By JOHN FALLON

STUART Lancaster says that opening of the completed Clan Stand at Dexcom Stadium will be a game-changer for Connacht but he has warned his men not to get distracted by the occasion when they take on URC champions Leinster at the €40m redeveloped facility on College Road on Saturday evening (5.30pm).

Lancaster knows that Connacht, who have only won two of their eight league games so far this season, need to make up ground if they are to make the top eight but he has no doubt this is the start of a new era for the game in the West of Ireland.

The new high performance centre has been opened since the end of last season, but Lancaster took his squad up to the corporate level of the empty Clan Stand last Saturday night ahead of their Challenge Cup clash with Montauban when the new stadium dressing rooms and dugouts were used for the first time.

“I took the players up to the stand on the third floor before the game and got them to look down on the pitch and said about the type of rugby the supporters want to see,” said Lancaster.

“The new stand opening and our opportunity to use the change rooms for the Montauban game, it feels like it’s the start of a new era for Connacht rugby. We wanted to start this chapter with a really good win and I think we did that,” he said after their 75-14 trouncing of the French side.

Lancaster wants his squad to embrace the new era but is mindful they can’t get distracted either. “The one thing I’ve found both internationally and things like that, I’ve got a reasonable experience now of dealing with these sorts of situations, the one thing is to make sure that you don’t get distracted during the week and with all the tickets, the family and friends and so on.

“There’s more media, there’s more everything isn’t there? But it’s not the game that’s different, it’s everything that surrounds the game that’s different, so I’ve got to make sure the players stay firmly focused and on point with what it takes to win.

“So, as an organisation we need to be on point, preparing properly and my job as a coach is to make sure the players are mentally prepared and we deal with any distractions early in the week, so we’re not dealing with any distractions come game day.

“But yeah, it’ll be huge and no one denies that, so you can use it as a weight around your neck or you can use it as a sense of, oh my God, we’ve waited so long for this moment, so let’s rip in.

“It is a game-changer, the stand opening for us and the support we know the people will bring next weekend and for every home game will help us hugely, so we are counting on our supporters and I’m sure the players will repay that support,” added Lancaster.

Connacht have lost their last ten games to Leinster, the most recent coming earlier this month in a 52-17 defeat at the Aviva Stadium and Lancaster knows it will take something special against his former side even if Leo Cullen’s men are without some of their internationals.

“The big lesson was, which I was trying to impress on the players, is that when you play against the best players or the best teams, it’s the speed at which they do things and we can try and prepare them the best we can in training but until they actually physically feel it, then they understand what a good team can do if you’ve got Sam Prendergast who can give you the ball.

“He can kick the ball over the top, he can kick the ball to the edges, he can play 30-40 metre passes, on a 70 metre pitch. If you don’t get your defensive speed to set right and your ability to loosen to get defensive width, then you’re in trouble and that was the big lesson from that game and I think that’s been a big focus area for us.

“I know I’ve been saying it for a while, but we have got a very good group of young players coming through and I see a lot of things that you wouldn’t see through the way we’re training and the way we’re preparing the players. So I think the confidence is growing,” he added.

Pictured: The new Clan Stand at the Sportsground which will be officially opened on Saturday ahead of Connacht’s UFC derby against Leinster. Photo: Joe O’Shaughnessy.