Christopher Joyce relishing Howlett link-up

Cork defender Christopher Joyce says he is relishing working with one of his idols, Doug Howlett.

The former All Blacks and Munster star has joined the Cork backroom team as ‘high performance lead’.

Joyce said he is thrilled to have a chance to learn from a former Heineken Cup winner and believes Howlett can bring something new to the Rebels.

“I definitely looked up to him. He is the all-time try scorer for the All Blacks, that is pretty impressive,” said the 27-year old.

“I look forward to working with him and seeing what he brings. I have no doubts he is a top class professional and we will see what he can bring to us.

“We have done very little work with him yet, he has only kind of introduced himself. Of course, we look forward to doing work with him. But we haven’t done a whole pile yet.

“It’s this week that we will see what he brings to the team.”

Cork produced a brilliant defensive display in their shock 2-21 to 1-21 victory over reigning All-Ireland champions Limerick at the Gaelic Grounds last Sunday.

But the Na Piarsaigh clubman expects an improved performance with the returning UCC Fitzgibbon Cup winners available to face Tipperary this weekend.

It’s all about building performances. We have a lot of lads coming back for Tipp now on a high after winning a Fitzgibbon Cup. They will all be back training next week so there will be huge numbers in training,” said Joyce.

“We got a nice win against Limerick, the Fitzgibbon lads too, so there will be a good buzz in the camp and we will look forward to another good performance against Tipp next week.

“We haven’t had a lot of numbers at training during the Fitzgibbon Cup. There has probably been ten or 12 players there and we have had a lot of injuries.

“The last two or three weeks we have got fellas back to fitness. That has seen the performance go up because training has got a lot better.

“It’s great for a lot of Cork lads with UCC, they have the experience of getting over a tough semi-final and winning an All-Ireland final.

“They have that winning feeling as well so they will bring that to training.”