Connacht boss Cullie Tucker quizzed on future as province target late URC charge
Connacht interim boss Cullie Tucker insists his focus is on Saturday's must-win clash at the Lions and not on his own future.
The scrum and contact coach took charge when Pete Wilkins fell ill and, following Wilkins' departure from the province last Wednesday, Tucker was handed the reins for the province's final stretch of regular URC fixtures.
He learned of Wilkins' exit just after the squad landed in South Africa last week ahead of their narrow defeat to the Stormers - a result that earned Connacht two bonus points.
In 12th place with 35 points, Tucker is bullishly targeting three wins and 15 points to make the eight-team play-offs - starting with Saturday's trip to the Lions at altitude in Johannesburg.
Asked if he was interested in the head coach role full time, the Limerick man said: "My focus is on the Lions and not beyond that...not beyond that, it's too important a game so that's where all my energy is going into."
Connacht had a late try to win the Stormers game correctly ruled out for obstruction, ensuring a 34-29 loss. But Tucker insists the performance showed the belief that is there that the westerners can make the play-offs - and earn Champions Cup rugby next season.
Victory over the Lions would leave the province with two home games to negotiate against Edinburgh and Zebre. It's about staying in the fight.
"It shows the belief in the squad," Tucker said of Saturday's near miss. "We've areas we have to get better in, we're pushing them to be better every day and we had a harsh review of the game this morning, to take the learnings out of it.
"If you keep showing up and keep creating, that's when you will get the rewards. I'd be very worried if we weren't creating and weren't in the fight but we are, so I believe that will come right for us.
"The fact that we've scored so many tries and had so many near misses, we've 15 bonus points which is by far the most of anyone. It's just been fine margins at times that have cost us.
"The character I've seen since I've come in as interim and the fight from the guys, I firmly believe the last three games we're a great place to push for play-off.
"Absolutely that's the challenge, that's the motivation. We're still very much in the fight, while we wanted to take five points last week and probably deserved it, two points still keeps us very much in the hunt with three games to go. So that's the carrot for us, huge motivation for us as a squad and the boys are already working hard towards that goal.
"It's a realistic possibility. We're still in the fight, we're still in the hunt and that was the goal of coming on this trip. I was proud of the performance against the Stormers, they were relentless and kept coming back.
"Once those traits are evident in them we'll be in every battle, every fight. All going well we'll be coming back from Africa with two games to look forward to."
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