In Connacht, there is a double benefit to Tuesday's confirmation that Quinn Roux has signed for the province for a further two seasons. The main benefit is that it guarantees the club the services of a highly prized and athletic lock forward coming into the prime of his game. But the more subtle benefit is that it sends out a message that Connacht has become a club where players want to stay.

Roux came west on loan from Leinster but when he sat down on Wednesday after training under the early stages of good, old-fashioned winter storm, he was delighted just to have his future seasons done and dusted.

"Well, it was always going to come down to game time for me. I want to be playing 80 minutes week in and week out. I had a few upsets at Leinster with injury – and I have great memories for there too – but playing here every week and I am playing in the same competition . . . obviously not in the Champions Cup this season but I do play against the same opponents in the Pro12 and I felt that if I can play the 80 minutes each week, then I will be happy."

Expansive game

In 14 caps since arriving at the beginning of the season, the South African has become an integral part of Pat Lam’s evolving side. He is a formidable figure: 6’6” tall and 19 stone but long limbed and highly comfortable with the shifting, expansive game Connacht have worked hard to develop. He was first choice for Leinster 14 times but his two seasons there were interrupted with injury and the highlight was playing against Stade Francais in the 2013 European

Challenge Cup

final, which Leinster won by 34-13 at the RDS.

By then, he felt comfortable in his surroundings, so switching coasts was not a huge personal upheaval for him.

“It is a professional set up, so it is not going to be that much different. Every coach has his own way of doing things but there is not too much different on a day-to-day basis. When I first came over here, the lads made it very easy for me to adjust and it was the same here with Connacht during the pre-season. I found it really easy. I think you can make it easier for yourself too if you can fit into what the lads stand for. If you do that, it is easy for anyone new coming here with the way the lads treat you.”

But that taste of winning a European final has left Roux eager to repeat the experience. There was much grumbling about the ‘point’ of the newly devised European competition. Winning the Challenge Cup does not bring about progression to the higher European tier: it is literally about the challenge. That does not diminish it from Roux’s perspective.

Different atmosphere

“Beating Stade Francais in that final was an unbelievable experience for me. European rugby is just a different level and that is what makes the competition great. It is difficult to explain but the excitement around it and getting to play French or English teams that you don’t normally meet and going into French grounds, different crowds, different atmosphere. It is a great competition.”

It is one Connacht can concentrate on exclusively for the next week. Pat Lam spent the early part of the week detailing where the side had fallen short in their 13-16 loss to Edinburgh in the Pro12, played during a gale last Friday night. It was Connacht's first loss in the Sportsground this season. Roux's face clouds at the mention of the game and he shakes his head at the suggestion that the team was caught flat after its new year's night win over Munster.

“It was massively disappointing because at the beginning of the season we set ourselves a standard and wanted to make the Sportsground a fortress. You can’t hold on to that: you have to move on and try to fix it as quickly as possible. I wouldn’t blame it on fatigue really. Maybe it was just – well, everyone knows the weather was terrible but you can’t blame it on that. I think it was just that the combined effort wasn’t enough on the evening.”

Roux possesses the trait of polite understatement common in South African rugby players who spend time here. He was only 21 when he took up the offer to sign with Leinster and it was, he admits, a trip into the unknown. He knew very little about European rugby and was vague, at best, about the charms of the Heineken Cup.

Overseas “I had never been overseas. It was a massive decision. And I know people say it, but it is true: the people here in Ireland made it easier for me to adapt than I would have thought . . . even with weather like this. I saw it as a massive opportunity too and I decided I would take a massive chance and go for it.”

Even now, his family and friends at home in Pretoria keep up to date with his progress through Twitter and Facebook and he does his best to describe to them what Irish derby games are like – and why it is that he has come to feel at home with Connacht so quickly. The feel-good factor revolving around the club in recent weeks has been encouraging but hasn’t taken Roux by surprise.

“It comes down to the way we began at the beginning of the year. We challenge each other on and off the pitch every day. We had massive belief in each other and that is why we could challenge each other. And I think, man to man, if we can do that, we know we will be safe on the pitch. I feel that the belief is getting stronger as the season goes on. And it is very special.

“It is something we treasure in this team. We back ourselves but we back our team-mates. But we know we haven’t accomplished anything yet. We have shown what we are capable of but the last leg of the season now is crucial for us to be where we want to be.”