The 1996-97 season was Connacht's second season under professionalism. Warren Gatland was in his first season as head coach, appointed in August 1996 following the resignation of Eddie O'Sullivan.Kieran Rooney, "Gatland gets Connacht post", Irish Independent, 31 August 1996 They competed in the inaugural European Challenge Cup (then known as the European Conference) and the IRFU Interprovincial Championship, embarked on a two-match tour of Sweden, and hosted Australia.
At this stage the Irish provinces were still representative teams, not professional clubs. However, the provinces were now offering contracts and match fees for Heineken Cup and Interprovincial matches, although these contracts sometimes conflicted with players contracted to clubs in England."Reid's cautionary note on contracts", Belfast Telegraph, 23 March 1996
Players selected Connacht Rugby squadProps Tom Clancy (St Mary's) D. Coon (Wanderers) D. Ennis (Skerries) Michael Finlay (Wanderers) Gareth Halpin (St Mary's) John Maher (Buccaneers) R. Ward (Old Belvedere)
Hookers Barry Browne (St Mary's) Billy Mulcahy (Skerries)
Locks Graham Heaslip (Galwegians) Shane Leahy (Lansdowne) Mick O'Neill (Blackrock)Back row Ronnie Culliton (Wanderers) Kevin Devlin (St. Marys) (c) Barry Gavin (Galwegians) Mark Reilly (Oxford University) Rory Rogers (Blackrock) Neil Taylor (Galwegians)
Scrum-halves Conor McGuinness (St Mary's) Diarmuid Reddan (Galwegians)
Fly-halves Eric Elwood (Lansdowne)Centres Nicky Barry (Clontarf) Mervyn Murphy (Galwegians) Alan Reddan (Lansdowne)
Wings David Beggy (Blackrock) Nigel Carolan (Corinthians) Michael Devine (Buccaneers) Dermot Finnegan (Wanderers) Mick Kearin (Lansdowne)
Fullbacks Brian Carey (Blackrock) Owen Cobbe (Wanderers) (c) denotes the team captain, Bold denotes internationally capped players. * denotes players qualified to play for Ireland on residency or dual nationality.
Tour
IRFU Interprovincial Championship
Team P W D LFA BPPts Status 3 3 0 0 117 92 - 6 Champions; qualified for 1997–98 Heineken Cup 3 1 0 2 88 92 - 2 Qualified for 1997–98 Heineken Cup 3 1 0 2 81 89 - 2 Qualified for 1997–98 Heineken Cup 3 1 0 2 77 90 - 2 Qualified for 1997–98 European Challenge Cup
European Challenge Cup
Pool 3 TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffPts Northampton Saints55002812+1620788+11910 Toulon54012210+12164102+628 Orrell52031822−4122173−514 Connacht5203917−894131−374 Dunvant51041522−7106169−632 Petrarca51041019−9118148−302 Source : www.ercrugby.com Points breakdown:*2 points for a win*1 point for a draw
Representative
References