Anthony Foley sheds no new light on Stephen Moore's failed move
On Tuesday, IRFU high-performance manager David Nucifora — who rubberstamps overseas transfers and is Irish rugby’s key contract negotiator — announced that he did not stop a move by Munster for Moore’s services before the Australian hooker rejected a final offer from the province, opting instead to remain in Australia.
The Munster head coach is set to meet Nucifora this week but admitted after training in Cork yesterday that he’d not read the comments regarding Moore’s proposed move to Munster.
“I haven’t seen any comments. I can’t really comment on what I don’t know. I’ll talk to Garrett [Fitzgerald, Munster CEO] and I think we are meeting David [Nucifora] and Joe [Schmidt] over the next number of days.”
Pressed on whether Moore rejected Munster, Foley said: “He’s not here, is he? We’re not signing him so... I’d imagine he’s rejected a few teams.
“I think I’d be very slow to make a comment on it because I don’t know all the facts. OK?”
Munster received a huge boost yesterday with news that O’Donnell has made a speedy recovery following a horrific pre-World Cup injury and is in contention for a place in the Reds’ back row for Sunday’s Thomond Park derby clash for which over 22,000 tickets have already being sold.
Talented Kiwi three-quarter Tyler Bleyendaal is also in the mix and could start at No 10 ahead of Ian Keatley as the Reds bid to end a run of four successive losses in the Pro12 and European Champions Cup.
Dave O’Callaghan (hamstring) is a doubt but BJ Botha is available.
“Tommy will be in the squad, he will be in contention,” said Foley. “We just want to see how he pulls up. Obviously he has done a massive amount of work over the last number of weeks. We just want to make sure that it’s the right thing to do. Once Tommy didn’t get it [dislocated hip] operated on, I think it sped up his recovery. Initially they were talking February. Once the operation didn’t happen they were talking around early January.
“In fairness, he has blown a lot of people away with the work he has been asked to do, and the functionality from what he could do in the gym, and what he could do in the pool, to what he could do running wise as early as he was able to do. A lot of that is down to his application and his drive to get back in.
The IRFU’s Player Management Programme may see a plethora of Ireland stars, including Simon Zebo and Conor Murray, rested for one of the Irish derby matches over the Christmas period.
“We need to manage as we have done through this period,” said Foley. “We need to manage players, — we can’t play them all through all of these games.
“We have an onus on player welfare and making sure that you can’t burn them at both ends. There is certain requirements there that we need to meet. We do that, but we do advertise it.”
Asked whether it was completely his decision to rest players, Foley admitted that “the IRFU have a say”.
“That’s been the case since post-World Cup. It’s not anything different from any other years. It’s about managing and understanding it. We have a good working relationship so there hasn’t been any issue so far.”
Foley said Munster will not be fielding “weakened” sides in the games against Leinster and Ulster.
“There is no weak. It’s about results now for us. It’s about getting away from the run of losses that we have been on. Trying to get a couple of wins over this period would be great. First and foremost it’s Sunday in Thomond Park. The last two visits we have had there we have lost. It’s about building a mentality there, and win in front of our supporters.”
On whether Ian Keatley will be rested against Leinster, Foley was non-committal: “We just need to manage the whole... some of it comes under player-manager, some of it comes under performance, and some of it comes under what’s right for the team to do. We need to see where other players are in that position.
“Tyler trained fully today. Young Bill Johnson had a great outing with the A’s so we need to see where we fit everyone in.”
Regarding his own future and the offer of a one-year extension to his current deal, Foley said negotiations are ongoing with the IRFU but that it wasn’t part of his mindset at the present.
“There was a deadline of December 1 to agree something or to try and get the extra year extended. The IRFU are happy with that. There is a few things that need to be clarified around it so I don’t know, there was nothing to say last week, there is nothing to say this week. It’ll probably be the next few weeks before anything is done around that.
“I’m more concerned around getting a result at the weekend, I’m not looking after my own interests here. I don’t want to look after my own interest. If I feel we can’t get the results and we are in a results business then why bother? I’m conscious and I’m fighting and tearing everything to get a result. Everything on the side of it — recruitment, contract extensions — are all white noise at the moment. They are not a part of my mindset at the moment.”
Meanwhile, the dates and times for Rounds 5 and 6 of the European Champions Cup were released yesterday. Munster’s Pool 4 clash with Stade Francais on Saturday, January 16, has a 1pm kickoff while their Round 6 match against Treviso on Sunday, January 23, is also at 1pm.
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