MUNSTER ATTACK COACH Mike Prendergast is confident centre Antoine Frisch will remain at the club despite the player expressing a desire to play for his native France and apparent interest from clubs in the Top 14.
The 27-year-old, who has another season to run on his contract with Munster after joining from Bristol Bears in 2022, has scored seven tries in his 35 appearances to date. His impact is illustrated by making 34 starts at outside centre and one off the bench.
Frisch is also Irish-qualified but has not been called into Andy Farrell’s senior squad since arriving in Limerick. He was briefly called into the expanded French squad for the Six Nations and while he was released, it’s expected he could be brought to Argentina for a summer tour as Fabien Galthié rests some of his frontliners.
Prendergast, who spent more than a decade coaching and playing in France, said he was aware of the situation but was confident Frisch will be at Munster next season.
“I still read a bit of the French media myself, I coached over there for so long. I’ve seen it in the media over there, but from our perspective, as far as we know, Antoine will be here next year as well,” he said.
Montpellier and Toulon are supposed to be keen on bringing Frisch home, with speculation that Munster could be making a move for Connacht’s Tom Farrell, having already secured the services of winger Diarmuid Kilgallen from the Sportsground.
However, Prendergast, who is in South Africa preparing for Saturday’s URC clash with the Bulls, is confident Frisch will deal with the situation and continue to deliver.
“The pro he is, he’s managed to put all that stuff aside, and I’m sure he’s hearing and seeing whatever, but he’s here and he’s fully on board with us at the moment,” he added.
Meanwhile, Prendergast said it was a relief that Peter O’Mahony’s contract has been sorted out for next season, with the Irish skipper continuing for at least another season.
“I’m delighted he’s here for the foreseeable future. It’s great for everyone involved with Irish and Munster rugby.
“Great for Pete, he’s such an important person in Irish rugby, such an important person in Munster rugby and for him to have that done now he can, not that he never would, get on with his job. He always does.
“Just talking from a Munster perspective as a coach, to have a guy like him with his leadership for at least another season for us is great.”
Excellent article Murray. It’s the passing that’s concerning. A basic skill, you would assume at this level it certainly ought to be dealt with in training as regards timing. It can’t be perfect in training & poor in matches. So where are the standards vs Joe time when was non negotiable. Jamie O is young but a poor passer when moving and evident since his Leinster debut. We rarely pass in front of each other, almost always static in receiving, and when there is a 1st phase move, it gets stuck in midfield on contact. Bar Hugo try v Italy, very little innovation, attempts to do so. Extremely low risk rugby SA aside, since RWC. And while we love Hugo, nothing in attack from returned kicks. Little evidence Andrew Goodman was the right choice. You can swap the above comments for Leinster too.
@Mark Kearney: agree and add the waning of our ‘power game’ – that’s another point of difference for France and England and why they both ‘destroyed’ Wales and we didn’t.
@Mark Kearney: good point. Lancaster was really hot on passing accuracy and that meant the majority of players coming into Ireland camp under him were on top of their skills. Connacht also playing attacking style since Lam. New Munster/Ulster coaches also emphasize ball handling. I think the change in style at Leinster is really having a big impact on IRL attack. Leinster players concentrate on chasing kicks and being aggressive in défense. Leinster’s attack has been really poor these last 2 seasons but their brilliant defense means they still win. Cc LRO game was case in point. Irelands last 2 6n’s were also built on solid defense btw. People like to praise the IRL attack but it’s our defence was the foundation of our attack. We conceded more tries this 6n’s than in the last 2 combined.
The key statistic is professional playing numbers. In Ireland, we have 180, France, and England have very many more. It’s probably 8 to 10 times more, especially in France. Long-term strategy is surely to have a fifth team probably off the island.
@D Farrell: agree, but we have what we have. We have to revert to having a point of difference, back to most of Joe’s time in Lein & Ireland, was passing. That you can do with existing structure, if you first accept there is an issue. I don’t think we do, and poor standards are accepted across the provinces. That’s on the coaches, and players wanting to improve.
@D Farrell: Wishful thinking, I fear. The revenue to support a 5th team does not exist. Frankly I doubt whether we have the revenue to support four. Especially if the growth of Women’s pro rugby is already acting like an additional province in terms of its financial impact
I haven’t gone back to check but I imagine what has been said (by both fans and media) about this Ireland team/players/coaches is nothing compared to what the French will have had to put up with when we did them last season. They didn’t go through a massive clean out, and I don’t think we need to either. The other provinces other than Leinster do need to pull their socks up though.
It’s no coincidence our attack faltered when Andy Farrell was away. I think it’s forgotten that he is heavily involved in Irelands innovative attack plays and his absence definitely affected this. Also it’s worth mentioning Catt started very poorly with Ireland and became instrumental in our brilliant attack over the last few years. Maybe Goodman needs time to bed in also
Being third in what many considered a two horse race can’t be considered a success .
However it reflects the approach of the Irish management based on defence . Both Irish wings selection and reputations based on their performance on a catch and kick game .
But teams have stopped kicking deep as blocking in front of the catcher is penalized and the objective is to ensure the ball is behind the defending pack . Thus the reason to pick paceless wings no longer exists .
As previously noted 9 of the 23 are over 30 whose best games are behind them .
I considered that this was last 6 nations for more than PoM Murray and Healy and the preference for Leinster Blue was undeserved by several players .
@SAMUEL T McGLADERY: Who do you think should have been picked on the wings instead of Hansen and Lowe?