On the eve of the first final in the province’s 131 year history, Pat Lam has declared no fresh injury concerns arising out of their semi-final win over Glasgow last Saturday in advance of Saturday’s Guinness Pro12 final against Leinster in Murrayfield.
"That's the shortest, best squad update of the year," said Lam, after revealing just the "normal bumps and bruises" from the semi-final, while declaring winger Danie Poolman is fully fit and available for selection, although realistically the South African is hardly likely to replace either of the in-form incumbents, Matt Healy and Niyi Adeolokun.
"Obviously, the big loss for us, particularly with the forward pack we've got to go up against, are the guys who started in the front-row the most, Nathan White and Denis Buckley, " said Lam. "But in saying that Finlay Bealham, Ronan Loughney, JP Cooney and Rodney Ah You have all stepped up and come through."
As ever, Lam and Connacht will endeavour to treat this week “as normally as possible”, and adhere to their time-honoured processes and match week schedules, which took him five minutes to write after last Saturday’s 16-11 win, while allowing for Thursday’s earlier than normal flight to Edinburgh.
In all of this, he cited his experiences as a player with Samoa at the 1991 World Cup as “probably the biggest learning I’ve ever had”. Based in Wales for the pool stages, Samoa (then Western Samoa) shook the rugby world by beating the hosts Wales in Cardiff before narrowly losing to eventual winners Australia by 9-3 in Pontypool and then beating Argentina 35-12 in Pontypridd.
“We were clear in our minds, we had no-one at training, we could go anywhere without being interrupted, we stayed in a three star hotel. Everything was low profile and we went about our business. Then we qualified for the quarter-finals and we went to Scotland. Everything changed. Media, all sorts of activities. It was an unbelievably crazy week.
“We had families in hotels, more gear, we were staying 5-star hotels, the boys had buffet food. It was a complete change. Scotland in the meantime, with Ian McGeechan - he told me exactly what they did - they got themselves into test match mode, no interruptions, and they came out and blitzed us in the quarter-final. It was a massive learning curve for me as I went on to captain teams.”
Lam also revealed that today marked the 16th birthday of his son Joshua who, had he been born on the day he captained Northampton to their 2000 Heineken Cup final win over Munster by 9-8 at Twickenham, Lam would not have played.
“He was supposed to be due on the day of the final. The boys knew I wouldn’t be there if my wife went into labour, so there was a back-up plan. As it panned out, he turned out on this date (three days before the final).
“I remember that whole week too, part of the learning I used right through was making that whole week normal as we played Munster. It’s something I’ve always done as a coach, a big lesson. You acknowledge all the peripheral stuff and we’re excited. It’s a great occasion, we’re so pleased to be here and we’ve worked hard to be here, but we understand that, if we’re going to win this thing which is what we desperately want to do, we have to go about our business as normal as possible.”
Lam is under no illusions about the scale of the task facing Connacht after the way Leinster rose to the occasion last Friday in beating Ulster, thus maintaining their 100 per cent record in the last four in reaching their seventh final.
"There's no doubt we saw last Friday the quality of the best players in Ireland. Jamie Heaslip, Johnny Sexton and Eoin Reddan too; the 8, 9,10 is your key core. It's why I've been pleased for John Muldoon, Kieran Marmion and AJ MacGinty. Those three, they're less experienced, but they've been playing well together in the last month of so which is an important time.
“You’ve got a pretty good attacking team versus a quality defensive team. I said it before the last time we played them. The weather forecast is great, but the biggest thing is around making sure that you make the most of the day. You can’t come off with regrets. To do that, you go back to what you do. It’s going to be a good game.”
The Connacht coach vowed that his team will stay true to their ambitious, ball-in-hand approach. “Our approach has always been about understanding what we’re up against. It’s about doing our homework, understanding how we can beat Leinster, understanding what their strengths are and how we can cope with that. Then we have to understand what we’re good at and how we can apply pressure.
“We’ve played Leinster twice, two tough games, and what we probably are looking forward to is that we’ve got a better stage, better conditions, and there will be some quality players on show in two good teams. They won’t hold back and we won’t hold back.”
In this regard, Lam believes that his players can still avail of the huge sense of occasion by channelling their emotional energy into their games, both individual and collective.
“Everyone’s got different motivations and everyone approaches games (differently). You can’t control anyone else’s emotions, you have to channel it into your game. How you tackle, how we carry the ball. , how you pass; all the work off the ball comes from motivation.
“It’s all very well saying ‘I want to play for my family’, ‘I want to play for my friends’, ‘I want to play for Connacht’, ‘I want to play for my girlfriend’; whatever drives you, you have to channel that into your work and that’s how you get the best.”
Lam described this weekend as “a celebration for what we have done as a group”, and to that end: “Our whole squad is going over, the academy boys that have trained with us will all be going over, the ones who have been selected throughout the season. It’s a celebration of the work that everyone has done.
“Even the guys who get the jersey for this week, they’re representing the other players in that position. If it’s Tom [MCCARTNEY], he’s representing all the other hookers. It’s been a combined effort and they’re just the lucky ones who get to wear the jersey this weekend.”
Lam has sympathy for the Connacht fans who are endeavouring to take on the logistically difficult and costly expenditure of physically supporting their team at the final, not least as he’s in a similar boat, so to speak, himself.
“I’m trying to get my family over there too and at the moment they’re going to have to go over on Thursday and back Monday, because the price to get all of them there on Thursday-Monday, I could have only afforded one of them to go (Friday-Sunday).
“At the end of the day, it is what it is. It’s the same principle, we can’t control it. You only control what you can. We all know the reasons why it is. If you want to get there, you’ll get there.
“I understand there’s going to be so many people that might not be able to make it but there’s a lot of Irish people in the UK and there’s a lot of friends. I’ve already had a lot of messages from friends in Northampton who are going to head up and watch, friends in Newcastle who are going to head up, and I know some of them are Irish.
“My message is that if there’s a will, there’s a way. Those who live over there, get out and enjoy. It’s going to be a fantastic game, the weather looks good, great stadium and it’s a great time to kick off at 5.30pm. Get out there and enjoy it.”
