McKee may be the man for Connacht

FIJI coach John McKee has emerged as a serious contender to take over from Pat Lam in charge of Connacht. McKee (below) spent three seasons at the Sportsground as assistant coach over a decade ago and since then has worked in a variety of positions, including stints with David Nucifora in Australia at various levels. It remains to be seen if McKee, who was in charge of Fiji at the World Cup last year and is contracted to them until after the next tournament in Japan in 2019, can be persuaded to return to Galway. His good working relationship with Nucifora, his experience of having worked under Stephen Nel and Michael Bradley, and the fact that his wife Jennifer is from Ballina, has strengthened suggestions that he is being sounded out for the position. The New Zealander came to Connacht in 2002 having worked with AS Montferrand — as Clermont Auvergne were then known — for a couple of seasons. His familiarity with the likes of current Connacht backs coach Conor McPhillips, captain John Muldoon, domestic manager Eric Elwood — all of whom he coached — would make the transition easier. McKee, who also coached Buccaneers during his time in Ireland, left the Sportsground when Elwood was appointed assistant coach to Bradley in 2005, moving initially as head coach to Cornish Pirates and then returning to Australia. He worked at various age grade and development stages in Australia, often with Nucifora, becoming the head coach of Central Coast Rays in the sole Australian championship in 2007. He worked with the Pacific Islanders and then took on a role with Tonga through to the 2011 World Cup, before resuming work in Australia in developing programmes and the national academy. That led to him being assistant coach to the Australian U-20 side at the Junior World Cup in France in 2013 before moving to Fiji, initially as high performance manager and then taking over as coach in February 2014.