John Connolly may be brought in as Reds’ technical adviser
NEWS LIMITED MARCH 30, 2015
Wayne Smith
Queensland Rugby Union chairman Rod McCall has confirmed Reds coach Richard Graham’s job is safe until the end of the season — but possibly with former Wallabies coach John Connolly being brought in as his technical adviser.
The Reds’ season went from bad to worse on Friday night when the Lions snatched an 18-17 victory at Suncorp Stadium to send the Queensland side to its fifth defeat in six matches this season.
Under Graham, the Reds have won only six of 22 matches and it is understood a number of QRU board members are concerned that unless a change of coach is made soon, next year’s Super Rugby campaign could just be a grim repeat of 2014 and 2015.
McCall, however, is remaining steadfast in his support of Graham.
“I can guarantee you we won’t change the coach this season,” McCall told The Australian yesterday. That said, he did not rule out bringing in outside expertise to help Graham through the remaining 10 matches this season.
“Nothing is out of the question,” McCall said. “We’re looking at everything.”
Defending his decision not to change coaches mid-season, McCall suggested that man-managers of the calibre of Connolly were thin on the ground.
But in fact, Connolly, who had a 64 per cent win ratio as Australian coach — making him the most successful Wallabies coach of the professional era behind Rod Macqueen (79 per cent) — is in fact on the ground on the Sunshine Coast.
Connolly coached Queensland for more than 220 games from 1989, winning back to back Super 10 titles in 1994 and 1995, before taking up a job at Stade Francais in 2000. He arrived in Paris mid-season but 12 weeks later was waving to crowds lining the Champs Elysee from atop an open bus after coaching the team to the French premiership. The following season he took Stade to the Heineken Cup final. Switching to Bath, he was named Zurich Premiership coach of the year in 2003-04.
McCall confirmed an approach had been made to Leicester-based All Blacks great and former Broncos NRL player Brad Thorn about a mentoring and a coaching role with the Reds next year.
Asked yesterday whether he would welcome any outside assistance, Graham replied: “We’re always looking at ways we can improve. But on Friday we were one point away from getting our season back on track.”
It’s unnerving to think that the easiest part of the season is behind the Reds, who now play three games on the road against the Rebels in Melbourne, Bulls in Pretoria and Cheetahs in Bloemfontein before returning to Brisbane to play the unbeaten Hurricanes.
Two key players, fullback Karmichael Hunt and flanker Liam Gill, will return from suspension in time for Friday’s match against the Rebels although it’s unclear whether Hunt will be rushed into the starting team.
Hopes Hendrick Tui, the NZ-born Japanese Test recruit, might soon make his first appearance have been dashed with Graham revealing the rugged No 8’s recovery from a broken fibula is not fast enough for him to be considered for the South African tour.
