday – 'soul-searching stuff, we had to run out the demons!' – but didn't play in last night's defeat to Argentina, although he did the warm-up beforehand as cover. Conan was among the nine players at yesterday morning's training session in UCD, which involved children from schools in each of the four Irish provinces – Moorefields Primary School in Ballymena, St Columba's National School in Dublin, Clerihan National School in Clonmel, Tipperary, and St Brendan's National School in Galway. Conan was thrilled that Leinster could finish their season on a high with that URC victory, but the Champions Cup semi-final defeat to Northampton will linger. That's reflected when he's asked if Leinster's campaign was a success or failure. 'I think any season where you win something can never be deemed a failure,' he said. 'Obviously, we want to go well in both competitions, and I think if it hadn't been for the performance against Northampton, even if we had lost that game, but we performed really well, I don't think people would have said much about it. 'They're a quality side, but I think it was just the way we didn't show up that day and had a bit of a hangover for a few weeks. 'Maybe we don't get the result over the last two weeks if it wasn't for that game. Maybe it was the bit of a kick that we needed. 'The problem is when you win most of the time, it papers over cracks a little bit, so we had to have a good, hard look at ourselves and it was tough for a lot of lads, for everyone in the building. You get to win a trophy at Croke Park with all your mates, at the end of the day, I would have taken that. 'I definitely wouldn't say it was a failure, but there's definitely some more in this club and more in the lads, so hopefully there'll be a few years still ahead of us.' Conan with the Lions at the Aviva Stadium. Dan Sheridan / INPHO Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO Thoughts of Leinster have been pushed aside for now because Conan knows he has to bring his best to return to the starting Test shirt he wore on the last Lions tour in 2021. He says he loved that trip to South Africa, even if the pandemic meant it was like 'eight weeks of kind of solitary confinement' with the squad. This time in Australia will be very different. The injury to Caelan Doris means that Conan is the only out-and-out number eight in the squad, but Ben Earl and Henry Pollock have both played at the back of the scrum. Conan's leadership qualities add to his claims for a Test shirt. He will get his shot next Saturday against the Western Force in Perth. Conan has been rooming with Welsh flanker Jac Morgan this week, enjoying his company even if the Irishman says, 'I need subtitles half the time, it's a strong Welsh accent!' Related Reads 'Johnny is very different than what he was on the field' England's Freeman can be the 'untidy' wing that Farrell likes He knows that the battle for back row slots will be fierce, with Tom Curry and Josh van der Flier also firmly in the mix. 'There's some unbelievable athletes,' says Conan. 'We were training against the lads on Tuesday and the skillset and talent was incredibly high. I look forward to competing with the lads when I get the chance. 'I know Tom from before, I've been spending a good bit of time with Ben the last few days, a good fella and a great athlete. It's great to see them go to work and I'm sure myself and Josh, in particular, are excited to get in amongst them because we've only really had the one training day. 'The competition brings out the best in people and we're not here to just make up the numbers, so we'll look forward to competing with the lads.'
RTÉ News
16 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Jack Conan yet to revisit Northampton semi-final loss with Lions team-mates
With 12 Leinster players and four Northampton Saints in this Lions squad, it would be interesting to know when, or if, their Champions Cup semi-final comes up in conversation behind the four walls. Tommy Freeman, Henry Pollock, Fin Smith and Alex Mitchell all returned to Aviva Stadium last night for the first time since their 38-35 win against Leinster in early May, although this time they were on the losing side, as Los Pumas pulled off a 28-24 win against the Lions. Only a couple of those Leinster players were involved last night, with Rónan Kelleher and Tadhg Furlong appearing off the bench, with the rest held back either to rehab injuries or to stay fresh from their URC final exploits last week. Many of them were in UCD on Friday morning as some of the Lions squad held a skills session with a group of 90 school kids, with Jack Conan, Josh van der Flier, Joe McCarthy, Andrew Porter and James Lowe the Leinster players involved. Having missed the training camp in Portugal last week, the Leinster crew joined up with the squad on Monday, along with the Bath and Leicester Tigers players involved in last week's Premiership final. And Conan says the Leinster and Northampton players are yet to revisit that game between them, although he's not ruling it out. "No, no... It's long in the memory at this stage," he said. "I'm sure they were happy enough to get the win over us but nothing has been said. Maybe after a few pints it might come up, but at the moment it's all pleasantries and all that." The number 8 - who captained the province down the final stretch of the season, following an injury to Caelan Doris – admitted the defeat knocked the wind out of Leinster for a couple of weeks, before they fronted up to impressively beat Glasgow Warriors and the Bulls to win the URC final, their first trophy since March 2021. "It was a bit weird in the changing room after, like we didn't know how to win. Lads were a bit awkward or something like that, but it was good craic. "The afterglow went pretty quickly on Monday morning when you had to pack up for the next eight weeks of your life, and get organised and do everything else and get into camp. The anxiety was pretty high, like first day of school going in." While they ended the season with silverware, the nature of their Champions Cup semi-final defeat to Northampton has sparked debate around whether the season was a success or a failure. When the range of opinions varies so much, often the answer is somewhere in the middle. "I think any season where you win something can never be deemed a failure," Conan added. "Obviously we want to go well in both competitions, and I think if it hadn't been for the performance against Northampton, even if we had lost that game, but we performed really well, I don't think people would have said much about it. "They [Northampton] are a quality side, but I think it was just the way we didn't show up that day, and had a bit of a hangover for a few weeks. "Maybe we don't get the result over the last two weeks, if it wasn't for that game. Maybe it was the bit of a kick that we needed. "The problem is when you win most of the time, it papers over cracks a little bit, so we had to have a good hard look at ourselves and it was tough for a lot of lads, for everyone in the building. You get to win a trophy at Croke Park with all your mates, at the end of the day, I would have taken then. "I definitely wouldn't say it was a failure, but there's definitely some more in this club and more in the lads, so hopefully there'll be a few years still ahead of us." Conan played all three Tests on the 2021 tour of South Africa, although that tour was a world away from what he's expecting to see in Australia, with Covid-19 still a major part of everyday life four years ago. And as the squad prepare to depart for Perth this morning, the 32-year-old is eager to soak it all up. "I can't wait to get over there, everyone says it's just a different fanfare, a different level of excitement when you get properly on tour. "But you can even see it walking around town at the moment, people in jerseys, there's a pop-up shop, so many kids outside the Shelbourne. It's special and I'm looking forward to getting a proper run-out at some stage. "Four years ago was still great, I loved it and had a great experience. "In a way, you get to know the lads in such a different way because it was eight weeks of kind of solitary confinement. You have to mix. "You still have to mix now but you're getting out and about in smaller groups whereas four years ago, everyone was just kind of sitting around."
