CONNACHT BOSS ANDY Friend has labelled comments made by Bulls head coach Jake White ahead of last Friday’s United Rugby Championship fixture between the two sides as “ill-informed.”
Connacht powered to an impressive 34-7 win against the Bulls at the Sportsground, but before the game White described Friend’s squad as a team made up “a lot of Leinster players”, and compared them to South African franchises who sign players hoping to get bigger contracts elsewhere.
White made the comments when asked what he knew about Connacht in his pre-match TV interview.
“A lot of Leinster players who come down from Leinster, obviously the guys who didn’t get contracts up there come down here,” he replied.
Seo mar a labhair Jake White stiúrthóir rugbaí vodacom bulls le @Rugbai_BEO roimh an chluiche in aghaidh @connachtrugby pic.twitter.com/iOmSq3aZvN
— Spórt TG4 (@SportTG4) October 2, 2021
“It’s very similar to a couple of franchises we have in South Africa, when they don’t get contracted by the big unions they go down to the smaller provinces and try find a way in which they can get noticed by the bigger provinces.”
Connacht head coach Friend was asked about the comments in his mid-week press conference today, and admitted that he feels the province are often shown a lack of respect.
“It’s not isolated and unfortunately people look at Connacht down the end of their nose and don’t really pay us too much respect, which we need to change and we’re aware of that,” Friend said.
“I just thought Jake’s comments were ill-informed, to be honest with you.
Yes, we have Leinster players, as does every team in the country, if you check out Ulster, Munster, they’ve got Leinster players too because that’s where the bulk of the population is in Ireland, it’s in Dublin, so you can only fit a certain amount of players into their squad.
“So there’s going to be a transition of players into other squads but we really pride ourselves on our home-grown players, of which we had Dave Heffernan, Jack Carty and Tiernan O’Halloran all starting on the weekend, we had Matt Burke and Caolan Blade coming off the bench.
“So in the 23 we had three of our own home grown and then a lot of other players who have come through our Academy, so they may have originated in Leinster but they come down to our Academy and work really hard with the likes of Eric Elwood and at the moment Mark Sexton and Andrew Browne, but also Colly Tucker and Mossy Lawler, who have been through that programme.
“So I just thought it was an ill-informed comment, it didn’t bode well for him. We’re proud of what we’re doing here, there’s opportunity for people to come down here.
“But certainly I don’t think it should be seen as a B-grade option for players, it’s another professional outfit and I suppose by the end of the year we’ll be able to tell you where we sit in that pecking order of one to four.”
Connacht also confirmed a new signing today, with Samoan loosehead Tietie Tuimauga set to link up with the squad following the current block of URC fixtures.
🟢 𝙒𝙀𝙇𝘾𝙊𝙈𝙀 𝙏𝙄𝙀𝙏𝙄𝙀 🟢
— Connacht Rugby (@connachtrugby) October 5, 2021
Samoan international prop Tietie Tuimauga has joined Connacht Rugby 💪
Full story: https://t.co/WGIe2OQlg3 pic.twitter.com/qV9NGHUZ4n
Connacht had been on the lookout for cover in the position, with Denis Buckley sidelined until the New Year.
And Friend believe Tuimauga, who won two caps for Samoa over the summer, represents an exciting addition to the squad.
“He’ll arrive when his visa comes, so hopefully that’s within the next five weeks. We won’t get him before the end of this block but we’d like to get him before the next block. But that’s all dependent now on his visa.
“I think he’s a really good signing for us, he’s 28 years of age and can play loosehead but can also play tighthead, he has international experience, a lot of experience in NPC.
“He’s mobile too, he’s a very physical boy and scrummaging is the most important thing but he can carry, he can fit into our game style, which is really important for us as well.
“He can carry, he can defend and he can be fast, so he’s adaptable, and that’s good.”
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