Wednesday night's Heineken Rugby Club Roadshow had a very Connacht vibe with Tiernan O'Halloran and provincial head coach Andy Friend among our guests.

The duo joined us on their home soil at Galway's Galmont Hotel alongside Brian O'Driscoll and England legend Will Greenwood.

It's an interesting season for Connacht as they play in the Heineken Champions Cup and contend for a Pro14 playoff place.

But a fractured fibula has kept O'Halloran out of the bulk of the campaign so far. The good news for him is his recovery is ahead of schedule.

"I'm back running at the moment and hopefully joining training next week and put my hand up for selection after that," he told our Galmont Hotel audience.

However, O'Halloran has been part of the previous upward trajectory Connacht have been on over the past decade. And the six-time Ireland cap was also a crucial part of the historic 2015-16 Pro12-winning team under Pat Lam.

Flux

But between Lam's departure in 2017 and the start of Friend's reign in 2018, Connacht were in a state of flux on-field.

"There was a year or two there where we weren't all on the same page," said O'Halloran.

"Whereas the good thing with Friendy coming in, straight away we all knew what we wanted.

"And we knew it wasn't going to happen straight away, that it was going to be a process.

"We've got a leadership group and with that, because he gives us a lot more responsibility, we've to take that on board.

"Especially in that latter part of the week, it's on us to stop training and bring lads in and be like, 'This isn't good enough'. We're the ones who have to have those chats.

"Which is different. Because back five or six years ago, it was very much, 'This is what you're doing and that's that.'"

You can watch the full Heineken Rugby Club Roadshow featuring Brian O'Driscoll, Will Greenwood, Andy Friend, Tiernan O'Halloran and Cyril Farrell on the Off The Ball Youtube. The Tiernan O'Halloran and Andy Friend interview is 1 hour and 4 minutes in or watch above.