Ulster Rugby v Connacht

THINGS YOU MIGHT LIKE TO KNOW… ABOUT CONNACHT!

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The club, under Head Coach Pat Lam, secured its first-ever silverware in the professional era with a superb PRO12 title win in 2015/16 with the defeat of Leinster in the final.

Warren Gatland, 1996/8, and Eddie O’Sullivan, 1993/96, coached Connacht before highly-successful terms in charge of Ireland. Though success in the European Champions Cup has eluded Connacht the side has reached the Challenge Cup semi-finals three times. Given that Connacht has just 7% of Ireland’s rugby-playing population the club has set remarkable standards on and off the field.

CONNACHT

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The Connacht Clan is the official supporters club of the Province, formally established in 2011.

The Connacht Branch of the IRFU was established in 1885, and 3 of its 6 founding clubs still exists today – Castlebar, Ballinasloe and NUI Galway, formerly Queen’s College. Though never an outright winner, on three occasions Connacht has shared the Inter- Provincial Championship title – in 1956/7, 1957/8 and in 1964/5. Hooker Ciaran Fitzgerald captained the British and Irish Lions in New Zealand in 1983 and Connacht also provided flanker John O’Driscoll to that party, while legendary prop Ray McLoughlin toured in 1966 and in 1971. Irish international breakaway forward John Muldoon, in his third term as captain, has played over 300 times for the club in a 14-year career with Connacht.

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