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”.

“I am disappointed to be leaving Munster as I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here,” Penney said. “I have to take this opportunity presented to me and prioritise my family and personal circumstances at this time.”

The news was greeted with shock by Munster’s contingent of Ireland players in national team camp ahead of tomorrow’s Six Nations clash in Dublin against Wales as forwards coach and former captain Anthony Foley was installed as favourite to succeed Penney in the head coaching job the Kiwi pipped him to when McGahan left.

Without giving Foley his outright backing, O’Connell was cautious with his words as he attended the Ireland press conference yesterday.

“If you mention a name now you’re giving them your backing,” O’Connell said. “But, Anthony has worked with a lot of coaches now, the time with the Irish coaches over the last couple of years has probably helped him now, his time with Laurie Fisher, Tony McGahan would have helped him a lot.

“I don’t think there’d be any complaint from the players if Anthony got it, I think the players would be happy with that. But the position we’re in in the league, where we are with the Heineken Cup means there will be a lot of interest for the job now, so for us it’s a bit of a shock but the players need to stay focused on what’s ahead of us.”

Former captain O’Connell, 35, recently signed a new two-year contract to stay at Munster beyond the 2015 World Cup having received offers of his own to jump ship but he downplayed the role the province’s current coaching set-up played in reaching his decision.

“It would have certainly played a part in it, but it was the whole package,” he said. &&

“Rob is probably one part of that puzzle and I think Rob leaving doesn’t make a massive difference. I think a lot of the pieces, a lot of the bits around my decision to stay are still firmly there.”