McGahan: No player fitted bill

MUNSTER coach Tony McGahan yesterday moved to separate the fact from the fiction in terms of the province’s reasons for not splashing the cash on a pre-World Cup Hollywood signing.

“There were a number of factors. Just because there’s a player playing (well) somewhere in the world doesn’t mean you can automatically sign him. That’s a typical perception, that you can just pick those names off a tree and sign them. There needs to a right fit for the club, there needs to be a right fit for the player also.

“A lot of the New Zealand players are certainly very happy with Munster, not a lot of them have left, but trying to find that mix that will suit the club and will suit the player coming in — the lifestyle, the country the style of rugby and all that.

“A lot of injuries occurred during the World Cup but then you also look at the wear-and-tear, guys who are going straight from Super 15 to Tri-Nations to a World Cup – we’ve got 13 games in a row now, so certainly the first year of any contract would be compromised if you did sign a high-profile World Cup player. That’s one year gone off the contract, then you’re looking at the second year to try and continue on. There wasn’t anyone out there who was a good fit for us or the players, so we felt it best to wait off, see what transpired.”