Will Connors is the latest Leinster player to head down the M4 and join Stuart Lancaster’s Connacht.
“Time for a change, time to challenge myself in different ways,” the 30-year-old says of his move west, having made 64 appearances for Leinster after first joining its sub-academy in 2015.
Understandably, it was former Leinster coach Lancaster who “piqued” Connors’ interest to move to Galway. Add in a new stadium, new facilities, the crop of talented young players Connacht is developing – not to mention the more seasoned Bundee Aki and Mack Hansen – and Connors feels something is building in the province.
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Timing is everything, and Connors felt he was in a comfort zone after nine seasons at the RDS. There were options – heading to France and a different lifestyle, but ultimately fading away from the international picture – or, as Connors chose, a different window in Ireland.
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“If I wanted to chase a new opportunity and push myself, I felt like this was the place to go,” he says. “You can’t play for Ireland when you’re living abroad. So it made sense to make this move.
“It matches my ambitions of still wanting to be in a winning team, still wanting to play for Ireland, so it felt like the perfect move. Stuart [Lancaster] is a great coach, there’s a great crop of players, and I was here on the opening night when playing for Leinster and it was the buzz. I’ve played in Champions Cup finals, big games, but I’ve never heard a crowd like that – so passionate, so raw.
“It just felt like a perfect storm was building here, and it is an exciting time to join.”
It is also timely for Lancaster, who, in his second season and having delivered Champions Cup rugby after finishing eighth in the URC, looks to build more momentum with Ciarán Frawley, Jerry Cahir and Francois Van Wyk also moving to the western seaboard.
First, however, Connors needs to fully recover from an injury suffered in the warm-up before his last game with Leinster when a player stepped on his foot, breaking the second metatarsal.
“It’s been a slow burner, but in terms of moving to a new environment, it’s a fresh outlook, a fresh perspective. Ask any player, what’s their ambition? It should be to play for Ireland. The reality is to push yourself to the highest level and ultimately, if your goal is to play for Ireland, it’s going to bring out the best of yourself every day. I’m a strong believer in that. It’s your everyday decisions – there’s a lot of pubs around Galway that are very tempting, but you know, you have to put yourself in the best position.
“I have to prove myself and let everyone know what I’m about, what I stand for. And you know, that’s an exciting part of it as well.”
In what he describes as a “crazy competitive back row”, his ambition is to lock down a more consistent position.
“At the end of the day, everyone wants to play for Ireland, and if you ask any Irish qualified player here, what’s your ambition, it should be to play for Ireland. The reality is you want to push yourself to the highest level, and you know if your goal is to play for Ireland, it’s going to bring out the best of yourself every day.
“I’m a strong believer in that ... I look at the young lads like Harry West, Hugh Gavin, Sam Illo and Billy Bohan, and I think they’re not just saying they want to play for Ireland, they actually enact it. They perform on the pitch, they’re good fellas around the place, and I think as high-performing individuals to have them as the base of a team is really important.”
Will Connors is an Energia Rugby for All ambassador. See more at Energia.ie/rugby
