WE’VE KNOWN for a while that Connacht forwards coach Dan McFarland is leaving at the end of the current Pro12 season to pursue ‘different challenges’ and it turns out the task he has chosen to undertake will see him in direct competition with his old team in the next campaign.

McFarland, who has been credited for developing some exciting young Connacht forwards like prop Denis Buckley, will be joining the Glasgow coaching staff under head coach Gregor Townsend.

The westerners have hit a rough patch of form in the last few weeks, losing their last three league games, but some of the forwards have still given strong individual performances.

If they held an annual jackling competition in the manner of the GAA’s puc fada, then Buckley could be a contender with poaching skills like this.

Source: Observatoire Béarnais/YouTube

Gregor Townsend called McFarland a ‘high quality technical coach’ and the Galway man is looking forward to a new challenge.

“Connacht has been such a large part of my life for such a long time, but I’m excited about this next stage of my career,” McFarland said in a statement.

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