OUTGOING MUNSTER DEFENCE coach JP Ferreira is confident Graham Rowntree will be a superb head coach when he steps up to take charge in the summer.
Ferreira is following Johann van Graan to Bath at the end of the season but he believes it’s important that there is continuity in Munster and that current forwards coach Rowntree is the right man for the top job.
“Definitely. Wig (Rowntree) is an unbelievable man. He’s passionate, I have learned a lot about him, his ways of coaching. I’ll definitely take some of his expertise with me, put it in my pocket, but the continuity Munster will now have with an assistant coach stepping up as head coach is good.
“The players know him and I think he will do a fantastic job, as Johann has done. He obviously has his way of doing things but the players all like him a lot and I have no doubt that he will make a success of it,” said the South Africa.
More immediately, Munster need to deal with the loss of Irish loosehead Dave Kilcoyne for the remainder of the season but Ferreira is confident they have plenty of back-up in place as they head into the business end of the season battling for silverware on two fronts.
Obviously he is a massive loss and we really hope that he pulls this op and that everything goes well in his rehab and that he can get back onto the pitch as soon as possible.
“But Jeremy (Loughman) and Josh (Wycherley) and Liam O’Connor, young lads can step up and fill the boots of the likes of Killer. You have seen how Johann has changed them with, say, Jeremy playing one weekend and then Josh the other weekend, so we try to keep them fresh.
“It is all about play-offs and building continuity and Johann has been really good at that. He has built the squad in the pool games and he has tried to give everyone game-time and when you look at the past three weeks, four weeks, where we have had massive games, rotation has been unbelievable but it has also been keeping the continuity.”
Their search for a first trophy in 11 years continues on Friday evening when they will bid to take another step towards a home quarter-final in the URC when they take on Cardiff in Musgrave Park and Ferreira said each game has to be taken like a cup match from here.
“It is a pool game but it is also knockout. You could end eighth on the log if you miss a beat and the SA sides can surpass you and other sides in the northern hemisphere,” he added.
