Anthony Foley rubbishes rumours of Toulon swoop for Paul O’Connell
Claims that the Irish skipper was headed for a cash-rich end to his career with the European champions was met with a firm rebuttal by Foley yesterday as he prepares for Saturday’s Guinness Pro12 clash with Treviso.
“It’s a nonsense, it’s a nuisance. People are probably trying to cause trouble to try and interfere with our run in, unless somebody says it to us it’s neither here nor there to me.
“He is contracted here for another season, so you know, I don’t know. Unless your man (Toulon boss Mourad Boudjellal) wants to buy him out, I don’t know.
“They (these people) look at every world class player and I’m sure there is a lot of coaches being asked the same question around what they have and the money that they can afford to spend.”
Munster weren’t the only ones pouring cold water on the story.
In a statement posted on the club’s official website last night, Toulon moved to distance themselves from a swoop for three-time British and Irish Lions tourist O’Connell.
“The Rugby Club Toulon, accustomed to all sorts of rumours about future potential recruits, holds still to deny what some see as information – namely the signing of the second-row Paul O’Connell” the club said.
“The Rugby Club Toulon cautions that Paul O’Connell has not signed a contract with Toulon Rugby Club, and the alleged contacts between the player and the ’Red and Black’ are pure speculation.”
O’Connell may not be involved at the weekend in Musgrave Park having sustained a shoulder injury in the win over Edinburgh. “It’s at the back of the shoulder, nothing major but something we have to monitor. We will have a look at it Thursday,” said Foley yesterday. “There’s a few bangs and knocks from the Edinburgh game.”
However Foley reported some good news on the injury front with a number of established names returning.
“It’s great. Donnacha Ryan got through 80 minutes there last Thursday up in Banbridge with the A team. It was a good hitout for him and it adds a little more depth to our squad.
“We’ve guys who are coming back in who haven’t played a lot of rugby this year giving fresh impetus to the squad.
“We have James (Cronin), Dave (Kilcoyne) and John (Ryan) back in - It’s a headache but it’s not a bad one - and we had Stephen Archer stepping up last week and BJ Botha is going quite well for us.”
The visit of Italian rugby Federation technical director Franco Ascoine last week could hardly have been better timed given the fact that Munster face a probing test this weekend.
Yet, Foley isn’t putting too much emphasis on the visit other than to laud the idea of learning from other coaches around the world. “I think a lot of my coaching career I have sat in lectures with Franco and he is a very intelligent man, he comes across very well, he has got a good point of view, he is a great man to talk to. It was good to have him over here last week for our academy and our underage coaches.
“He took part of our training session last week and the boys really enjoyed it. It’s something to try and get more engagement, not being insular and making sure that we get other points of view. I think we can do it through that and do it through other coaches. I’ve gone down to Australia, I’ve gone over to France and I’ve sat in on meetings with other coaches and teams.
“I think it’s important to see what other teams are doing and you learn and have conversations. Not everybody has it (coaching) mastered.” n Rugby mourns Munster, Ireland and Lions hero Jim McCarthy.
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