Bradley has the west awake

European Challenge Cup, Interview with Michael Bradley: Keith Duggantalks to the Connacht coach who is happy with his lot

Michael Bradley squints as he remembers which of Connacht's mid-winter visits to the seething rugby towns of southern France involved a night of torrential rain and a manic home crowd. Over the seasons, Connacht's against-the-odds situations have begun to merge.

"That was in Pau," he decides. "(France number eight Imanol) Harinorodoquy was there then and they needed four tries to put us out. And they got one late on but it wasn't enough. We have had some terrific games down in that part of the world. Narbonne were vicious competition altogether. Their fans are something else. But we enjoy the change, travelling to the continent."

Tonight, the hardiest provincial team of the Irish quartet are sequestered in Brive, the Massif Central club where they open their European Challenge Cup campaign. The continental rugby arena is one in which Connacht have consistently defied expectations. Of their two previous semi-finals, only the might of Sale prevented them in the away leg and in April 2005, they went down to a late Will Greenwood try at the Stoop in what was a valiant effort against Harlequins.

This season, they have it all to do again. Shortly after six o'clock on Monday evening, Bradley peeped out of his office, located behind the Sportsground. He was the last man in the ground - minutes beforehand, his assistant coach, Eric Elwood, had left work for the evening, walking away from the famously wind-blown field where he used to kick penalties for fun - and wearing shorts despite the frosty sting in the November night.

In Connacht, necessity has always been the mother of invention. Bradley has done an admirable job since signing up as director of rugby four years ago. Connacht have proven themselves an organised and honest outfit under the Cork man and this year raising the profile of the team - and attendances in the ground - is central to his ambitions for the province.

In keeping with the breaks of the game, they have had endured some sickeningly late defeats in the Celtic League and were also dealt a few salient reminders of the riches at the disposal of other teams. The most glittering evidence of this was presented just a week ago at the RDS when, after quietening Leinster for most of the game, the Connacht defensive alignment proved helpless against two quicksilver tries from Gordon D'Arcy. The Glongowes old boy has become the bete noir of the Galway team - a year ago, he picked their pockets in the Sportsground.

For Bradley, it must be frustrating to see his team going down against the kind of natural talent that can turn a game on a five pence. And he must, in idle seconds, wonder what Connacht might do with one of the country's most mercurial ball players - O'Driscoll or D'Arcy or Horgan - in their line-up.

"Well, it is hypothetical anyway," he smiles. "Who is to know? The choice for us is we unearth one or develop one. Three years ago, the guys we had were very young and now there is a bit of hardness in them. Any team in the world would take D'Arcy or O'Driscoll. The interesting thing about last week was we created eight kickable penalties, we kicked one to touch and four we missed.

"So without having the star players, as they are called - and as we call them - we created enough opportunities to win the game. The potential was there for 29 points. But we miss two tackles and concede 14 points.

"Like, we are happy with our lot. But it is easier to win matches when you have someone who can produce something like that. D'Arcy and O'Driscoll are a once-off. But the interesting thing for Leinster is where they go when they are not there?

"Like, Munster had an interesting case in point if Ronan O'Gara was not there. The real question here is: how strong in depth are Ireland in the key positions? And if there is a weakness there, then we have to make sure guys are playing enough rugby in those positions."

Several players have passed through Connacht on the ascending arc of their careers. The most spectacular success of recent times has been Gerry Flannery, who has gone from playing hooker for the "fourth" province to pushing for an Ireland starting spot. Bernard Jackman, another number two and a crowd favourite at the Sportsground, has also begun to make a strong impression in Leinster.

However, other players who have shone for Connacht opted to sign contracts with competing provinces or in England only to find their playing time radically diminished. Bradley's policy is not to fight players who wish to leave the club but he has reservations about the wisdom of seeing Connacht as a route to a better place.

"I like to call it the land of opportunity. The players have to make a decision. It is up to us to make Connacht as attractive as possible. Players leave for a myriad of reasons. The classic one would be that they want to play the European Cup at a higher level. But of the guys that left us in the last few years, most of them develop blisters when they watching their supposed new province playing the European Cups. There will be exceptions. Like Jerry Flannery, no matter where he went, was always going to be successful. I think Johnny O'Connor is another one; he went to Wasps and came back because he thinks there is an opportunity here. And playing against Keith Gleeson, I think they both performed well.

The visit of South Africa to the Sportsground in late August gave Connacht the dream platform from which to advertise their new season. A huge local crowd got to see the world champions-elect winning after a tenacious 70-minute display from the home province. Bradley has played in enough international warm-up games to appreciate that the Springboks were as keen to avoid injuries as they were to put on the razzle-dazzle. But the following evening, he and Eric Elwood sat down with Jake White for an hour and had a good chat. "He is an easy man to talk to. And he was respectful of our set-up, it was that kind of conversation."

When Bradley arrived at the Sportsground first, it was notable that for a young coach, he was fearless in terms of changing his teams and running the bench. But he blanches at the suggestion that this is part of his overall philosophy, explaining that it was based on the belief that he had to give every player a reasonable chance to shine.

"We have kept the same team for the first five or six games this season. The way we look at it is that players coming into a match should be able to improve the team overall. For the players, this place is an opportunity and the same is true in terms of coaching."

The Challenge Cup guarantees that glamorous rugby clubs visit the west of Ireland. This year's pool sees Connacht pitted against the Newcastle Falcons, where the metronomic England kicker Johnny Wilkinson calls the shots. Those bumper occasions, particularly on cold west of Ireland Friday nights, bring the sports fans out in droves and can make the Sportsground an intimidating and flavoursome venue. But Bradley feels that the time is ripe to make the Galway rugby ground a raucous venue week in, week out. "If we could get a capacity crowd here, it would encourage the union to invest more in terms of our budget. So it is a bit of a Catch 22. But we are happy we are going the right way for sure.

"The thing is we need to get the crowd in for the not-so-well-known teams. Because they turn up for the big occasions, that place," he says, nodding towards the shaded stand across the field, "is brilliant."