O’Connell: Foley would be backed

Paul O’Connell believes appointing Anthony Foley as Rob Penney’s successor at Munster has the players’ backing and says the New Zealander’s departure as head coach in June “doesn’t make a massive difference” to his desire to stay with the province.

Ireland captain O’Connell was reacting to yesterday’s surprise news that Penney, along with backs coach Simon Mannix, had declined the option of a third year at Munster that was part of the two-year contract he signed in May 2012 and will leave at the end of the season.

A big-money offer to coach a club in Japan is understood to be the motivating factor for Penney’s decision to walk out on the province as they lead the RaboDirect Pro12 league and await the visit of Toulouse to Limerick in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals having in December professed his wish to stay in Munster and complete what he saw as a “three-year project”.