After a long and distinguished playing career Anthony Foley has taken the step up from Forwards Coach to the Head Coach position at Munster. He has taken time to complete his coaching staff and has stayed local with his appointments.
Foley has added former players Jerry Flannery and Mick O’Driscoll as Scrum Coach and Technical Advisor respectively. Skills Coach Ian Costello has been promoted to Assistant Coach with responsibility for defence and kicking. Brian Walsh completes the coaching set up as Assistant Coach with responsibility for attack and backs. As Head Coach, Foley will continue to take charge of the forwards.
Make no mistake, Foley has a big job on his hands. He will get a bit of time due to his legendary status but one worry that Munster fans will have is the lack of marquee players added to the squad in the off season. There are two reasons for that.
The first one is no secret around Munster, and that is the province at this stage cannot compete with the big spending Aviva Premiership Clubs in England, let alone the multi millionaire French owners of the Top 14.
The second reason is that even if they did have the money, the World Cup takes place next year and any Southern Hemisphere based player that has a chance of making their country’s World Cup squad will not move until its completion.
Crusaders out half/inside centre Tyler Bleyendaal is a talented footballer but is not the type of signing that will excite the Thomond Park faithful. Andrew Smith of the Brumbies has been added to the squad on a one year contract as a replacement for Racing Metro bound Casey Lualala and unless something sensational happens will depart at the end of his contract.
Robin Copeland is one player that could make a major impact at the back of the scrum judging by his form for Cardiff Blues over the last two seasons. Copeland has ambitions of breaking into the Irish set up and will be very much in the coaching set up’s plans. Experienced centre James Downey was not offered a new contract and this decision from Foley could give an insight into his game plan
Towards the end of last season we saw a lot more of JJ Hanrahan and Ian Keatley playing together at out half and inside centre rather than the bulldozing Downey. Bleyendaal will also come into the equation if, as expected, Munster play with two out halves in the 10 and 12 jerseys.
Ivan Dineen, Johne Murphy and Denis Hurley can also be used in the centre and will offer a different option. This could also see Keith Earls move back into his more favoured outside centre position. Although he has been mostly used on the wing in recent seasons, Earls would jump at the chance.
Foley also has some other selection dilemmas to deal with, starting with loosehead prop. David Kilcoyne started the crunch games last season but was put under enormous pressure by James Cronin and we can expect that to continue this season. John Ryan will also provide cover in this position. Damien Varley will fight for the starting hooker position with Mike Sherry who will be returning from a long term injury. Duncan Casey will also add to the competition after his impressive debut season.
BJ Botha and Steven Archer will compete for the tight head position along with new recruit Martin Kelly. John Ryan expected to cover both sides of the scrum if needed. The second row position has always been an area of strength for Munster and this season should be no exception. Paul O’Connell will lead the pack and will be partnered by Donnacha Ryan, Dave Foley, Donncha O’Callaghan or Billy Holland.
The back row will also provide Head Coach Anthony Foley with many options. Munster captain Peter O’Mahony will lead the team from blindside flanker with CJ Stander hoping to build on an outstanding second half to last season. Sean Dougall has overtaken Tommy O’Donnell at openside. As already mentioned, Robin Copeland will slot in to the spot vacated by James Coughlan with Paddy Butler to cover the number 8 position.
Foley also has many options in the backline. At full back, Felix Jones is the man in possession of the but Luke O’Dea and Denis Hurley can also cover the position. Simon Zebo, Gerhard Van Den Heever, Ronan O’Mahony, Keith Earls, Andrew Conway and Johne Muphy will cover the wing positions. Conor Murray will be the starting scrum half with Duncan Williams and Cathal Sheridan vying for the spot on the bench. The centre positions have already been discussed and it will be intriguing to see how that situation plays out.
Foley and his backroom team have an exciting squad at their disposal. One of the problems that they may encounter is that they will be without their Irish players more often with the World Cup at the end of the season. This will more than likely see Conor Murray, Paul O’Connell, Peter O’Mahony, Simon Zebo and perhaps Robin Copeland, Donnacha Ryan, Keith Earls and Dave Kilcoyne play fewer games than normal.
All in all there are plenty of reasons for Munster fans to be excited. Many complained at the strategy employed by former backs coach Simon Mannix. Brian Walsh will have a big job on his hands but has the necessary tools to employ a successful game plan for the backs division. Foley will continue the good work that he and former Head Coach Rob Penney did with the forwards over the last two seasons.
One of the biggest complaints fans had under Penney’s tenure was the lack of cohesion between forward and backs. Munster’s major strength historically has been based around an extremely strong forward pack and Penney tried to merge this with a new style of play with many of the forwards finding themselves out in the wing positions. Under Foley, we should see a return to the more traditional values of Munster Rugby with lineout mauls in particular being used more often.
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