Mack Hansen has completed a full preseason, having recovered from his shoulder injury, as Connacht undergo a “reset” mode in a bid to avoid the disappointments of last season.
Although unlikely to feature this weekend, the Ireland winger is expected to return to play during the preseason “with a view of being ready for round one” of the United Rugby Championship (URC). Fellow Ireland players Finlay Bealham and Bundee Aki, having completed a conditioning week, will integrate fully later this week, but will unlikely see competitive action until round three.
Hansen has been missing from action since New Year’s Day after dislocating his shoulder against Munster. He missed the Six Nations and had hoped to return to action for Ireland for the summer tour to South Africa but suffered setbacks in his recovery.
The return to the province of Josh Murphy is good news, having taken a year out to complete medical studies, while New Zealander, outhalf Joshua Ioane, who joined two weeks ago from the Chiefs, is undergoing conditioning work to “get up to speed”.
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“He [Ioane] is a class operator,” says Wilkins. “You can see he’s played at the very highest level in the Southern Hemisphere. He picks up the nuances of our game really quickly, which shows he’s got that experience of dropping in and out of representative programmes. He’s got a high level of rugby intellect.”
Finishing out of the top eight in 11th spot in the URC and failing to nail a place in the European Champions Cup, Connacht head coach Pete Wilkins says the feeling remains that the province failed to “give the best version” of itself.
“There has been a bit of a reset. We’re not uncovering anything brand new, but we’re certainly narrowing in on what we think is important, the identity of this team, and on the back of that, the rugby we have to play to deliver that week-in, week-out.”
That examination also extends to the coaching team, he says.
“There’s certainly a revised emphasis in terms of what’s important to us from the coaching point of view. We had a very new group last year, and we’ve now got that year under our belts in terms of seeing what each other does well, how we can work together well, but also maybe where some of the gaps are and where we need to support each other more.
“We expect more out of ourselves as coaches this season – across all our game areas and as a whole. But the dynamic there is really healthy, really positive, and we’re pushing each other to do better and to keep developing these players.”
Similarly, the team mindset has also been examined.
“We’ve certainly had a reflection on why we felt so much disappointment last season, and why the outside world felt so much disappointment.
“The numbers on paper say we only lost one more regular season game in the URC compared to the year before, but with the fine margins, it was difference between finishing seventh and finishing 11th.
“There was still a feeling we didn’t give the best version of ourselves, and we’ve done a lot of work early in the preseason, tapping into what we want to be about as a group, what we think is important for any team representing Connacht – not just as a club, but as a province – and where we really want to take this team.”
Wilkins says Connacht’s final game last season against Leinster at the RDS encapsulated their season.
“Little pockets of good play, but disappointing, and too many moments where, to be honest, we look too easy to beat.
“The season before that we got into the top eight, fought our way through that away quarter-final in Belfast to get the away semi-final. We might not have played the best rugby with ball in hand, but gee, we were difficult to beat.
“We tackled well, we kicked-chased well, and there was a spirit about the team that said ‘we’re just not going to go away’. Last year, we probably tried to ramp up the creativity of what we were doing ball in hand. And while the statistics might say it took a really big leap forward, I do think we lost an element of what made us so hard to beat.”
It has meant “owning that, discussing it, and making sure we reset to the very minimum. Make sure we’re in every fight and give ourselves a chance for success”.
Connacht’s season gets under way on Saturday at Dexcom Stadium (1.30pm) with a preseason fixture against regular English opponents Sale Sharks.
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