The dates for Connacht’s final Amlin Challenge Cup pool 1 games have been announced.

Connacht travel to the South of France to take on Bayonne on Saturday 15th January at 20.45 and welcome Italian side Cavalieri Prato to the Sportsground on Saturday the 22nd January at 18.00.
Bayonne top the pool with 15 points while Connacht sit in 3rd with 6 points behind Harlequins on 14. With the winners of each pool going through to the quarter finals it looks unlikely the Connacht will replicate the highs of last year’s semi-final exit to Toulon.

Connacht's captain John Muldoon has suffered another injury blow after breaking his arm in last Friday's Amlin Challenge Cup defeat to Harlequins.The 28 year old Portumna native broke his arm in the Summer during Irelands game against New Zealand and missed Connacht's opening games of the Magners League as a result but has been ever present in the backrow since his return against Cavalieri Prato in October. Muldoon suffered a knock to his forearm on Friday evening against Harlequins and subsequent scans have revealed another fracture in the forearm of the talismanic number 8.

The Connacht captain has been ruled out for approximitly 3 months with the injury and his progress will be monitored closely in the coming weeks.

The new coaching team for the O2 Ireland Wolfhounds will have a decidedly international flavour to it as former Ireland team mates Eric Elwood and Anthony Foley will take the reins of the side for the forthcoming games against Scotland A and England Saxons early next year.

Elwood, who is the coach of Ireland provincial side Connacht, was capped 35 times and scored 296 points in international rugby for Ireland and has been announced as the head coach to the Wolfhounds.  He will link up with current Munster defence coach and former international No.8 Anthony Foley, who won 62 caps for his country and will take responsibility for the forwards on the Wolfhounds team.

The remaining senior member of the Wolfhounds management team is Manager Joey Miles who was worked with the Wolfhounds side for the last five years as well as with the Ireland senior team on the tours to Japan in 2005 and New Zealand/Australia in 2008.

The Wolfhounds coaching team will work closely with the Ireland national management in terms of preparing the Wolfhounds for their upcoming games.

Commenting on his appointment, Eric Elwood said, “I am delighted to take up this role and to be getting the opportunity to work with such a wide group of players at international level again.  I know from my time with the Ireland U20 team that there is nothing more satisfying then bringing players together and to help prepare them to represent their country.  It will be great to work with my old team mate Axel (Anthony Foley) as both of us have progressed onto the other side of the game as coaches.

“The exposure of Ireland players to top class opposition at international level is important for not only the development of the players themselves, but also to have them prepared and primed to step into the senior team, particularly from the timing of our matches in terms of the RBS Six Nations Championship.  I will be working with Declan (Kidney) in terms of getting the best out of the players and impressing on them that the Wolfhounds team will be another opportunity to press their claims for a place in the Ireland team.”

Anthony Foley said, “Both myself and Eric are young coaches, so I think it is an exciting chance for both of us to pass over some knowledge to the players we work with but also learn from them.  The Wolfhounds is always seen as a stepping stone for players as the recent history of the side has shown, but from my own development as a coach it’s a chance to broaden my experience across other parts of preparing a team and I am looking forward to it.”


O2 Ireland Wolfhound Fixtures:
Friday 28th January, 2011
Scotland A v O2 Ireland Wolfhounds
Netherdale (Galashiels)
K.O. TBC

Friday 4th February, 2011
O2 Ireland Wolfhounds v England Saxons
Ravenhill
K.O. 7.30pm

Pictured: Connacht's Gavin Duffy playing for the Irish Wolfhounds in February this year (C) www.inpho.ie

By Marc Heywood/www.ercrugby.com

Connacht director of rugby Eric Elwood insists he'd be more than happy to win ugly when his side host Harlequins this coming Friday.

Elwood saw his team produce an impressive performance in the reverse fixture at The Stoop yesterday but they ultimately left for home with nothing but a few bumps and bruises to show for their efforts.

Connacht were beaten 20-9 in the English capital half having failed to convert a large amount of pressure and possession into points in a hard-fought Round 3 encounter.

"I'm getting quite fed up with saying we're playing a nice brand of rugby. At the end of the day, we're in the business of winning rugby matches. Even though we're doing a lot of good stuff, it's not winning us games and it's actually costing us points," said Elwood, who stepped up from assistant coach to take over the reigns from Michael Bradley at the Sportsground last summer.

"Particularly in the second half, we had an abundance of ball to cause them problems. I think we did cause them problems and we had line breaks and offloads and so on and so on but we just didn't have that killer punch to finish things off. It's frustrating because it's another week where we're creating opportunities but we're not putting teams away.

"We're playing a nice brand of rugby but I wouldn't mind winning ugly now and then as well. That's the frustrating part: that we have to work so hard to create our opportunities and get our scores and then you see that, in my view, Harlequins got two soft tries. They might see it as a bit of brilliance from their players but they're a soft 14 points as far as I'm concerned. That's us chasing the game."

After a promising start to the season, recent results haven't quite gone Connacht's way.

The Galway-based province have been on the wrong end of a number of tight scorelines but Elwood knows that one win could make all the difference when it comes to regaining their early momentum.

"Losing can become a habit and winning can become a habit. The sooner we get over the line in a couple of close games then the belief might be there that we can do this week in week out," added Elwood.

"But when you start to drop off in games over the last few weeks, the guys might doubt themselves. We try to keep the guys confident, tell them to keep believing in what they're doing and believing that it's right. But the guys have to live that and do it on the pitch and then they get the belief from that also.

"We have a lot of young players and it's part of their development. At least we're competitive every game this year. We're going to stick by our guns because we actually believe that the stuff we're doing is right.

"I'd like to be winning more than we're losing but I've got to stay positive and keep instilling the belief in the lads that what we're doing is correct. It knocks the stuffing out of you on nights like Sunday but we have to stay positive. Hopefully we'll turn the corner sooner rather than later."

pictures (C) www.inpho.ie