Two men – one driven, one gifted – have combined to push Connacht to the brink of something truly special.
In 2013, Pat Lam was only in the door a couple of weeks when he threw himself into the interview process for some backroom staff. The budget was meagre but there was some euros to throw at making previous freelance/contracted roles full-time.
In one of the interviews, Lam found himself forced to do the selling. “In five years,” he said. “We’re going to be the best province in Ireland.”
I heard that story in 2014, when Connacht had finished 10th in the Guinness PRO12. What seemed fanciful is now very much a possibility. Lam’s side – up against Glasgow in the semi-finals – could yet do in three years what he wanted to do in five.
Still, to Lam, that is not the major achievement. Transforming an entire province into believers is. After Connacht had thrashed Munster, 35-14, Lam said:
“When you see a crowd like that and the atmosphere but it’s not just tonight, you see the Connacht gear everywhere now.
“On the way to school with my boy yesterday, we must have counted 10 to 20 people, of different ages wearing Connacht gear. He told me when he first started going to PE, there were very few.
“It was all Leinster and Munster jerseys. He said, ‘Mate, everyone wears Connacht jerseys now.’ That’s a realisation of where we are and where we can go.”
Lam was a believer the moment he arrived in Galway. Bundee Aki took some more convincing.
In early 2014, Aki was 23 and a Super Rugby winner, with Waikato Chiefs, but it already looked as though his hopes of being an All Black were fading. In New Zealand, you are either in the underage system – proving your worth as a ‘Baby Black’ – or you have to be extremely good. Sonny Bill Williams good.
Aki was benefiting from getting away from the night-life and added pressures of his native Auckland but his application to make it to the top was questioned. Once one coach airs those doubts, they tend to cling. In New Zealand, at least.
Rugby must be your first, second and third love. Fishing or farming come next but city boys have more distractions.
Aki had a chance if he remained in New Zealand but so do 80 other talented hopefuls. Lam travelled home with recruitment on his mind. There was no set agenda but he was conscious of the game-changer that may have missed his chance of being an All Black.
In 2013, he had brought over Craig Clarke and Jake Heenan. One year later – and with Clarke vouching ‘this guy’s the real deal’ – he returned with a promise from Aki. Handily enough, he also signed up Auckland Blues hooker Tom McCartney.
Both would be playing at The Sportsground with a squad a promising youngsters, battered veterans and Ulster Bank League punts.
“He never told me about the dog-track,” Aki joked at this year’s IRUPA Awards.
He was probably lucky that he skitted through Hamilton before landing in the west of Ireland as the pace of life was similarly relaxed. He wasn’t given time to plant his feet – straight out to Galway for a night on the lash. Welcome to Connacht.
Bundee Aki's comments on his first weekend in Galway sum up Connacht's team spirit 🍺https://t.co/0k3y88ajC4
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) May 6, 2016
He may have worried about what he signed up, in October 2014, when Connacht were swatted aside by Ospreys at Liberty Stadium. Not so. According to teammates, the debut loss saw him chirp up at training on the Monday morning.
He was all in and he wanted to win. Heenan says:
“Bundee has been phenomenal on the field. He’s the type of guy that would do anything for you. He really looks after the lads, on and off the pitch, and I think that shows in his performances as well. e’s definitely a leader and he gives a lot to the coaching staff and players.”
For Aki, Galway is now his home. His teammates, their partners, children and friends, have become his extended family. Being the sociable character that he is, he has made more than a few chums himself.
Away from the rugby, there’s the rugby. When he could, Aki joined fellow Kiwi, and teammate, George Naoupu on the sidelines as Galwegians women’s team went about their business.
Lam is the task-master at Connacht while Andre Bell [backs coach] and Conor McPhillips [attack coach/analyst] are seen as crucial in the side’s more daring style of play. The Kiwi still needs players he can trust to make the big calls on the pitch.
He has that in McCartney, John Muldoon and Aki. Lam says:
“With Pacific Islanders, everything is around the family and the extended family. It doesn’t need to be about blood; it just needs to be the people you care about.
“Bundee always talks about his brothers. You see that side but what I see is… he pushes some guys really hard. He gets in some people’s faces at training. He’s physical; he wants high standards. He drives that as well.”
Aki is one of the only players that Lam cuts a lot of slack to.
If the coach [Lam] wants his outside centre standing in one spot for a move, the player [Lam] may often stand where he feels he would do the best job. If anyone else tried it, Lam would seethe. Luckily for Aki, his arguments usually have merit. Searing pace and attacking instinct help too.
Two Aucklanders have made a home for themselves in the west of Ireland.
They have not made Connacht the best yet so they’re not done yet.
Connacht take on Glasgow Warriors from 18:30 on Saturday, May 21
