In his new book, John Scally traces the province’s journey from the brink of extinction in 2003 to becoming Pro12 champions thirteen years later.

No one quite appreciates – and recognises – the light like sports fans who have lived in darkness. And Connacht Rugby fans who lived through the dark days of 2003 could be forgiven for never imaging a day in Edinburgh just 13 years later, when the province would roar out of the wilderness.

The dark days were part of the adjustment to the new realities of professionalism after 1995 and there were teething problems for the provinces. Most of the big stars of the Irish game, such as Keith Wood, moved to English clubs.

Although the IRFU’s strategy of getting most of its top players back to Ireland had worked brilliantly, the problem was that there was a huge additional financial burden in running the four provinces – and it appeared that Connacht was going to suffer most.

One proposal for balancing the books amid the financial crisis after professionalism was to discontinue the Connacht professional team, as the IRFU faced multimillion annual losses.

This prompted the establishment of Friends of Connacht, which aimed to secure the future of rugby in the province.

A crowd of six hundred assembled in the Radisson Hotel in Galway in January 2003 to begin the resistance. The outcome was a decision to march on Lansdowne Road.

According to Garda estimates, 1,200 people participated in the march, mostly fans connected with Connacht but also, in a show of solidarity, former internationals from outside the province, such as Jim Glennon and Mick Quinn.

The West was awake and plans to diminish the status of Connacht rugby were shelved, keeping alive a proud history that dates back to 1885, when Connacht played their first interprovincial match against Leinster.

The clubs represented at the founding meeting of the Connacht Branch were Ballinasloe, Castlebar, Galway Grammar School, Galway Town, Queen’s College Galway, and Ranelagh School, Athlone.

Henry J. Anderson was the first Connacht person to play for Ireland, in 1903. He later became president of Connacht Rugby and, in 1927, opened a sports facility called the Sportsground, which remains the home of rugby in Connacht today.

And it was from seeds planted there on College Road that Connacht – for the first time in their 121-year history – were to claim a major trophy as they brilliantly claimed the Guinness Pro12 title in May 2016 in front of a record final crowd of almost 35,000.

Moreover, Pat Lam’s side utterly deserved their 20–10 win as they outclassed Leinster with a scintillating display of attacking rugby in Murrayfield.

The Westerners had booked their place in the play-offs by topping the league table, but before the game few gave Ireland’s least successful province much hope against the aristocrats from across the Shannon.

Connacht’s team were poster boys for the new multicultural, multiethnic Ireland: the forwards powered by Portumna’s minor hurling All-Ireland winner, John Muldoon; the backs led by Nigerian-born and Dublin-raised matchwinner, Niyi Adeolokun; and the team coached by the talismanic Pat Lam, a New Zealander of Samoan descent from Auckland.

In 2023 Bundee Aki was one of four nominees for the World Rugby Player of the Year award, following his outstanding displays at the World Cup.

Pictured: Niyi Adeolokun scores a try in the 2016 Guinness Pro12 final. Photo: INPHO/Dan Sheridan.