Fitzgerald: No rush, we need to get it right
Fitzgerald told The Irish Examiner last night the two-time Heineken Cup champions were in no rush to appoint a successor to McGahan, who leaves Munster at the end of the season to return to his native Australia for a likely new role as Wallabies defence coach.
The chief executive, speaking before last night’s RaboDirect Pro12 game at Thomond Park against Cardiff Blues, also said McGahan’s decision to turn down a contract extension with Munster had not come as a surprise and that whoever replaced the Australian would be taking on a challenging, stressful job, the pay off being associated with an “internationally recognised brand”.
Fitzgerald said the selection process would be discussed next week and, as yet, no-one had been ruled in or ruled out. The ideal situation is to have that person in place for the start of July or late June for pre-season,” Fitzgerald said. “That’s the ideal but we’re certainly not going to rush into something. This is something we need to get right. It’s about what’s best for us that counts. It’s not a personality competition, it’s what’s best for Munster and for rugby in the province. Individuals will come and go but we need to see what’s best for Munster. We haven’t even got to the stage of ruling out or ruling in anybody or anything at this stage. I’ve been around for long enough at this stage to know when you’re making big decisions you need to prepare properly before you make them. That’s what we’ll do.”
One thing Fitzgerald said he was sure of was the Munster job was one of the top jobs in world rugby with a history of launching coaches into the international arena.
“Going back to Declan (Kidney) and Niall O’Donovan, people like Alan Gaffney, our defence coach Graham Steadman, Mark Tainton, who we brought in as the kicking coach; we can go on with Jim Williams going to an international job, Alan going into an international job, now Tony.
“That’s a good sign in itself of what Munster can do for people and what Munster’s standing is in world rugby. It’s a big job with a lot of pressure attached to it and a lot of high expectations from supporters, sponsors and everyone alike. It is a challenging, stressful, job at times but it’s also allowing you to add to your CV to be associated with an internationally recognised brand.”
As to who succeeds McGahan, the Munster CEO said there was no short answer, “with a criteria and process to agree on next week.”
He said: “We’re totally open minded and the person could be available locally, nationally, European or Southern Hemisphere. We haven’t come to arriving at what we’re specifically looking for just yet. But I think in this day and age of professional rugby you need to get your process and your methods of how you’re going to approach it correct before you dive into the deep end to see how you’ve progressed. The priority for us, regardless of the media coverage, is results and the result against Cardiff and against the Dragons next week, they’re the immediate priorities.”
One of the immediate frontrunners in the bevy of names thrown into the selection ring is Munster’s current forward coach Anthony Foley. Without addressing Foley’s candidacy directly, Fitzgerald backed the 2006 Heineken Cup-winning captain to cope with the attention coming his way.
“Anthony’s a very mature person. He’s been through a lot in his rugby career and achieved a lot. I think he’s used to dealing with things like this. We have sometimes in the past promoted from within and other times we’ve brought people from outside. We’re open-minded and the thing to end up with is what’s best for rugby in the province.”
Fitzgerald denied Foley, 38, had been guaranteed the Munster head coach’s role in the future but said he was one of a number of young coaches he expected to “get there”.
“You don’t guarantee anyone anything in this game. You sign the best player in the world, you don’t guarantee him his place on the team. This is about performance, it’s about delivery of goals at a certain time and we could constantly be putting people in positions in the province, from age grade level, with the intention of them moving up the chain to the professional level as a coach. But at this point in time no-one has been promised anything or ever has been.”
As for the outgoing coach, Fitzgerald was full of praise for McGahan and the way he had conducted himself in reaching his decision to leave after seven years in the Munster set-up.
“Myself and Tony have had a very good relationship over a number of years. We knew for a period of time Tony was considering some options at home. In the interim period we had made an offer to Tony to extend his contract, which was amicably agreed subject to clarification of what was available to him at home. So it didn’t come as a surprise.
“All discussion we’ve had have been held in a very professional manner and I suppose with a view to the future and from his point of view, we had to set a deadline to make a decision and that’s how we arrived at the situation we are in.”
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