Pressure now on Penney and players to finish the job they started this season

It was fun while it lasted and his departure will be keenly felt by some but having been spurned by Rob Penney, you can be sure Munster Rugby will dust itself down, pick itself up and carry on regardless.

Just as players come and go in modern professional rugby, so too now do coaches and the more of them you recruit from overseas the more likely you are to lose them the minute a better offer comes along. And the teams that employ them find someone else to fill the void and the cycle begins again.

In Munster’s case, the cycle is going round a lot quicker, with Penney’s departure this summer making his tenure as head coach the shortest in the province’s history in the professional era. No-one will blame Penney for putting his family first and doing what is right for them and yesterday’s press release from Munster was certainly at pains to point out the New Zealander, and his compatriot backs coach Simon Mannix, would be leaving with the best wishes of the province, even if there was sorrow for those he will leave behind.