BERNARD JACKMAN BELIEVES Graham Rowntree may have felt it best to let a “fresh voice” take command of the Munster dressing room after it was confirmed on Monday morning that the Englishman has left the province by mutual consent.

Rowntree’s departure stunned Irish rugby and occurred just minutes before Jackman, Murray Kinsella and host Gavan Casey recorded Monday’s episode of Rugby Weekly Extra for The 42 subscribers.

The RWE trio discussed the matter in depth on today’s pod, with Casey first asking Jackman if he got the sense that Rowntree had left of his own accord or been pushed out the door after a rough start to Munster’s season.

Former Ireland hooker Jackman replied: “I would guess he probably walked. He’s a very proud, very honourable guy.

“It’s ironic: I was watching Munster’s match in South Africa (v Sharks) from the sideline at the Aviva ahead of the Leinster game, and I just said to a few people, ‘I hope Graham doesn’t take too much on post-match. I hope he’s not too honest.’

“Because I feel sometimes he’s nearly too honest for his own good at press conferences and the weight and burden of expectation, and that craving of success for Munster weighs heavy on him.

This has been another difficult start to the season: there have obviously been injuries, he lost two of his best players over the summer (RG Snyman and Antoine Frisch).

Maybe he just feels that after five years, that energy or that way forward isn’t there, or that the group would be better off with a different voice.

“He’s not a mercenary coach. I would always be sceptical about coaches ‘mutually agreeing’ but in this case I actually could easily see it.

“I think if he did walk, it’s to give someone else a chance to try and get more out of them.”

Jackman, Kinsella and Casey discussed dressing-room dynamics at Munster and the purported deterioration in relations between Rowntree and a number of senior players, including Peter O’Mahony whose contractual negotiations last season became protracted.

Rowntree in September denied that he had fallen out with O’Mahony and Jackman stressed that such tensions between coaches and senior players weren’t dealbreakers in any case.

He also proposed that Rowntree’s primary problem this season was that Munster simply lacked the overall talent of previous sides, including that of Johann van Graan prior to Rowntree’s time in charge.

“A fractious relationship isn’t necessarily always a bad thing,” Jackman said. “In actual fact, if you’re a team like Munster who are striving to get back to the top level of Europe or catch up with your biggest rival, Leinster, you probably need that. You can’t be going in happy-clappy every Monday morning if there are things you need to fix.

“From what I can see on the outside, it wasn’t a lack of effort that caused failure here,” Jackman added. “It’s probably the bigger picture here — some of it’s resource, some of it’s the playing squad in which, potentially, he (Rowntree) has maybe been too loyal to some people — or he didn’t have the replacements for them.

“Talking to Donncha O’Callaghan, his generation had a different mentality in that they reacted very negatively towards a bad defeat and they generally bounced back — but to be fair, as well, they also had a lot more talent. You combine that talent with a mindset where they were desperate and proud to play for Munster, it was a very nice combination.

“This group just doesn’t have as much talent, I’m afraid. They can always have the plucky win but can you be consistent enough in the league and have you got the quality for the latter stages in Europe? At the moment, I don’t see it again.”

With Ian Costello assuming the role of interim head coach, speculation is only beginning as to who will ultimately replace Rowntree on a permanent basis.

Casey asked Jackman if he believed his former Grenoble colleague, Mike Prendergast, would consider throwing his own name in the hat in pursuit of an internal promotion much like Rowntree’s two years ago.

“I know he’s very ambitious to win with Munster but he’s always been so engrossed in team attack, backline attack, skill development that he’s never made known an inclination to want to step up,” Jackman said. “But I never ask him about it either.

“They recruited from within last time and got Graham in the end. If Mike wanted to go for it, he would certainly deserve an interview at the very least. But yeah, he’s never struck me as someone who’s desperate to be a head coach.

“Could he do it? Absolutely, he could do it. He’s got a wealth of experience now — but it’s a very different role. I mean, I don’t know if they should go for someone who hasn’t been a head coach. I’m not sure if they need that. Would they not rather get someone who’s very comfortable being a head coach?”

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