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Connacht confirm 12 players are leaving at the end of June
By Online Editors
Connacht boss Andy Friend has confirmed that a dozen players will leave the Galway-based Guinness PRO14 club when their contracts expire at the end of June. The respective exits of Colby Fainga’a and Robin Copeland to French sides Lyon and Soyaux Angouleme had already been flagged, but the farewell of some of the other names will catch the eye.
Among the list is Niyi Adeolokun, the 29-year-old Nigerian-born winger who was capped by Joe Schmidt’s Ireland versus Canada in November 2016.
New Zealander Tom McCartney, one of the central characters in the pack that blasted to PRO12 title success in 2016 under Pat Lam, is retiring at the age of 34 after six seasons in Ireland.
He’s not the only Connacht centurion to depart either, as Eoin McKeon, who has been on the roster since 2010, is also leaving the Sportsground.
Darragh Leader, Kyle Godwin, Joe Maksymiw, David Horwitz, Rory Burke and Peter McCabe have also completed their contracts, while Angus Lloyd departs to pursue a medical career having passed his exams.
Connacht boss Andy Friend said: “The nature of professional rugby means there will always be comings and goings. I would personally like to wish all our departing players every success in the future and thank them for their contributions to Connacht, both on and off the field.
"We all share in the players’ disappointment that they were unable to get a proper send-off at the Sportsground due to Covid, but they can be always assured of a warm welcome by the club and our supporters at any time in the future.”
Connacht recently announced that Munster players Sammy Arnold and Conor Oliver, and Leinster duo Jack Aungier and Oisin Dowling will join them in Galway from July 1.
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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