MUNSTER ARE SET to launch a search for a director of rugby to come on board alongside Anthony Foley next season.
The42 understands that the process to find a suitable candidate to add experience to the Munster backroom staff will formally begin in the coming weeks.
Foley verbally agreed a one-year extension to his contract as head coach in December, though the province’s group-stage exit from the Champions Cup brought some doubts as to whether or not that deal would be signed and sealed.
However, it’s understood that Foley will remain in situ as head coach at Munster next season.
Munster have struggled for consistent form under Foley during this campaign, leading to the short-term signing of future Ireland defence coach Andy Farrell as a consultant in January, with the Englishman lending his experience to a homegrown coaching staff.
The province’s Professional Game Board now appears to have decided that having an experienced figure in a similar position alongside Foley on a permanent basis would be a positive move.
Naturally Munster will only make an appointment in this director of rugby role if they can find and secure the suitable candidate, but such an appointment would make sense.
Foley had never held a top-level head coaching position until succeeding Rob Penney as Munster boss in 2014, while his assistant coaches Brian Walsh, Ian Costello, Jerry Flannery and Mick O’Driscoll were all new to their roles too.
Ulster were the first province in Ireland to move to the director of rugby model, with David Humphreys appointed in that position in 2010, before Les Kiss took up the role following the World Cup earlier this season.
Kiss is a far more hands-on coaching figure than Humphreys, whose main strengths lie in the area of transfers, contracting and other off-field matters of that nature.
It remains to be seen which avenue Munster go down with their search for a director of rugby ahead of next season, though it does appear that extensive top-level experience will be the key criteria.
Foley’s reputation as an excellent training ground technician remains strong and the appointment of a wily veteran as Munster’s director of rugby to focus on dealing with the media, succession planning, transfers and contracting may be a sensible option.
Munster currently sit seventh in the Guinness Pro12 table following last weekend’s defeat to Glasgow Warriors. Foley’s men have a game in hand, but find themselves six points off the play-off positions and will need an upturn in form in the coming weeks if they are to secure a semi-final spot.
The southern province exited the Champions Cup at the pool stage in January after winning three of their six fixtures.
Originally published 17.45
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Please please let it be Conor O’Shea.
As a Cork woman I’d be happy. Munster isn’t Cork, it’s 6 counties, two of which you listed. He’d be a fantastic appointment and give direction that is desperately needed.
Our worst nightmare but o’shea would be a brilliant person to take munster forward…seriously if munster are seen as a top club in europe then i wish garrett fitzgerald didn’t go for the cheap option in foley…it wasnt a sign of intent to dominate european rugby..he will be a good coach but too much responsibility too soon…his first mistake was bringing in rookie coaches to help him…schoolboy error
If u ever stood in the old musgrave park on a wet windy night watching a second string munster side playing zebre you would understand the alienation and resistance by some cork supporters about the limerickisation of munster rugby…what other area would seek to turn a 6 county province into a one city team…even leinster understand the need to move away from the image of leinster being only about south county dublin..now they want a single limerick training base and academy players can only be based out of UL..
Seems like “the Cork mafia” are doing pretty bad job. Munster play in Limerick, train in Limerick and are managed by a Limerick man. The population of Limerick 191K, the population of Cork is 518K.
I dot think Conor O’Shea is likely to take position but I think Mike Ruddock would be a good fit.
Italy bound.
I think you will find that axel is a clare man.
It doesn’t really matter who is coaching when you witness the sheer stupidy of the collective Munster team against Glasgow., they got themselves into a winning position with time running out with a gale force wind at their backs and STILLL tried to run the ball from under their own posts. If my schools team did that I would have had them in the next day running 15 km up and down hills so they would never again be sooooo stupid.
BTW Leinster were not much better consistently throwing to the middle and back of the line-outs in a hurricane in Cardiff.and consistently losing possession
Leinster is only seen that way by outsiders .
Foley is Clare man
It’s linked to university of limerick with a small base in CIT for Cork based academy players. Apparently cork kids only attend UCC.
Why? UL and CIT are providing it.
And Reddan kicking the ball INTO a gale with 90 seconds left
Cally – out of interest, what would you propose to resolve this Cork alienation/Limerickisation? I can see the demographic argument about playing in Cork (2.5x the population of Limerick) but, with so much money having been spent on Thomond, doesn’t it make sense to play there? Perhaps if the training base were in Cork, could that work?
UL are building a state of art facility for munster on campus. It’s nearly finished. There was a video here not too long ago iirc.
Yes.
A boy Sullivan boy
He’d be fantastic , but I think it would take a lot of wedge to move Conor from what I guess was a highly Paid job with the London lifestyle ?? We shall see
So should we have a base in each county , it’s Munster lads get on with it
They got rid of Rob Penney to bring in a failing cheaper (homegrown) coaching ticket and then they add Andy farrell as backup now tell add a Dor! If Foley and Co remain they can bring in Michael O’Leary and we still will flop in Europe for a record 3rd year in a row! That’s of course if we even qualify!
@Paul Murphy I don’t care if he or she comes from Timbuktu once it brings about positive change. Why the f would anyone care where they are from ?
@ Kevin – Rob Penney was a terrible coach. How many rugby pundits have written that it was a mistake to not renew his contract? How many former players voiced their shock at his departure? How many rugby journalists reported in their daily and weekly columns about the brilliance of his style of rugby? Not one. Awful rugby, crowds stopped coming to matches, despite the players dragging the team to European knock outs in spite of the tactics they were forced to play. And no European team sought Penney when it was known his Munster contact would be renewed. No New Zealand super rugby team chomped at the bit to get him home. What does that tell you about rob Penney?
@Mcdb06 are you for real?? Have no doubt Paul o connell would never have left if Penney was still there. Respect! Read Dan Carters autobiography and he speaks about Penney in nearly every chapter! He says he discovered him, signed him, mentored him, coached him and carter says he owes it all to Penney. It’s said that joe schitt was the man behind getting rid of Penney. He was just signed to Ireland and feared they style and results Penney was achieving! That if he wasn’t getting results with ireland he’d be looking over his shoulder at Penney! Here’s a fact, The players in Munster have no voice regarding the coach but I know that they adored Rob Penney!
If rugby continues to grow, it wouldn’t be crazy to imagine 6 teams in Ireland in the future: the four provinces plus a team in Dublin and a team in Cork.
No this is the typical irgnorant fan comment. “He got Munster to 2 semi finals” by scraping through the easiest pools any Munster team have seen, and nearly losing both times but for 11th hours heroics. Rubbish rugby that was pitiful to watch. And has anyone read peter stringer commenting in his book how he felt rob Penney didn’t really have any control or idea what he was doing? No of course not, you’ve selective memories and are pure ignorant to the fact that Munster squads under Penney under performed massively because they played under his rubbish tactics. 2 semi finals for a 2 time champion club with the squad he had was a disgrace. The worst thing to happen to Munster rugby was tony McGahan and rob Penney.
Well since you quoted peter stringers comments about Penny why didn’t you quote ROGS comment about McGahan before he was appointed.. best coach he ever worked under. Selective quotes.
Mcdb06 your the ignorant one here. But I’m sure your a leinster man who feared and hated Penney. So in the two years Penney was there we got to 2 H-Cup semis we should have beat Clermont and Toulon never crossed the line the 2nd year and Keatley was our out half! And that was with wilkinson at 10! Toloons best team ever! Remember both semis were in France! A home draw in either and we would have not have been bet in Dublin! Secondly we went down to a Welsh cheating Tmo to decide a game vs Scarlets. Had we won that night we would have made history as the only team to beat all the Welsh provinces both home and away! To wrap this up, under Rob Penney we were the top Irish province and a force in Europe!
It’s definitely not COS, he’s off to mozzarella land. The best we can hope for is returning from Georgia.
@ Kevin – no I’m a Munster supporter, so watching them go from the best team in Europe to 3rd best in Ireland in 3 seasons with more or less the same group of players is incredibly frustrating to watch. Rob Penney persisted with a game plan that didn’t work. Players like James Downey and Casey Laulala were forced to shuffle the ball out wide rather then make yards, the pack was completely neglected, Penney obviously didn’t believe in earning the right to go wide. Seriously you must have either a very short memory or no idea about rugby to think the Penney era was a success. No trophies, no finals. For a former European number one ranked team and two time Heineken cup champions getting to two semi finals and giving it a lash isn’t good enough. Those squads were good enough to go the whole way and win. When they got to the knock out stages in Europe they abandoned the Penney game and resorted to more direct rugby and it worked! You can literally count on one hand the good performances Munster played under Penney. It’s the same with Leinster under Matt o’connor, getting to a European semi final doesn’t mean it was a successful season or good rugby was played. Those results were papering over massive cracks
Conor O’Shea?!
Ideally. Get the feeling Munster don’t want to admit they made a massive mistake hiring Foley and this is a measure to deal with that.
Not hiring, just promoting too early.
Foley will be fine in a couple of years, but would benefit from the perspective from coaching in another club/league for a period.
All Irish coaches should be encouraged to spend part of their coaching development working abroad rather than staying in the Irish Rugby bubble. It’s why the main jobs are currently taken by foreign coaches..
This reminds me of when Liverpool didn’t want to sack Roy Evans, a long-serving club man who was out of his depth, so appointed Gerard Houllier to be his “co-manager”. The shoe-horned arrangement lasted 4 months before Evans resigned.
Hard to imagine Foley still being at Munster come the beginning of the 2017/18 season.
@Pete, a director of rugby can’t necessarily save the day if the right coaching ticket isn’t in place. Foley appears to he hopelessly out of his depth this season how he will magically become a better coach next season….
Dry up Behan … You utter gowl of a troll..
Thought he had the Italian gig
Conor O’Shea seems the obvious one, or could there be a return for Declan Kidney?
Making too much money in UCC
Personally, as a live-long Munster supporter, I find it absolutely astonishing that Foley would be offered an extension to his contract before the season is concluded. There is a very good chance that Munster will not finish in the Top 6 and therefore no European Cup next season, which would be an economic catastrophe for the organisation, meaning Foley’s (and his back-room team) record would be knocked out in the Group Stages 2 years in a row, and failed to qualify at all in his 3rd season. How is that a record that merits a contract extension? But I then remember how it’s good oul’ Garret at the helm of this Pantomime and then it all makes depressing sense.
Any contract decision needs to be made before the season is over. If you make the call at the end of the season you have no time to actually go to market really. Just look at what happened to Leinster. Decisions like that have to be made by Christmas.
Hasn’t he proven himself a good forwards coach in the past? I think it might suit him to go back to that. If he’s been consulted on this, it could be good for him. If it’s all coming from the board though, this will just end in tears.
@ Ewan Euphrenza – I do believe Foley will become a good coach in time, but to have given him leadership of Munster so early in his management career was foolish from Day 1, but to then exacerbate that questionable decision with further appointments of more unproven, inexperienced coaches was Amateur Hour antics from Fitzgerald.
@ John – so as our season collapses around us, we have to wait until half of next year’s campaign has passed to consider possibly two terrible seasons? Just don’t accept that, we have some genuine, young talent coming through that desperately need quality coaching and guidance, and they’re simply not getting that today judging by recent performances. Anyway, just my own opinion.
I wasn’t commenting on whether Foley should stay or not, just saying that the decision needs to be made early enough in the season that if you are to let him go you’re giving yourselves enough time to find a replacement.
Leinster for example needed to make the call on MOC much earlier and they might have attracted more interest than they did. By the time they did go to market all the coaches worth their salt had signed on elsewhere. Thankfully Leo is doing a decent job all things considered, but the point stands regardless I reckon.
My mistake John, got you now.
I can’t see Conor O’Shea moving from a Director of Rugby role to do the exact same thing in an environment that he has less cash and less control over his players.
He’ll look at international management or what he’d be even better at is creating the overall strategy for Italian rugby rather than just being Head Coach.
If he has ambitions of being Irish head coach then the move would make sense.
Agreed Rochelle – but I think that might be the only situation in which I could see him taking the job. With the financial odds stacked increasingly against them – internal factors compounded by overseas money men – Munster are in a tricky spot.
This is getting beyond a joke. Foley has to go. Garret Fitzgerald has to go. Simple as!! Foley and his arrogance has slowly killed the club. Attendance levels have collapsed and as a result the bank balance of the club has also dwindled. Their answer is to create a new well paid position. We must have the best paid water boys in Europe even though Mick likes to be called a technical advisor. This club is getting top heavy. The next season will tell a lot
Graham Henry’s not busy.
Kidney could be pretty good in the role, maybe even better suited to it than head coach. His proven ability to find and appoint top level coaching staff could be key to turning things around.
Kidney gets paid too much at UCC, Munster would never afford him again
That’s what Anthony Foley said about his reappointment in 06.. didn’t go too bad after that
Paul Murphy
Paul I don’t understand what you mean , declan kidney coached Munster to the first 2 H cup finals that they played in and lost , then came back and brought them to 2 more Hcup finals and won them ?
I’m inclined to think Conor O’Shea could do a lot better
Yeah 2 time Heineken cup champs with a rich history would be a terrible club to work for
Leeds have a rich history in English football but look at them! Same logic applies.
In fairness Munster are not that team any more and haven’t been in some time. Only TOL remains from the team that won in 08 AFAIK.
Can’t see been Conor O Shea, he seems earmarked for the Italian job.
If it’s an Irish person gets to job how about Eddie O Sullivan
Is Conor o’shea to Italy confirmed or was it just rumours? If not he’d be ideal
Congrats on the exclusive Murray only a matter of time before you usurp GT!!
Going by the decisions being made by Foley and Fitzgerald this season the appointment will be severely disappointing! Christ I hope I’m wrong!
Agree totally. Couldn’t trust Fitzgerald to make any decisions at this stage. I think the only way forward is to get rid of him.
Michael Bradley is very qualified on all fronts
O’Shea would be mad to take the job with Foley and his mafia of former players on one side and Garrett Fitz and the Munster blazers on the other
€2m deficit last year , no sell outs in cork or limerick in a long time , haemorrhaging season ticket holders , worst Irish province currently , long way back
Bring in Eddie Halvey. I’m sure Mick Galwey could provide a character reference.
Best comment of the night…. Hat off good sir
Forget Foley this has nothing to do with him and his lack of results, this is all about the CEO saving face and saving his pampered position.
He is leading the organisation and ultimately takes sole responsibility for the massive decline of the ream to the extent where their own supporters are ridiculing them.
Yes the overseas players have been generally dire of late but in addition the home grown players are just not there at present, with just one or two exceptions.
The CEO is diverting attention away from his door and putting a sticking plaster on the massive wound that is underachievement in the hope that all the flack will miss him.
“Foleys reputation as an excellent training ground technition” that’s just b@llox players know it,fans know it even dogs on the street know it!
How in the hell has he been offered an extension? It’s crazy. Good to hear about hiring a DOR though.
What a f%$k up if this is correct Murray. First mistake ditching penny (probably easier on the pocket to appoint Foley) now Garrett and blazers showing no balls in not just cutting axl loose and have to pay another wage now to fix mistake Silly costly appointment if DOR can’t pick his staff what self respecting rugby man would take the job. The coaching ticket are very inexperienced and from the emails to jj to the last 2games it’s been very dissappointing but I actually feel sorry for Foley and the rest of the boys at this stage the way they are being treated with Farrell and now this surely they will walk themselves if this is true. Plenty people with experience around unemployed who wouldn’t break the bank Mike Ruddock Michael Bradley Eddie O’Sullivan
This is a really poor decision by the Munster Branch to extend Anthony Foley’s contract for another year; Munster will continue to suffer with a non-world class coach at the helm of the provincial team.
Appointing a good quality Director of Rugby to pick up the slack from Mr Foley’s lack of world class coaching ability is a cop out by the Munster Branch. It is tantamount to an admission by the Munster Branch that Anthony Foley is not really up to the job and needs supervision, but at the same time the Munster Branch don’t have the honesty or the wit to get rid of Anthony Foley as head coach (even though the experiment of Foley as head coach has clearly failed).
When the boat is sinking make the hole bigger lads well done
O Shea
Yes no problem
BUT
holy Foely HAS TO GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
No self respecting qualified rugby man would take a roll along side a coach who can’t be sacked apparently. You can’t give someone a DOR job and them tell them oh by the way the head coach is…
Well actually that’s exactly what all of the English clubs do. COS for example isn’t head coach at Quins. John Kingston is. It’s just odd that Munster are now looking at implementing a totally new hierarchy like that. I’m not sure exactly what they expect it to solve.
This is a job for Eddie o’ Sullivan . Fatten the calf Lads
I’d be very happy with Andy Robinson. Wasn’t great as an international coach but working as a Director of Rugby with Edinburgh and Bristol he has been superb. I think he’d do very well.
He coached Garryowen too iirc but we won’t hold it against him :-) I think Lancaster got a bit of a raw deal, I wouldn’t mind him either
How has he been superb at Bristol? He has failed to get them promoted twice in spite of having the biggest budget and best squad.
In the past two years he has been in charge for 40 games at Bristol. They lost just four of these games. Yes one of them was a defeat to Worcester Warriors in the final but it would be crazy to ignore the great work he has done with them.
Last season they scored an average of 35 points per game and that try scoring record has kept up this season too.
I would love to see Munster learn how to play week in and week out. A few years ago they were a big performance team. Beat Toulouse, beat Saracens, beat Ospreys but then go out and lose to Cardiff and Edinburgh and Dragons. I think he would be a great bet. Not as good as Conor O’Shea of course but I don’t think thats realistic. He’d be a lot better than someone like Eddie O’Sullivan though.
Around 34 of those games have been against sub standard opposition. Teams that munster and leinsters b teams beat regularly in the B+I cup. He has been playing in the championship with a premier league team. The only team he has had to beat each year is the team relegated into the division. He has a bigger budget than that team but failed. I don’t agree that he’s a top coach.
Fair enough Tim agree to disagree. I’m not so sure that last years Worcester Warriors team were a million miles off Bristol in terms of players or budget. I’d certainly be happy to see someone with his experience come into Munster.
Assistant Coach on two separate Lions Tours as well as the RWC Winning Squad for England. Already has coached in the Pro12 and in England with Bath and Bristol and been Director of Rugby for both England and Scotland.
That is an amazing wealth of outside experience to bring into Munster especially when the rest of the coaching staff are all local men.
Either way it won’t solve the problem we have with inexperienced and out of their depth coaches operating underneath any DOR they bring in. Foley doesn’t have a good track record of working for someone either and has too many friends in high places around the munster professional set up. This is an attempt to protect him and appease the fans at the same time and it won’t work. Munster rugby surveyed their fans last week on season ticket renewal. If they were to do it again nothing would change. Axel and Co have taken us from 2 time in a row HC semi finalists to brink of failing to qualify in 2 seasons. Irony is that under the old system of qualification we would be out now but under this new one we still have a chance. Oh and the favourite is Rob Penney given what Donal Lenihan said last night on ATH.
Is there anyone out there to organise a protest outside Thomond and indo park to voice our discontent? I’ll not renew my season ticket if Foley and Co remain. The supporters are not being heard! Let’s get organised! !!!
That would be a step back for Conor O’Shea.
My money’s on Kieran Crowley. He has experience with Canada but is out of contract and likely inexpensive. He’s got a profile in the game, but not too high that he’d turn his nose up at Munster.
I think its a good move for O Shea , much better than Italy which is a dead end job . Who has moved on to a better job after the italian gig?
This move would put O Shea in the shop window for eventually taking a higher IRFU posting . He could in fact be the next Nucifora …
Just throwing this out there but Paul o connell???? No experience sure but has the respect of the entire rugby world and has a ridiculous rugby knowledge to bring to bear….. Also imo his influence around the dressing room is sorely missed….. Time to start putting the fear of God back in teams facing Munster
Don’t disagree re Paulie’s credentials, obviously speak for themselves but I would imagine he’d prefer to earn his stripes abroad perhaps as an asst coach before moving into the Munster job with Rog.
As an aside Martin Johnson was a great player and captain but dreadful coach cos he was still too tight with the players around him. Think Paulie is smart enough to let a few of his ex team mates move on before joining coaching ticket. Unlike Leo
Martin Johnson won a 6 Nations Championship. The reason he isn’t coaching now is because he was coaching a bunch of clowns who didn’t know how to behave.
Foley probably shouldn’t have got the extension but he has.. let’s not try and hound him out of the job. I think he’s a victim of circumstance and I also think he’ll be a better coach next year for the experience so far. No team has a divine right to anything.
Are haemorrhaging people allowed into thomand? Surely it would be a health hazard?
Conor O’Shea
Id want O’Shea as Head Coach not as a bandage at DoR, which, will not heal the wound to Munster that Foley has been.
Is the 42 app not working for anyone else?
Track Mark McCalls career in coaching before making any rash decisions ……
EOS is the rugby man for the job. He’s only a few minutes out the road