Friend says Connacht raring to go as opportunity knocks

A new-look Connacht, boasting 14 additions to the squad, has never been in better shape and coach Andy Friend says the team will hit the Aviva stadium on Sunday with a winning mentality.

Although Connacht’s chances of qualifying for the Pro14 semi-finals are highly unlikely, if mathematically possible, Friend says the two interprovincials are massively important for his squad after five months without a competitive fixture.

“We want to win, but on top of that there is an opportunity for players to put their best foot forward for future selection, and an opportunity for Andy Farrell and his coaches to look at them, so there is a lot to play for,” said Friend.

“We’ve got huge competition across all positions. We are really confident and comfortable with the squad, it’s the best we’ve had since I have been here,” he says.

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And with only three players on the injured list, Oisín Dowling, Stephen Fitzgerald and Matt Healy, with Seán O’Brien integrating this week, Friend will be looking to use some 30 players for Sunday’s fixture and the following game against Munster. Although Tiernan O’Halloran sat out training on Tuesday, he is expected to be fit and ready, but it could be too soon for new recruit, flanker Abraham Papali’i, who has only had three training sessions to date.

Papali’i, who has played both league and union, arrived recently from New Zealand’s Bay of Plenty as a replacement for Colby Fainga’a.

“When we ran the metrics of all competitions, Abraham came out in the top three. He’s a big man, he’ll takes some stopping, and that’s what we are looking for, and he has a great opportunity to relaunch his career.”

Papali’i is one of two overseas recruits – winger Ben O’Donnell has yet to arrive – while the remainder include the six academy players, and the four from Leinster (Peter Sullivan and Dom Aungier) and Munster (Conor Oliver and Sam Arnold), who Friend says, have added a hunger, having lacked playing time in their previous provincial set-ups.

“This is their opportunity, and they are all advantages for us,” added Friend. “Sometimes people may look at Connacht as a bunch of misfits. We’re not. We do have players who other people didn’t want, and now this is their opportunity to show that they probably should have got time somewhere else. There is real hunger and we’ll be using that this weekend.”

The pandemic, he says, provided Connacht with great opportunity for players to develop their bodies.

“I don’t think players have ever had time off unless injured, so they have had this time to work on their bodies and get themselves in the best physical shape, and they have used it to really good effect.”

One of those players is Bundee Aki, who hitting 100kg, also celebrates his 100th Connacht game on Sunday.

“He’s looking lean and big and he wants to put that on show on Sunday,” said Friend. “He’s a warrior, a super competitor, and he’s like a caged animal. Having been locked up for five months, he hasn’t been able to do what he loves doing, which is playing rugby, so given it’s his 100th on Sunday, that is added incentive for us.”