Peter Dooley loving player-driven culture at Connacht

The Connacht players would have been forgiven for putting their feet up following their double-scores victory over Benetton last weekend, but Peter Dooley and his fellow forwards were quickly back to work.

Rather than relaxing in front of the television, Dooley spent his Sunday night watching over clips of Newcastle Falcons' props ahead of their European Challenge Cup opener.

It is all part of the player-driven culture at Connacht this season, something Dooley has embraced since making the move from Leinster in the summer.

"We’re always picking each other’s brains," said the 28-year-old. "The lineout leaders would be in at 7.30am on Monday morning, putting together a menu for the coming week.

"Then in the scrum, we’d be looking at opposition props on a Sunday night. We’d meet then first thing on Monday morning, and finalise that on Tuesday morning.

"We try to get ahead of the week with prep on Monday and Tuesday and that really helps us. We’re all just compiling our ideas.

"No-one knows who’s playing until maybe Tuesday evening so that’s why everyone has a good input. Everyone preps as if they are playing."

Dooley comes into the starting line-up for his eighth Connacht appearance on Saturday. It will be his first time playing in the Challenge Cup – "I was only coming out of school when Leinster won it in 2013" – and while there are regrets that the Westerners are not playing in Europe's top tier this season, Dooley is looking forward to the challenge.

"It’s European rugby at the end of the day and you’re playing against some top-quality teams," said the Offaly native.

"We’re excited just to play European rugby. The slate is wiped fresh and we’re looking forward to getting going.

"We’ve dissected Newcastle’s maul in detail, which