PAUL O’CONNELL HAS confirmed he will not be in the running to be Munster’s new head coach.

The province have been searching for a new head coach since parting ways with Graham Rowntree last month.

Forwards coach Andi Kyriacou has since followed Rowntree out the door, while defence coach Denis Leamy and attack coach Mike Prendergast have signed two-year contract extensions, which were both confirmed yesterday.

Yet the province have yet to name Rowntree’s successor. Munster legend O’Connell had been touted as an option but the former second row has made clear he will not be involved in any recruitment process, insisting he is happy in his current role as Ireland forwards coach.

“No, I have no interest in it. Certainly in the short-term anyway. I just hope they get the right man.”

O’Connell currently has plenty on his plate with Ireland. Andy Farrell’s men close their November window by taking on the Wallabies on Saturday, and once again the lineout has proved a major talking point.

Ireland’s setpiece has enjoyed some good moments but there have also been frustrations – notably having three lineout stolen in defeat to New Zealand.

“It’s been up and down,” O’Connell says of Ireland’s lineout.

“We have gotten value out of it, certainly when we have been close to the line, but we have probably combined one or two bad calls with one or two bad throws, and maybe one or two calls that shouldn’t have been part of the plan at all.

“So, that has been frustrating because the lads are good. When we give them quality ball, whether it’s the forwards or the backs, they have been good with it. I think lineout pressure across the world has increased, but we can certainly be a lot better than we have been.”

Second row James Ryan has been in the thick of the action, starting the games against New Zealand and Argentina before sitting out last Saturday’s defeat of Fiji.

“If I look at our lineout defence, we probably would have liked a bit more pressure in the air,” Ryan says.

O'Connell works with Ryan on the training pitch. Dan Sheridan / INPHO Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO

“We enjoy getting after teams in the air. In those first couple of games, against Argentina, it didn’t help that we got a couple of yellow cards in the forward pack, so there were different moving parts and so on.

“Against Fiji, it was much better. Izzy [Cormac Izuchukwu] started and he did very well. The defence did very well in the air. That’s been a big strength of ours and we enjoy that part of the game.

Certainly for this game, we’re looking to kind of bring that up another level to the first two games.”

Tadhg Beirne has been calling the Ireland lineout. The Munster player has gone the full 80 minutes in all three games, playing at flanker against the All Blacks and Pumas before joining Joe McCarthy in the second row against Fiji.

“He’s been doing it a long time now,” O’Connell explains.

“He did it in Scarlets but I think they just used to go in and call the menu one to ten and go back to the start again, if memory serves me correctly.

“There is probably a little bit more decision-making here, but he is experienced and he is a very good caller. I just think one or two calls, sometimes a team gets lucky. They guess and they get lucky against you. You don’t mind that, that’s part and parcel of the game.

“One or two calls shouldn’t have been on the menu. You fix those and you’re a lot tidier and your percentages are a lot better.”