I actually think he’s shafting of Gatland has come back to haunt him. There was at least on if not two Grand slams in that team. Like him or loathe him, I firmly believe Gatland would have got them over the line.
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Would Connacht not take Eddie now?
Yeah possibly. When you get into a job the way he did you have little room for error. Was huge negative attitude towards him when he lost the Irish job but history been kind to him and he’s been pretty widely praised in pretty much all of the retired pros books.
No
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Isn’t there more rugby players in Bristol and Bath than the whole of Ireland? He’d be a fool not to jump for more money. It’s not like he’d have earned a fortune from his career so far.
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Did you read my other comments? I have no issue with him going and taking the cash. None. My only point was it wasn’t a very ambitous move when he could have gone to a much bigger club.
Your point about their being lots of players in Bristol and bath is correct. But harnessing them is a different story.
Connacht placed huge emphasis on their academy and had an excellent coach heading it up for a long spell in Nigel Carolan. They provided huge opportunity for loads of young players to come into the first team and prove themselves. Bristol haven’t really taken same approach. They spent a fortune building different squads over the last few years trying to get to top tier and when they did the squad was massively unsuited to the task. So now Lam will need to build the squad in a very different way.
That said, he’s on a hiding to nothing with Connacht
They’re not going to win anything in the next few years and he’ll be old news then. Time is right for him and best of luck.
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Absolutely. I’d say this suits the IRFU fine too. Bristol buying out his contract will probably cover the cost of the next coach for them and give anotice irish coach a chance
But he’ll get paid an awful lot more and be working with a much bigger club with much greater potential. Impossible to know what the exact terms are but they were obviously attractive enough for him to jump at them straight away. Waiting around for another equivalent offer is risking his current elevated status and cashing in on that seems a wise move.
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That’s a fair point around the salary and no disputing it. I am not sure they have that much potential though to be honest. I’d a look at their squad earlier and I’d say of the approx 50 senior players listed 25 of them are foreign and maybe 10 max are home grown Bristol lads. I think it’s very very hard to progress with a squad like that. Saracens, Wasps, Leicester and exeter all have sprinkling of imported stars but mainly built on foundation of playera brought through own system or at least at club long term.
Different story for likes of Toulon who have lots of overseas players but they are picking from the top drawer.
Lam is a great man manager and he is going to pick up a huge salary here but running the risk of burning his reputation as well. Very interesting to see how many connacht players he will target to bring over there. I’d say he reckoned wasn’t much more scope to progress with connacht anyways
Lam is a fud.he failed in a proper competition and was chased out NZ. Winning a league that only the oirish provinces take seriously is no biggy
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Truth hurts
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Bit like yourself
Cringe
Like all scabs gilgamboa, you are a failure from a business standpoint
Thanks for the offer bro but ill decline