Young players of massive potential will get a chance to make their mark for Munster over the coming months.

Munster defence coach JP Ferreira admits he was surprised to see Jean Kleyn make the Ireland squad for the Rugby World Cup but says the South African-born lock is being rewarded for his hard work with the province.

Stephen Larkham has been labelled a “signature signing” for Munster and one that can help the province’s talented backline to click and the team to reconnect with a style that delivered a pair of Heineken Cups.

Munster Rugby has made an “inspired appointment” in securing the services of Wallaby legend Stephen Larkham

Munster Rugby’s search for a “next-level” experienced senior coach is close to a conclusion and will not be limited by financial considerations, acting CEO Philip Quinn has assured supporters.

Graham Rowntree has been named as Munster's new forwards coach.

It won’t prompt an update from the AA Roadwatch team but the steady traffic of players switching provinces will continue this summer on the back of IRFU performance director David Nucifora’s vision to maximise the playing pool.

IRFU Performance Director David Nucifora backed Johann van Graan as the right man to take Munster forward and pledged to surround the head coach with experience and support in the province’s new-look backroom staff.

Gordon D’Arcy remembers when angst was the daily diet in Dublin.

It is only a month ago that Munster Rugby was looking forward to a new era of stability, brought about by a settled coaching ticket.

Edinburgh Airport, Saturday evening, March 30. As the Munster squad and supporters prepare to fly home after a tense quarter-final victory at Murrayfield, there are numerous emotions on display.

Johann van Graan is confident Darren Sweetnam has what it takes to fill the breach left by an injury to Keith Earls ahead of a European semi-final with Saracens that Peter O’Mahony believes will be Munster’s biggest challenge of the last three years.

Johann van Graan is confident Darren Sweetnam has what it takes to fill the breach left by an injury to Keith Earls ahead of a European semi-final with Saracens that Peter O’Mahony believes will be Munster’s biggest challenge of the last three years.

"Coming to Munster I wanted to become part of the community, and every day I get to experience that sense of belonging with my family and I settled in from the very beginning."

Forewarned is forearmed, as the proverb goes. Chris Farrell’s one-week release from Ireland camp back to Munster during the Six Nations has given the centre confidence that he and his fellow internationals will be on the same page with their provincial teammates by kick-off time at Murrayfield on Saturday.

Earning a place in the team on the biggest days of all is the ambition of every member of the Munster squad. But when you ply your trade in the centre, that becomes a very difficult ambition to achieve. So when Dan Goggin got the nod from Johann van Graan for the away game against Leinster at the Aviva Stadium in October, following up with starts against Exeter Chiefs and Gloucester in the European Cup, the Young Munster man’s confidence rocketed sky high.

There was a spell there when the old enmities inherent to the Munster-Leinster rivalry appeared to be buried beneath the bonhomie borne of Irish duties and Leinster’s dominance, so Saturday night was a return to the most bitter and biting of the good old days.

No matter how well things are going, there is always something to knock you off kilter.

Keeping Johann van Graan at Munster is crucial to the province’s ambitions, according to Conor Murray.

“The best means you can do your best work at Munster, whatever the role,” the province’s Strategic Plan 2018-2021 declares.

Munster’s summer signings may still be in the process of getting to know their new team-mates but, after a pre-season training camp in Cork last week, captain Peter O’Mahony is convinced they can help the province challenge for long-awaited silverware.

The IRFU will continue to assess the recruitment of players with doping convictions on a case-by-case basis in the wake of the controversy sparked by Munster’s signing of Gerbrandt Grobler last summer.

Keith Earls, named by his peers last night as Zurich’s Irish player of the year, is aiming to cap a memorable season by accounting for Leinster’s European champions and claiming a first trophy for Munster since 2011.

With the likes of Simon Zebo, Andrew Conway and JJ Hanrahan to compete with, it hasn’t been easy for Stephen Fitzgerald to get a run in a Munster number 15 shirt.

Keith Earls has had better Mondays.

CJ Stander insists there will be plenty of plus points for Munster to take into Sunday’s must-win Champions Cup pool finale with Castres, despite defeat to Racing 92 in Paris.

Playing what you see. We hear the phrase time and time again from coaches eager to empower their players with in-game decision-making responsibility and players keen to emphasise they are not mere automatons whose every move is controlled by puppetmasters up in the stands.

CJ Stander believes Johann van Graan will have headaches finalising his back-row trio for next Sunday’s all-important European Champions Cup game against Racing 92.

Playing for Ireland in the 2019 Rugby World Cup and winning trophies with Munster were the chief reasons why CJ Stander inked a new deal with the IRFU and turned down lucrative offers to continue his career abroad.

JJ Hanrahan is banking on one fly-half’s ‘player welfare programme’ being another’s opportunity when the Munster team to face Ulster in Belfast on Monday is announced tomorrow.

Keith Earls has understood for a while that becoming a family man has helped to relegate rugby down the pecking order of priorities. 

It says much about Munster’s growing confidence and maturity as a squad that Ian Keatley could share a laugh with his captain after committing two knock-ons inside a minute.

Try as hard as they might, world-class rugby players prefer to do their talking on the pitch rather than seek the limelight in the media — unless contract renewal time has come round again.

Conor Murray is backing new head coach Johann van Graan not to implement sweeping change to the Munster gameplan as the squad transitions to the new management team.

Johann van Graan’s first week as a head coach is one he is unlikely to forget, says Donal Lenihan.

Alex Wootton needs no encouragement to grab his chance to impress Munster’s new head coach Johann van Graan and if he continues his current try-scoring run, he will soon find himself in pole position for a Champions Cup wing berth.

Continuity may be the watchword for Munster after their change of management halfway through the season but new boss Johann van Graan has told his players they are starting with a clean slate as far as he is concerned.

A grand total of 34 minutes off the bench wouldn’t be everyone’s idea of a good November, but Dave Kilcoyne returns to Munster this week more than satisfied with his month’s work with Ireland.

Zebre 19 Munster 29: Alex Wootton was one of the players that Rassie Erasmus name-checked in his final week with Munster when he was asked what he would miss when he returned to South Africa.

Munster centre Rory Scannell is aiming to ‘put his hand up’ for the Six Nations squad after failing to find a place in Joe Schmidt’s selections for the November Internationals.

Billy Holland laughs heartily at suggestions he might be approaching the veteran stage of a long and distinguished career.

Key Munster players Keith Earls and James Cronin are unlikely to play any rugby for the remainder of 2017.

Duncan Williams is just one of many Munster players adamant the change of head coach over the next few weeks will have little or no effect on the teams’ performances.