{"id":219432,"date":"2025-12-31T06:44:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T06:44:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/219432\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T06:44:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T06:44:15","slug":"ciaran-frawley-aiming-to-edge-in-on-ireland-outhalf-debate-with-move-to-connacht-says-lancaster-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/219432\/","title":{"rendered":"Ciar\u00e1n Frawley aiming to edge in on Ireland outhalf debate with move to Connacht, says Lancaster \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The motivation behind Ciar\u00e1n Frawley<\/a>\u2019s move to Connacht<\/a> is to establish himself and compete for the Ireland<\/a> 10 jersey.<\/p>\n

Connacht head coach Stuart Lancaster<\/a>, who previously coached Frawley at Leinster<\/a>, said the 28-year-old\u2019s arrival in the west is as an outhalf \u201cfirst and foremost\u201d.<\/p>\n

With Jack Carty (33) and New Zealander Josh Ioane (30) already in situ, there\u2019s room for an experienced outhalf to follow in their footsteps.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Gordon D\u2019Arcy: Ciar\u00e1n Frawley\u2019s move to Connacht is not as progressive as it seemsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Lancaster said Frawley is keen to establish himself at outhalf and \u201cput himself in the competition for the Ireland shirt\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve good options there, but I feel we need more strength in depth in that position, and he\u2019ll definitely provide that,\u201d said the head coach. \u201cHe\u2019s a very good footballer, he\u2019s big, he\u2019s athletic, he\u2019s quick, he\u2019s got a good kicking game, a great defender, and I know him well. So I think he\u2019ll bring a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSuper excited about Frawley coming. We\u2019re excited about having him, and he\u2019ll be a great asset.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lancaster said there is a \u201cpretty exciting, young backline is emerging\u201d in the squad, in which Frawley can play a big part.<\/p>\n

\u201cJack [Carty] has been amazing over the years, and Josh [Ioane] has got an unbelievable skill set, but we needed more competition in that position.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Leinster and Munster\u2019s battle for rugby\u2019s soul<\/p>\n

Looking ahead to Saturday\u2019s URC meeting with Leinster (kick-off 5.30pm) in the last of the festive interpros, the westerners have a significant list of absentees, including Seamus Hurley-Langton, Jack Aungier, Caolin Blade, Shayne Bolton, Oisin Dowling, Mack Hansen, Temi Lasisi, Sean Naughton, Byron Ralston and Colm Kiely.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a challenging time when you\u2019ve got those sorts of injuries,\u201d said Lancaster, adding the loss of experienced backfield players will be particularly felt. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt tests our depth, but we\u2019re still in the mix. We\u2019re still in the fight, and we\u2019ve still got our goal of achieving top eight this season, and I still think that\u2019s achievable. We\u2019re seven games in and 11 to go. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not a million miles away from the top eight, but clearly we need to change those near losses into wins. We\u2019ve got Leinster both home and away. And then we\u2019ve got some crucial games during the Six Nations when we tend to lose not as many as others. So those are big games for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Owen Doyle: Referee\u2019s split-second wrong call at Thomond Park enough for Munster faithful to see redOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

With the odds favouring Leinster, Lancaster accepted Saturday\u2019s trip to the Aviva Stadium will be one of their toughest outings this season, but he insisted \u201cConnacht will definitely turn up\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know how good the (Leinster) players are and how good the coaches are, but equally, if you\u2019re not excited by a challenge like this as a coach, as a coaching team, as a group of players, then you\u2019re in the wrong sport. So we\u2019re super excited about it. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe players were obviously pretty disappointed losing (last weekend to Ulster in Galway). We thought we could have won, but we\u2019ve trained very well today.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a pretty unique challenge when you\u2019re playing against Leinster. Leo [Cullen] will have his selection conundrum to deal with, and I know he\u2019ll deal with it well. So whatever team they put out, it\u2019s going to be a tough team to beat.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The motivation behind Ciar\u00e1n Frawley\u2019s move to Connacht is to establish himself and compete for the Ireland 10…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":219433,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[11182,61,60,88343,43,3654],"class_list":["post-219432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-action","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irish-rugby-football-union","tag-news","tag-rugby"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}