Connacht head coach Andy Friend was on Tuesday’s OTB AM and spoke about the coaching philosophy he has instilled in his side.
In the past, many teams would go out and act out their coaches exact orders. However, Friend believes that giving the players more power in the decision making process benefits the team.
“It’s not about 'we’ll tell you'. We’ll ask the questions collectively and then come up with what we perceive or what we believe is going to be the best option for us.
“Sometimes what looks good in theory and what looks good on paper doesn’t actually work.
And we involve the players a hell of a lot with that. Through our eyes as coaches, it can appear real simple but we’re not the ones in the heat of battle out there doing it,” Friend explained.
Giving the players more responsibility also puts more pressure on the players when it comes to making decisions in-game, but the Australian believes the positives outweigh the negatives.
“They can call it. We instil that power in the players.
If you call it and it wasn’t on, righto, we’ll probably have a chat on Monday. You mightn’t be playing next week but you've got that responsibility. You see it and you go for it for your life.
“I think traditionally rugby has had the game leaders at number 10 and number 9.
Well, there are 13 other blokes out there with 26 eyes out there that you’re now not using. It’s a numbers game as it always is in sport,” Friend said.
At this stage in pre-season Friend is mostly trying out new plays and formations for Connacht to trial in training sessions and the upcoming pre-season games.
Not all of them work out, which is something that the coaches and players have to accept.
“So we’ve had a trial period on a couple of different attacking shapes and things that we felt after the season ended last year that we could add to it.
“A few of them we’re going to keep and a few of them we’ve said, ‘Nah, we’re going to toss that out.’ It’s a chance to play with your game structure as well,” Friend explained.
The Pro14 season doesn’t start until the 27th of September this season, but preparations are fully underway.
Connacht will be looking to build on last season with Champions Cup rugby back on the menu for Friend’s side.
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