Joe Tekori back for Toulouse to face Connacht and wary of wily Pat Lam

If Connacht need an idea of the type of reinforcements Toulouse can bring with them to Galway this weekend, they should ask Paul O'Connell. Not many people bulldoze through the Munster man, but Joe Tekori did just that during Ireland's win over Samoa last month.

Footage of the 122kg forward flattening O’Connell is readily available online, along with several videos of Tekori dismissing would-be defenders. The 29-year-old is available for Saturday’s return match after an obligatory week off, which he and several internationals had to take after the autumn Tests.

For the trip to the Sportsground, Toulouse can also bolster their line-up with French internationals like exciting teenage centre Gael Fickou, wing Maxime Medard and backrow Yannick Nyanga.

It all suggests Connacht might have trouble repeating their shock success of last Sunday. Tekori, though, knows the Irish province have a wily coach in charge, having worked with Pat Lam at the start of his career in Auckland. The giant Samoan says he warned his teammates ahead of the 16-14 loss in Toulouse that Connacht would have changed from the time the sides last met two years ago.

'Smart coach'
"He's a smart coach," Tekori says of Lam. "The way Connacht play, they're like a Super 15 team. They played a fast game on Sunday."

The 6ft 6ins’ player, equally comfortable at lock or number eight, also has Lam to thank for his move to France in 2007. The Connacht coach, himself a former Samoan international, was working with Auckland in the National Provincial Championship (NPC) at the time.

“I was playing with Pat in the NPC and he told me about the contract in Castres,” Tekori recalls. “They were looking for a lock and number eight and I said ‘Okay, if it’s good I’ll go.’ And then he said ‘I think it’s good for you – I know you’re young but it’s a good opportunity.”

Tekori's first coaches at Castres were former Irish internationals Jeremy Davidson and Mark McCall. When current Racing Metro coaching duo Laurent Labit and Laurent Travers took over, Tekori was with them every step of the way as they led the unfancied southern club from relegation strugglers to French championship winners within four years.

Now in his seventh season in the Top 14, Tekori joined Toulouse this season after Castres won the French title for the first time in 20 years.

It is not just at club level that he can relate to Connacht's giant-killing exploits, however. Tekori has featured in two World Cups and, along with Toulouse prop Census Johnson, he played his part in Samoa's win over Wales at the Millennium Stadium in 2012.

O'Connell clash
As for that brush with O'Connell last month, Tekori gives his Irish counterpart the benefit of the doubt for coming off second best. "Probably he was off balance," he laughs. "Maybe I caught him good but he's a great player. Maybe he's the number one in the world at the moment in the secondrow."

While Tekori should be among the players who will bring fresh energy to the four-time European champions, those who were on the pitch at the Stade Ernest Wallon against Connacht feel they let the club down.

The feeling in the camp was one of huge disappointment, rather than frustration, according to hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle. “We’re very disappointed and first of all by ourselves and our performance, individual as well as collective,” the South African said. “We have to take responsibility and admit that we didn’t play like we needed to. We’re indebted to the team and the club.

“The defeat is of our making and we shouldn’t make excuses . . . we have the chance to do better on Saturday and we have to seize that chance.”