Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Former Wallaby Scott Fardy joins Connacht

Scott Fardy

In a significant coup for the province, Connacht have announced the appointment of Scott Fardy as their new defence coach on a two-year contract.

ADVERTISEMENT

Fardy, who had a successful playing career across the globe, played for four seasons at Leinster, five years at the Brumbies in Super Rugby, and three years at Kamaishi Seawaves in Japan. During his playing career, he won four Guinness PRO14 titles and a Heineken Champions Cup with Leinster, where he was also named in the PRO14 Dream Team for three consecutive seasons.

Fardy is an experienced international player, having represented Australia 39 times between 2013-2016 and started in the 2015 Rugby World Cup final. Since retiring in 2021, Fardy has been actively involved in coaching, starting with the NEC Green Rockets in Japan and then moving back to Australia to work with his former Shute Shield club Warringah.

Video Spacer

Video Spacer

“I’m very excited to be joining the coaching team in Connacht,” said Fardy. “I’ve had some great conversations with Pete and I’m looking forward to making the move and working with all the players and coaches.

“My wife and I loved our time in Ireland. Both our boys were born there and it feels like home for us, so the move makes perfect sense for us. I’m also very excited to be coaching in the URC and Europe, which are such challenging and diverse competitions.

“There’s a lot of great young talent in the Connacht squad, coupled with some really experienced players. I’m looking forward to working with them and doing my bit to help them go from strength to strength”

Connacht Rugby is understandably excited to have Fardy come on board as their new defence coach, given his extensive experience as a player and more recently as a coach. Commenting on the announcement, head coach Pete Wilkins says:

ADVERTISEMENT

“I am delighted to be adding Scott to the Connacht Rugby coaching team for the 2023/24 season and beyond. When we began the recruitment process for a new defence coach, it was important to identify someone with experience of professional rugby at the very highest level, but also a person with the qualities that we want to see in a Connacht Rugby team in the years ahead. In Scott we have recruited someone who absolutely fits that mould on both fronts.

“His playing career speaks for itself, and when you chat to anyone who has shared a pitch with him, more often than not the first thing they highlight are his leadership skills and his ability to inspire those around him. Scott understands what it takes to develop a relentless and winning mindset, and with his thorough knowledge of the Irish rugby landscape, is really motivated to help Connacht reach the next level.

“These attributes will be a huge benefit to the club and us as a coaching team, and I’m sure the players will be massively excited to learn from and work with Scott in the years ahead.”

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

H
Hellhound 23 minutes ago
France put World Cup pain behind them with unbeaten run in November

France is starting to look like they are finally over their WC headache, although they were lucky that NZ had a very bad game. The Argies as usual is one game good, the next bad. If they can sort that out and be more consistent, they could become contenders for the WC.


NZ, Argentina (if they are more consistent), and now the Wallabies too is in an upward curve (can they be consistent?), as well as Fiji(as inconsistent as Argentina) looks like possible contenders. The Boks will be as usual a huge threat to defend their title. Things are looking up for the South, so the North should rightfully beware of the Southern Hemisphere threat.


With the French looking dangerous, the English with their close runs (mostly a mindset problem) and the Scottish seems to be the NH main contenders. The Irish is good, but not excellent anymore. They are more overbearing and with their glory days mostly gone with old players hanging on by a thread, by 2027 if they don't start adding in the younger players, they won't make it past yet another WC Quarter final. The problem is that their youngsters, while good is nothing special.


That is just 8 teams without the Irish that can become real WC contenders. Lots of hickups to be sorted still for these teams, excluding the Boks to become a threat. Make no mistake, the top Tier is much closer than people realise and the 2027 WC will be a really great WC, possibly the best contended WC ever.

1 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ Lamb to the slaughter? Italy aim to 'get stuck into' All Blacks Lamb to the slaughter? Italy aim to 'get stuck into' All Blacks
Search