Connacht head coach Pat Lam says that players and staff saying good morning to each other in Irish is one of the small things helping to foster the province's admirable team spirit this season.
Speaking to Off The Ball about the process involved in helping to build a team on the up, the former Auckland Blues and Samoa head coach highlighted how saying 'Dia Dhuit' each morning is aiding the cause.
"Ultimately you've got to connect every morning because you never know how hard someone's day's been. When you say good morning, there's 40 or 50 odd including management saying good morning to you. We say it in Irish here. Dia Dhuit every morning because that links them to our community," said Lam.
He also explained that the team has a five action handshake to represent the Connacht counties of Sligo, Leitrim, Galway, Mayo and Roscommon.
"One of the things for us is ensuring that we're in touch with our community. And when you have that, there's no doubt they want to play well for them."
The New Year's Day victory over Munster at the Sportsground is one of the results which has captured the imagination this season.
"We saw what Munster did to Leinster. We knew it wasn't going to be a game of ambush or catching them on the hop. What made it more satisfying was Munster played a stronger team than they had against Leinster," Lam said, adding that building a culture of success at the province is a day-to-day thing.
The New Zealander also detailed the pre-season workshops that helped foster the togetherness which has underpinned Connacht's resilience this season, touching on goal-setting for a season that has already been hugely encouraging.
"Obviously for us Top 6 was a big one and looking after the Sportsgrounds was another one. That's the goals set. Now you got to go to the process."
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