‘A true red Munster man, a special person’

Anthony Foley was the only man for the job and Munster chief Garrett Fitzgerald is happy to entrust a favourite son with the task of returning the province to glory days.

There may still be silverware to come in the last weeks of the Rob Penney era, but once the New Zealander felt unable to turn down longer-term security on offer elsewhere, it was to a heritage much closer to home Munster turned for a successor.

Announcing Foley’s promotion to head coach on a two-year contract starting July 1, Fitzgerald spoke of the continuity and clarity the appointment of Munster’s 2006 Heineken Cup-winning captain would bring, two years on from being passed over when Penney was lured from Canterbury.