WITH LEINSTER GEARING up for what could be another epic showdown against La Rochelle in Dublin on Saturday evening, it’s no surprise that the Challenge Cup final the night before is flying under the radar.
Glasgow will meet Toulon in the Aviva Stadium on Friday [KO 8pm, BT Sport] with both clubs targeting their first Challenge Cup trophy. The French side have previously won three Heineken Champions Cup titles, but they’re no longer at the top table.
Adding to the interest level for this one is the fact that both sides have Irishmen in their coaching teams.
Nigel Carolan has enhanced his reputation since leaving his native Connacht to become Glasgow’s attack coach in 2021. The Scottish side have been excellent in attack this season in particular, cutting defences apart with their clever, skillful work on the ball up until they came crashing to a halt in their recent URC quarter-final defeat to Munster.
But Friday night gives Franco Smith’s side a chance to win the club’s first trophy since their Pro12 success in 2015. Carolan’s leadership of their attack will be important once again.
He was a popular figure in Connacht, spending 26 years playing and coaching in the province. Carolan did excellent work for 14 years as academy manager, as well as head coaching the Ireland U20s to a World Championship final in 2016.
Having led that U20s team including James Ryan, Andrew Porter, and Jacob Stockdale so impressively, Carolan was promoted into the senior Connacht coaching team in 2017 and became a more influential figure over the following few years. He has always been regarded as an innovator and sharp thinker in attack, meaning Glasgow were a good fit when he decided the time was right to see more of the world outside Connacht.
When the westerners were putting together a new coaching staff for next season, plenty of Connacht fans hoped to see Carolan returning but he’s happy where he is for now as part of a Glasgow set-up that is on an upward trajectory.
48-year-old Carolan loves focusing on attack but he has expressed an openness to the possibility of moving into a head coach role in the future. He also likes the idea of making a comeback in Connacht at some stage.
On the opposite side this Friday will be former Munster number eight James Coughlan, who was among the players most unlucky not to be capped by Ireland.
The 42-year-old was a late bloomer when it came to professional rugby but he made up for lost time in becoming a key figure with Munster before leaving to join French club Pau in 2014.
The Cork man finished playing in 2017 and moved straight into coaching with Pau’s academy. Coughlan moved on to Provence in 2019 to become the PRO D2 side’s forwards coach, then shifted to Top 14 outfit Brive a year later as defence coach.
He moved up the ladder again in 2021 when he joined Toulon to focus on defence. Coughlan then briefly found himself installed as interim head coach just a few months into his first season, before adapting to another busy role that included both defence and the forwards.
This season, Coughlan has focused exclusively on the Toulon forwards and he has clearly racked up a great variety of experiences early in his coaching career. He would love to come back to Ireland if the right role came up in the future, while Coughlan was linked with a move to Sale Sharks earlier this year.
For now, he’s part of this Toulon set-up that is aiming to return to former glories. They have been in play-off contention in the Top 14 this season, having narrowly missed out last season after recovering from the nightmare spell that led to Coughlan stepping up as head coach on an interim basis until Franck Azéma took over.
Coughlan and Carolan have both made an impression abroad and it will be intriguing to see where their careers lead. This Friday, they will surely enjoy having support from family and friends in Dublin as Glasgow and Toulon battle for a trophy.
Carolan’s attack will be looking to shred the Toulon defence, while Coughlan’s forwards will be out to dominate the battle up front.
