Foley says Munster tyros must muscle way into Irish reckoning

Anthony Foley has challenged his Munster players to leapfrog their Leinster rivals into Joe Schmidt’s Ireland squad by winning trophies for their province.

The new head coach, who succeeded New Zealander Rob Penney during the summer, wants his playing personnel to redress the current Leinster dominance in the national set-up by producing the sort of form for Munster that will make them difficult for Six Nations-winning head coach Schmidt to overlook.

“I don’t ever think I’ve been involved in a Munster team in transition,” said former Munster player, captain and forwards coach Foley.

“We’ve lost players and replaced them and the guys who have come in have played really well and we’ve always got to a stage where we’re competitive in the back end of seasons.

“I think it’s important that we have that next level of player coming in.

“Where these fellas need to get to is to get into the Irish set-up.

“We need to get more players playing for Ireland. How do we do that? We get more competitive and we win trophies. That’s how it happens.

“Leinster have a lot of fellas playing for Ireland and they’ve won a lot of trophies, they’ve won a lot of Pro12 and have been competing in the latter stages of the European trophy, so they’ll get their lion’s share of bodies in the national set-up. In order for us to get there, we’ve got to win those tournaments. That’s the bottom line.”

Foley’s first game as head coach ended in defeat least weekend at Gloucester, as a young Munster side featuring 11 debutants and missing several front-line stars lost 45-8 to a full-strength Kingsholm outfit. There will be a slightly more seasoned look to the squad set to be named today for Friday’s friendly, against London Irish at Waterford’s Regional Sports Centre, Munster’s final pre-season game before the start of the league campaign at home to Edinburgh seven days later.

Foley, speaking at yesterday’s Guinness Pro12 launch in London, expressed confidence his young squad had what it took to win trophies.

“I know we have the players. I see them everyday. I know they’re good enough. I know they want it. It’s just about getting them to believe in it, and to a stage where they understand how we want the game to be played, and what are the aspects of the game that are crucifying us at the moment and addressing them.”

Munster captain Peter O’Mahony gave Foley another boost yesterday as he revealed he was on track to return to action after nearly six months out following a double shoulder reconstruction. O’Mahony could face Ospreys in the Pro12 on September 27

“I’m on the road to recovery for my first Guinness Pro12 appearance in round four or five,” O’Mahony said. “Progress has been very good and I can’t wait to be back.”

While Munster look forward to O’Mahony’s return for the first time since he dislocated a shoulder in last April’s Heineken Cup quarter-final win over Toulouse, Connacht head coach Pat Lam is looking forward to welcoming All Blacks legend Mils Muiliaina to his province.

“Mils arrived today, he won’t play because of shoulder injury until the end of October so he’ll go straight into a mentoring role,” Lam said in London yesterday. “(Fellow new signings) Bundee Aki and Tom McCartney still have duties in ITM Cup. All three will pretty much start playing at the same time.”

Lam will happily wait for Muiliaina on the playing field as he is relishing the former New Zealand full-back’s off-field contribution as a mentor to a talented young backline.

“Mils has gone straight into our leadership group. When you have a guy who’s won 99 caps with the All Blacks and was so important with me as a leader with Auckland, it will be great to have that experience on board. It’ll be hugely important to guys like Robbie Henshaw, Darragh Leader and Jack Carty. If you look elsewhere, the influence that Brad Thorn has had on Leinster which Gordon D’Arcy has spoken about. Isa Nacewa has had a huge influence on the culture there. It’s been done before. I know what Mils will bring. That’s the beauty of me having a second year here because I knew we lacked experience out wide, especially in terms of leadership. That’s one of the main reasons I went after him. And I still believe he can play at the top level.”

Lam praised the IRFU for backing Connacht’s pursuit of Muiliaina and providing him with the infrastructure he hopes will help to level the playing field with the other Irish provinces.

“The IRFU have put a lot of resources into Connacht, I have three assistant coaches whereas last year I had only one. We have the facilities and the staff. That’s why they signed Mils off, they know the investment is worth it in terms of what he can do for our young Irish players.”