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This Saturday Connacht make their first away trip of the season as they travel to Scotland to take on Edinburgh at the Hive Stadium. Its been an impressive start to the season for the men in green with three wins from three as they sit top of the table.
Scrum & Contact coach Colm Tucker sat down with media ahead of the game where he spoke about the mood around the camp after the weekend's inetrpro derby win over Ulster.
"The mood is great, especially when you think of the start we had last season"
"Three defeats in those opening three games last season was tough"
"Last season we had our first three games away from home whereas this season we've been at home so there has been that comfort"
"The crowd for the three games this season, particularly on Saturday was amazing"
"This is a new block for us now, we get ready for Edinburgh and go again"
One thing you need to know about Colm Tucker, the man loves scrums! If you gave Colm a choice of his perfect day, watching scrums would be high on the list. The rugby World Cup brought about discussions around the scrum and whether or not it needs changing. Colm gave his opinion on the matter.
"I've heard conversations about getting rid of scrums, we can't get rid of scrums because otherwise we're playing rugby league"
"Rugby union is a game of contests, scrum is a contest like lineout is, breakdown is and that's what makes our game unique"
"I'm sure way's will be found of speeding up scrums but I don't think it will ever be negated because of its importance"
"Its so unique in world sport so I think it would be very silly for anyone to remove it"
During Connacht's win over Glasgow, Cathal Forde played his part when it came to scrum time. Down a man in the pack Forde was brought in to cover at scrum for Connacht during the sin bin period. Colm spoke about the importance of backs getting reps in during sessions when it comes to the scrum.
"Generally it would be the centre that goes into the scrum if a forward is unavailable"
"Firstly its a conversation with the players about the scrum followed by video to show them technique and then you need to make sure they get reps"
"We won a penalty against Glasgow with Cathal Forde at eight, we we're on our five metre line and won that contact"
"He didn't just make up the numbers but he added his weight and value which is what you want"
"I think he enjoys the scrums and I know Bundee Aki loves it as well"