MUNSTER SCRUM COACH Jerry Flannery says it’s business as usual as they prepare for the start of the new season and that Rassie Erasmus’ decision to leave has not knocked them back.
He said Munster players and management have knuckled down to the task and not allowed the news that Erasmus will leave by Decemver to undermine them.
The former Irish hooker said the primary concern was to build on the progress of last season and he believes that the mid-season departure of Erasmus and defence coach Jacques Nienaber will not impact on that.
“Obviously, it was weird with the announcement at the start of pre-season but it in no way has it affected our rugby.
“We felt we put down a really good season last year and the main thing for us is to get consistency and continuity year on year on year. We were worried that was the main thing.
“Felix (Jones) put an awful lot of work into our attack game in the off-season and you were worried then when Rassie and Jacques Nienaber were leaving, is there someone else going to come in straight away, is that work down the drain? But from a rugby point of view it has been incredibly positive. We have consolidated the good things that we did last year.
“We have looked where we can make a step-up and we have been layering that in and developing the players’ skill-sets so that we can play a little bit more of an expansive when necessary, when it is on.
“From my own point of view, it’s really rewarding. Because when you are watching the team train against the team everyone is getting the same stimulus of training. When you watch, when you go against opposition and you see the difference between your team and the opposition, we are not getting 100 percent right.
“We are far from that but I can see that we are creating opportunities and we are able to execute things that we weren’t doing last year,” said Flannery.
New lock Gerbrandt Grobler is doubtful for the opening PRO14 game against Benetton Rugby in Cork on Friday evening with an ankle injury picked up in the 35-26 win over Worcester Warriors on Thursday, while flanker Tommy O’Donnell is following return to play protocols after picking up a head injury in the same match.
Flannery confirmed that it would be a number of weeks before JJ Hanrahan recovers from a shoulder injury to make his return to Munster after two seasons with Northampton Saints.
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Nothing too spectacular about it, but Miller is a quality technically gifted player, pity he didn’t stay in cork for what could be a special year
It’s nice to see him still make a living out of football
Liam Miller never done too much while playing for Cork City.
I always got the impression that he had the attitude that he was too good to be playing for City.
Glad to see the back of him.
He was consistently technically superior to most around him though
Maybe stick to these types of article Eoin.. That United one you just done was awful..
Ahhh poor diddums
Better than the Paul Fennessy articles though.
Brutal
He had a good season at Sunderland under Roy keane. The start was a disaster and it looked like Sunderland would get relegated. Then keano arrived and sensationally they won the league. What a season that was. They really did come back from the brink.
If he had have stayed at Celtic for a year or two develop a bit more he could have been real quality. Cant blame him for moving when he did though.
I’m sorry but Miller added noting to the City team, always passed sideways or backwards and never looked to get forward, was not sorry to see him leave