Niceties put aside as Elwood plots Bradley’s downfall

Date Published: {J}

Dara Bradley

Eric Elwood and Michael Bradley were an impressive pairing when they partnered as half-backs about a dozen times together for Ireland in the 1990s.

Elwood played under former Connacht Director of Coaching, Bradley, nearing the twilight of his 17-years service as a player with the province; and when the fly-half subsequently hung up his boots, he soldiered alongside Bradley as assistant coach, or understudy, to the Cork man.

They’re good friends and it wouldn’t be unusual every now and then over the years to see the duo having a quiet pint in the corner of a city pub. They’ll probably have a chat over a pint this Friday night, in Edinburgh, too.

But all this week, Connacht Head Coach, Elwood, in his first season in charge, has been plotting the downfall of the man he succeeded. And vice versa for Edinburgh boss Bradley – the niceties will be left to one side, for 80 minutes anyway, when Connacht and Edinburgh collide at Murrayfield in round three of the RaboDirect Pro 12 league on Friday (7.30pm).

Bradley probably holds all the aces. True, Connacht have won two on the trot, including against Llanelli Scarlets last weekend at the Sportsground when not playing particularly well; and Edinburgh have lost their opening two matches, although in fairness they were robbed at the death against the Ospreys last weekend when a calamitous series of events saw the Welsh score a late winning try from a scrum five metres from their own line.

But Connacht’s record in the Scottish capital is poor and they haven’t won in Murrayfield since March 2005. And despite the new signings, Bradley knows the capabilities of this Connacht squad inside out and he’ll target the visitors where he knows it’ll hurt and where they’re vulnerable.

“There’s no doubt Brads (Bradley) knows us so, so well,” said Elwood, who has been exchanging texts and ‘good luck’ wishes with Bradley since the start of the season.

“We obviously may not know them as well. He knows the lads inside out as he knows me. He might have a couple of surprises up his sleeve; we’d like to think we’ll have a couple up our sleeve because he knows the guys so well, he knows our style of play and what we’re capable of or not. He’ll know our weaknesses and he’ll try to expose those. He’ll know what we’re good at and he’ll try to clamp down on those.

“At the end of the day it’s four points available, they’ll be under a little bit of pressure but they don’t become a bad team over night because of those two (defeats). They’re a good outfit and we want to be at our best.”

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.