Schmidt And Kiss Take Trip Out West
Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt was in Galway last week to visit the Sportsground and interact with the Connacht squad just ahead of their departure to France for their first pre-season game against Castres Olympique.
Joe Schmidt arrived at the Sportsground last Thursday morning where he was welcomed by Connacht boss and friend Pat Lam.
The coaches held a brief meeting before they were joined by Connacht Academy head coach Nigel Carolan, the senior and Academy management team and a number of the domestic coaches for a video analysis and Q&A session.
Schmidt, on his first visit to Connacht as Ireland head coach, sat in on the team meeting before joining the Connacht management team on the pitch to observe a training session.
On Friday Schmidt was joined by Ireland assistant coach Les Kiss when he give a presentation to players and management team before both Ireland coaches headed onto the pitch to take a portion of the Connacht training session.
Commenting on the visit, Pat Lam said: “It’s been fantastic to have Joe and Les here at the Sportsground for both the players and the management team.
“They have shared their vision with the squad and spent some valuable time interacting with the players in the team meeting and pitch sessions.
“A key aspect of my role here at Connacht is to ensure we have a programme that develops rugby while also creating a pathway to the national team. To have Joe and Les here over the last two days working with the squad is fundamental to developing this system.”