LAST UPDATE | 1 Mar 2023
DENIS LEAMY SPOKE to media on Tuesday before news broke of the death of revered Munster and Irish rugby figure Brian O’Brien, and the club was already in the process of navigating its way through an emotional week off the field.
Four days before the transformational O’Brien’s passing at the age of 83, Leamy was as shocked as anybody when the “incredibly sad news filtered into the building” that his former Munster teammate Tom Tierney had died at 46.
Tierney had become part of the furniture in that same building. His most recent IRFU role as that of national talent coach saw him based in Munster’s High Performance Centre in Limerick where he worked first-hand with the province’s academy players.
At Munster’s press conference on Tuesday, Leamy said that the club’s thoughts were firstly with Tom’s wife, Mary, and the Tierneys’ young daughters Isobel and Julia. He spoke of a man who was “always a character on and off the pitch”, adding that the province’s HPC is “a much lesser place without him”.
“He had the ability to light up a room when he came in,” Leamy said.
“He forged an incredible relationship with the young players he was dealing with. He was hugely passionate about them.
He was hugely passionate about Munster rugby and I suppose the values he was instilling in those young men, we were starting to see on the training pitch and in the building.
“It’s a great pity, it really is… It’s unbelievable, really.”
Munster have frontloaded their week’s training before they host the in-form Scarlets at Musgrave Park on Friday. The schedule has been structured in such a way that Leamy and his fellow Munster employees can attend Tierney’s funeral tomorrow, a decision made by Graham Rowntree and co. without hesitation.
“We’ll all be there, absolutely,” Leamy said. “Tom is being buried on Thursday and we’ll be out in force.
It’s incredibly important for us to be there. He’s part of our history, he added so much to the Munster jersey as a player and in this building as a coach.
“We’ll be out in force,” Leamy reiterated.
Everything else this week pales in comparison to the loss of Tierney and the passing since of another revered figure in O’Brien, the former team manager whose contributions included the introduction to Munster Rugby of the club’s anthem, ‘Stand Up and Fight’.
It will ring proud in memory of both men when Scarlets come to Cork on Friday night, the Welsh region unbeaten in their six games in all competitions this calendar year and playing with a similarly obvious joy to their hosts.
If Munster are to find themselves in a scrap, they will be imbued not only by the returns of Roman Salanoa, Gavin Coombes, Jack Crowley and Joey Carbery from Ireland camp but by the return to fitness of giant lock RG Snyman, whom Leamy says is “absolutely available for this weekend”.
Whether the giant Springbok is actually selected for Friday’s game or has to wait until Munster host Glasgow on 25 March will not be determined by the 4G surface at Musgrave Park. Leamy acknowledged that such “tricky” topics fall outside his wheelhouse as a defence coach, but added, “I don’t think there is enough evidence to suggest that there is a great danger in playing RG or any players on 4G pitches.”
Instead, Snyman’s inclusion on Friday or lack thereof will come down to his pain levels, his aerobic fitness and his management of the training load as his 18-month rehabilitation process nears its end.
“All we know is he’s trucking well over the last couple of weeks,” Leamy said. “He’s back in a position for selection and we feel like it’s time to have a good discussion around whether this Friday night is the right time, or maybe to push him out further, another week.
He’s a remarkable person in that he’s six-foot-10 and he’s lean as lettuce. He can run like the wind and he’s got the ball-handling ability of a basketballer. So, he’s a remarkable rugby player.
“We don’t see these guys very often — but I think he’s inspired everyone in the building, just the way he’s applied himself.
“Getting cruciate ligament injuries is so difficult. To get another one straight away after coming back; after putting a body of work behind him only to get another one straight away, that’s incredibly difficult.
“You can’t understand how difficult that is and to go about his business day to day, get a couple of setbacks within that and still go trucking on, I think that’s really testament to what the person is.”
As one previous marquee signing nears his return, Munster’s most recent big-name recruit is nearing a departure after just one season at the province.
And while Malakai Fekitoa has seized his opportunities in recent weeks to remind people of his midfield qualities, Leamy said that Munster had no regrets as to how the Tonga international’s impending exit has played out.
Instead, it’s been accepted that this summer’s parting of company will suit both player and club and until then, each of them will make the most of Fekitoa’s remaining time in red.
“I think the decision has happened a couple of weeks ago,” Leamy said. “That decision has happened and both parties are happy with that and everyone is working very hard on both sides for the remainder of the season.
“Mala’s been terrific over the last couple of weeks. His experience and his influence in training over the last few days has been great. This weekend is another opportunity for Mala and it’s just about the next three or four months for Mala and for Munster, and we’re very much aligned and we’re very much together around that.
“All sides are happy to focus on the next couple of months and then, look, life goes on after that.”
In Fekitoa’s place will arrive Chiefs centre Alex Nankivell, who showed glimpses of his own midfield class as the Chiefs opened their Super Rugby campaign with a destruction of champions Crusaders in Christchurch on Friday.
Nankivell will be joined at Munster next season by his fellow Chief John Ryan, albeit the soon-to-be-three-time Munster prop hasn’t yet filtered home any feedback on his current and future teammate.
“I asked the same question the other day!” Leamy laughed. “No, John hasn’t [communicated] back just yet… We’ve got to give him a chance!
“No look, to be honest with you, we’ve obviously seen tape and Wig has been dealing with that stuff with Alex, and he looks like a player that will be a really good fit for us.
“We’ll focus on what we have at the moment and look, that will take care of itself.”
