Dec 24,2024
Connacht Rugby are set to play at the home of Mayo GAA next year, in what will be their first senior competitive game in the county during the professional era.
The BKT United Rugby Championship meeting with Munster will take place at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park in Castlebar on 29 March with a 2.30pm kick off time.
The confirmation comes after the GAA's Central Council approved the proposed fixture earlier this month, and sees the province follow Munster, Leinster and Ulster in playing games at intercounty GAA grounds.
"It's fantastic. Everyone is delighted the deal got over the line, both for those in Mayo and us here in Galway and everywhere else around the place," Connacht head coach Pete Wilkins said.
The move has come about in large part down to the redevelopment of Connacht's Dexcom Stadium which is ongoing, but has limited the capacity of The Sportsground to just over 4,000.
And with the Castlebar venue capable of hosting 25,000 supporters, Wilkins is hoping the game can see Connacht Rugby expand their reach across the province.
"It’s just such an exciting proposition. When it first came up in conversation, I commented on the fact of taking the game to another part of the province and opening the game to more fans than what we can get into Dexcom [Stadium] at the moment, and to be playing at a venue that means so much to Mayo sport and Connacht sport in general is just brilliant.
"And we’ve seen the reaction at GAA venues which other provinces have generated but also the performances they have generated too in those locations. So we’re delighted, there is a buzz amongst the players as we got the heads up this morning. They can’t wait.
"And when that week comes, it won’t just be the game itself but the entire week which will get the juices flowing. So we’re really pleased."
Meanwhile the Connacht head coach has backed his winger Mack Hansen, following his explosive comments around the officiating of Saturday's defeat to Leinster at Aviva Stadium.
The Ireland international (below) made headlines on Saturday night when he claimed he and his team-mates were becoming fed up with the standard of refereeing against them in recent seasons.
Now that the dust has settled on those comments, and the 20-12 defeat to Leinster, Wilkins said he has been on contact with the URC's refereeing chief Tappe Henning about some of the incidents in Saturday's game, and he believes Hansen's frustrations simply highlight how his players are feeling on the pitch.
"I think every coaching room feels that they are hard done by, especially when they lose. That's why we have that process there with the URC referees in order to send feedback, we send clips and we send comments.
"The referee responds and Tappe Henning, the refereeing boss of the URC responds so I don’t think we’re any different to anyone else in that sense.
"Where Mack was coming from the other evening was how that feels as a player on the field in terms of momentum flow of a decision or absence of decisions at times. So he spoke honestly about what it feels like when you are in that arena.
"For me, all I can do is go through the channels which are available to me which is to provide that feedback which we’re in the process of doing from the weekend.
"There are always conversations you can have with the citing officer. For us, the key thing, even Mack’s comments the other night, nobody is trying to get a Leinster player in trouble or get them sent off or have them in a situation where they are missing games.
"We have a good relationship with Leinster as a club and some of our players are very close to them, they play in the same Irish team as them. So it’s not about getting Leinster players in trouble.
"Mack’s comments were more about looking for inconsistency in reactions to moments in the game. That’s where his frustration came from. There are always conversations after the event. But his frustrations were borne of a feeling of inconsistency," he added.
