By Rob Murphy @ Knockon.ie
August 19 2009

Knockon.ie's Rob Murphy collared Gerry Murphy to put some of the questions we probably all have to the man in control of the purse-strings and pretty much everything else at Connacht Rugby. It has finally arrived. This is the first of a two part interview with Connacht CEO Gerry Kelly conducted this month and looking forward to the new season. For the first part the focus is mainly on the pitch while in part 2 we will look at the current state of Connacht rugby as a brand.

RM: Last year you targeted third bottom and a better home record. In some ways Connacht clearly fell short of that. What was your own assessment of the campaign?

GK: Disappointment, no hiding behind that. The highlight of the season obviously was the wins over Munster and Leinster the disappointment was the failure to put away the three games that were winnable against Ulster Cardiff and Llanelli. I mean all three games we were ahead and had chances to go further ahead and allowed them back into the game. They were major disappointments.

I think the Challenge Cup was an achievement we did come unstuck against Northampton, a game where I thought we played very well accept for the last ten minutes where the sin binnings really cost us.

The overall feeling is one of disappointment for not reaching our goals. I think in a lot of cases we played a lot better but I think the challenge again for this season is the away record.

RM: Regarding those disgruntled faithful who are frustrated with last place finishes and looking for major changes, calling for heads? Does it anger you when you hear that?

GK: That's part of sport, people calling for heads and the like, it's a football phenomenon. I think what is disappointing for me is as a GAA man as well to see it coming into football and hurling with fans calling for GAA managers to be sacked regularly.

Fans demand success and sometimes don't see behind the scenes as to why success is not as achievable as it can be. Calling for heads or for a new coach doesn't guarantee success either. I suppose the best example one can give is if you look at the pressure Michael Cheika was under for the last couple of season with supporters calling for him to leave. It turned around for him and they won the Heineken Cup and suddenly he is a hero.

So it is a challenge. I'm happy, very happy with the coaching team we have in place. I think that we have other things to work on and I know the have worked on a number of things this pre season so I don't think that there is a quick fix solution.

RM: So in your view is it across the board where the improving needs to be done if we are to reach the goals and targets being set.

GK: I think so from my job down the whole way. We aren't as highly resources as other provinces we are not complaining about that but it means that everyone has to work that bit harder both on and off the field to try and get us to improve. I think are fans have to work harder for us as well, we have a lot of very very loyal fans but we also have a lot of fans who drift in and out.

We need to build our core support I'd be very conscious and appreciative of the core support we have and we need that to grow.

RM: We hear a lot of talk about resources and funding gaps but from what you are saying there seems to be an acceptance with the squad and management that even with the resources we have there is plenty of room for improvement on the field.

GK: Yes. I think we can get more out of ourselves and to go back to the games we mentioned initially closing out those games where we have the advantage, fighting even for bonus points away from home. That has nothing to do with money it is to do a lot of the times with mental attitude on pitches. That is to do with the players, I know they have address that themselves and we have done a lot of work in the off season with players about stuff like that and hopefully we will see the benefits this season.

RM: The squad size this season. I know we are due to be one player down on last but we also still have two places to fill. Is that something that concerns you?

GK: Always concerned, Not concerned that technically we will be one player down on last year. We have taken our time with filling the development places and I'll be able to give you news on that in a minute. We have two places to fill on the full time squad our decision this year was very much that we weren't going to rush out and buy we wanted to only buy what we felt would strongly improve the squad we are constantly even as late as this morning we have a couple of DVD's down there, one which looks very good and we are going back to negotiate with them. So it will be our aim to fill them as soon as possible but only by improving the squad.

On the development side this morning we have upgraded two young indigenous academy players to development contracts. Two players you will know well in your time covering underage rugby. One is Eoin Griffin, he's coming in as a development player and will be training full time with the squad and Tiernan O'Halloran so both of those are young backs, who have come through all our systems with Nigel for the last number of year in the academy, They're both two big guys and having observed them, everybody is happy for them to make the step up and become part of the squad.

As you know David Nolan and Dermot Murphy have already moved up. We are very conscious of bringing up our younger players from the academy Conor Higgins is training with the squad for example. We have another development contract which will be up for grabs when our twenties play in the inter pro series.

One thing also to concern us is if the IRB push ahead with a suggestion on the table at the moment to have eight subs and two front row replacements for every game. Now that would put pressure on us as we have only four full time props at the moment.

We will probably have to bring a prop in on that development contract at that stage so that is a concern. It is only when you have injuries that the size of your squad becomes a concern. Some times with a fully fit and large squad you have the issue of players not getting game time. The smaller squad doesn't allow for a lot of rotation which perhaps is a good thing.

RM: Injuries to key players in key positions were vital last year and one such position, the front row in particular cost us when we lost Robbie Morris. Props, it's massive problem for many clubs but certainly for us with just four and when you consider a game like Northampton last year where the front row problems really cost us.

GK: Absolutely, If you look at the world rugby market the postion to be in at the moment is prop forward. There is a huge shortage of quality props. The scrum has become a major part of the game again, the return of the maul is probably again going to increase the value of powerful props so we are out in the market doing the best we can but it is a concern for us and injuries can cause us problems in that area. We are hoping we are going to be better this year but time will tell.

RM: Lets move on to rotation and targeting games. Last season we did try to target games you could say that failed because of big defeats but lets focus in on the IRFU targets for Connacht. It is something we have spoken about on knockon.ie regarding the fact that they made no mention of Magners League targets for the province and their only reference to targets was reaching four quarter finals and two semi finals in four years. So far so good in that regards, in that we made the last eight in year one

The question is, Can Connacht satisfy HQ and reach two semi finals in the next three years? especially considering under this year's format that will require winning their pool three years in a row. As we know Connacht have never before topped their pool in the Challenge cup.

GK: Well It is an interesting one, when that target was set the Challenge cup was a very different format and Connacht had consistently reached the last eight and of course had reached the semi final on a number of occasions. With the new format, and I think even the IRFU would have to revise those targets. I think next season, as you correctly pointed out we have never won our pool, we have constantly progressed as a leading runner up and we have a good record in that but next year with the new format of having to win you pool and then even in the quarter final the subsequent dropping down of three Heineken Cup it's going to be a totally different challenge. Our own internal challenge is if you take Worcester as the top seed in our group, we have to try and finish ahead of them but we know Montpellier of old and they have strengthened in the last number of years. So the Challenge Cup is going to be a huge challenge.

For the rest of Part 1 click Here 

Knockon.ie Interview with CEO, Gerry Kelly Part 1 of 2

Discussion started by Connacht Rugby Supporters (IP Logged), 19/08/2009 18:05

Connacht Rugby Supporters
19/08/2009 18:05

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seanin4711
21/08/2009 19:13

same old spin!
Its a results business!
I now better performances will lead to results but come on Bradley and co set out plans to finish games when they are there for the taking!!!
Please Jesus!!!
sean

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al omaniya
24/08/2009 17:12

I have the utmost of respect for Gerry Kelly. He is a gentleman, a hard worker, and must be given credit for having steered the professional set up in the province through the dark days.
However, I can't understand how he can claim to be happy with the current coaching set up. He must see that Bradley can't take us any further. It's also disappointing to see him so accepting of the funding apartheid besetting Connacht Rugby. Things won't change unless we agitate for change. If Gerry can't be seen to do that as an employee of the IRFU, then perhaps he should identify and support a medium through which this campaign can be run.

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confan1
25/08/2009 13:58

Even if Gerry Kelly did not like the current coaching staff could he say it on the record? It may make a few here happy but it would completely undermine the coaching staff, dishearten the players, and possibly even drive the punters away.

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Borders no.2
25/08/2009 15:58

Thats very true Confan1 but elsewhere in the article he lumbers the blame for the heavy away defeats solely on the players.He goes on about the mental attitude of the players which may be a fair point but what signals were the coaching team giving out that led to all these hammerings?The bottom line is the coaching team have no belief we can win most away games and that is getting through to the players.

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diom
26/08/2009 10:11

In fairness I can see where he is coming from with the reference to the soccer mentality of "change the coach as soon as the results aren't there". I'd hate to see that in rugby, but in fairness to the Connacht supporters, Brads has been given more that a fair whack at the job.

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ummm,
26/08/2009 10:34

We aren't as highly resourced as other provinces we are not complaining about that

And therein lies the problem. Get out of the way Gerry and let someone take over who WILL complain about it.

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al omaniya
26/08/2009 13:54

Anyone hear Bradley on Morning Ireland this morning saying that he hoped Leinster, Munster, or Ulster would win the HEC this season thereby enabling us to qualify for next season's competition.
Any ambition for us to qualify off our own bat Brads, or have you written off the season already?
Jesus...............

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ummm,
26/08/2009 19:32

Well, he might as well join the club

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Borders no.2
27/08/2009 00:56

Was there any reason for Brads to be on Morning Ireland?This is the new ambition to replace the totally unreachable ambition of 9th place.

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diom
27/08/2009 15:52

I formulated a new theory about the 6:30 games. Bradley might be dictating that they kick off at that time, so that he can be back in Cork for the weekend. Come back up on the Tuesday, spend a few nights and then back down to his homeland.

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lgwt@castlebar
27/08/2009 16:13

Such suspicion Diom.

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