MUNSTER HEAD COACH Anthony Foley says ‘it’s an exciting time’ to be involved with the province as they look to appoint a director of rugby this summer.
CEO Garrett Fitzgerald confirmed the search for a director of rugby in a statement yesterday while also rubber stamping Foley’s one-year extension.
Asked about the prospect of working under a new addition above him in the management structure on Newstalk’s Off The Ball, Foley said:
“We’re looking to compete with the highest level in Europe. We’re looking to get coaches focused on coaching.
“The transfer market is ridiculous. It’s hard for anyone to compete at the moment considering the money that’s about to go in to the English game, that’s already in the French game.
It’s a very exciting time to be involved in Munster. We’ll be in the one centre next year, we’ve retained a lot of our players and we’re looking to put a different structure in place. From my point of view, it’s an exciting time to be involved with Munster. It’s a good place to be.”
The ‘one centre’ Foley refers to is the new training base in the University of Limerick which will bring an end to the tradition of Munster dividing their time between sessions in Cork and Shannon-side. Along with a new look to the staff in the province, Foley hopes that the elimination of a commute will aid the recovery and preparation of players between games.
“I remember losing to Wasps and a senior players’ meeting (agreed): ‘we need more time together to compete for trophies.’ We came up with various different ways to do it.
“It was a mature group when we won two European Cups. You can get away with a lot with maturity, but it doesn’t stay that way forever.
“It’s important we get in line with how we train and recover. There is a massive element to recovery. It’s not ideal to do a session and have to drive an hour and a half, two hours. It’s important we have that and make full value.
“A lot of it is off-field, not really on-field; how you meet, where you meet. Getting your point across reviewing and stuff like that is rather different when there’s separation in the camps.”
Foley freely accepts that the on-field results have been far from ideal this season, but hopes the new approach can help Munster rekindle the mood that surrounded some of their greatest days.
“It was about moving forward, and back to the days when we could fill the Millennium Stadium, win trophies and stuff like that. It was getting a structure and process around that, making sure this club can go forward.”
Listen to Off The Ball’s full interview with Anthony Foley here>>
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