Andy Friend says the stop-start nature of recent games is as off-putting for coaches and players as it is for supporters.
Connacht's match against the Bulls last weekend went on for 123 minutes due to a number of stoppages and TMO checks while six of the other seven round-three fixtures in the BKT United Rugby Championship also hovered around the two-hour mark.
Bulls coach Jake White voiced his frustrations at the mandatory water-break rule, which was introduced to stop the number of runners coming onto the pitch during matches, and Friend called for common sense to prevail over the coming weeks to shorten the length of games.
"I reckon it is an issue if we don't contain it," said the Connacht director of rugby. "Spectators don't come to have these large pauses in play where there's decisions being made, and they can't hear what's going on. That becomes frustrating.
"Players and coaches, we don't play the game to have all these long breaks either. There's a few things to tidy up with it. Let's hope these are the longest games that we'll get and common sense will prevail over the coming few weeks, and we can shorten the game.
Donncha O'Callaghan aired his frustrations about the on-field delays exemplified during Munster's win over Zebre
"I didn't see an issue with what we had before [with water breaks]. If a bloke’s thirsty, give him a drink of water. It wasn't adding time to the game, it was just servicing the players who are out there trying to give their best.
"But now, they're told they can have water at 15 minutes, maybe at 30 minutes, who knows? And then you got these long pauses in play again.
"I believe the reason it was done was to stop runners coming on and putting pressure on referees or whatever. Well if they're doing that, send them off. But don't change the whole game where we're now having these long water breaks, and no one knows when they're going to get a drink of water."
Darren Cave and Eddie O'Sullivan analysed Connacht's defensive problems on Against The Head
New laws will be trialled in Australia this weekend with the aim of increasing ball-in-play time. Teams will have 30 seconds to set the scrum, with only two resets allowed, 60 seconds to complete a penalty and five seconds to play the ball from a ruck after the referee calls 'use it'.
Friend believes those experimental changes could help speed up the game and would suit Connacht’s style of play.
"I go back to my time at the Sevens," said Friend. "A shot clock was introduced there and if you didn't kick the goal within a minute, you didn't get the chance to kick the goal. And if you didn't restart within a minute, and you didn't get the chance to restart.
"Funnily enough, everyone managed to do that pretty easy once you knew the clock was on.
"If you give people leeway to take time and slow down a game, if that's what they want to do, they will do that.
"If you set rules in place that say, 'there's your allocated time, if you're not good enough to get it done, well you don't get the right to do it’, people tend to tend to fall in line with it.
"Anything that gives more ball in play time and more opportunity for us to be playing the game, and for people who are watching the game, to me is a good thing for the game."
After two deflating defeats in South Africa, Connacht are back home preparing for Friday’s derby against Munster on their new 4G pitch at the Sportsground.
Friend confirmed captain Jack Carty is "very close" to making his first appearance of the season following wrist surgery, while Caolin Blade could also feature after recovering from an ankle injury.
"We can't ask for a bigger game," said Friend. "Our first game at home, a brand new pitch, in front of family and friends, and against Munster, what else do you want?
"Ideally, we'd like a couple of wins sitting behind us but we don't have that.
"We had what I thought was a really good performance in a pre-season game against Sale, where we showed some really positive elements of our rugby and our fight. I've seen that fight in the last couple of games, which has been really positive to see, but we need to be more than that.
"We need to be accurate, to keep showing that fight. And we need to try and tie those two things together on Friday night."
Connacht sit bottom of the URC table without a point from three matches and Friend admitted they have been architects of their own downfall.
"I'm seeing uncharacteristic errors from players that normally don't make those," he said. "I'm also seeing a really stop-start affair in all the games that we've had.
"We pride ourselves on being a team that wants to play fast but I think we've had an average of about 33 minutes of football in the first three games, which is way too low.
"We sat at 35 and a half or 36 last year, so and we've played against two teams in the Stormers and the Bulls respectfully, that like to play a reasonably open brand of footy.
"But we've had a penalty count of 36 in the last game, 21 to the opposition and 15 against us. The games are so stop-start. We just can't get flow. And then with that flow, we’re then making the errors, there's a frustration around that.
"We then get players trying to create something and possibly come a little bit off script, which maybe throws other people out. There's an energy and desire to fix the thing, but we just need to be really collective with that. I'm comfortable and confident that we'll get there."
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