Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Andy’s bid to tie down his Friends
CONNACHT have made over 20 player contract extension offers in a bid to keep their squad together.
After pledging his own future at the Showgrounds, Andy Friend is bidding to tie down the bulk of the current playing staff.
In all, 27 players are out of contract at the end of the season including a host of frontline stars such as Jack Carty, Finlay Bealham, Quinn Roux, Ultan Dillane, Denis Buckley, Shane Delahunt, Gavin Thornbury and Paul Boyle – but Friend said the response so far from players was positive.
Connacht are also working on the backroom team, with Covid-19 resulting in them being about five months behind schedule in sorting out the squad and management for next season.
Friend said: “We had to hold back until we got the green light from the IRFU – but as soon as we were given that two weeks ago we have moved pretty quickly so things are definitely progressing.
“One of the most important things for me is to keep the squad together because I do believe we have a very good squad and we want blokes who live here to play for Connacht.
“There were 27 out of contract, over the past couple of weeks there have been over 20 contracts offered and more to come and there has been a quite positive response.”
The Connacht boss added: “Normally you start that process at the front end of the season but because of Covid and the uncertainty we haven’t been able to do so until now. We are about five months behind.”