Anthony Foley’s contract extension set to be triggered by Munster

Anthony Foley is set to confirm a one-year extension as Munster Rugby head coach for next season, the Irish Examiner understands.

Foley and the province he served as player, captain and assistant coach before succeeding Rob Penney as head coach in the summer of 2014, had an option to extend his tenure beyond the two-year contract he signed then and that is due to triggered in the coming days. Munster had offered the 42-year-old the renewal in December as Foley’s side’s form began to unravel following a strong start to his second season.

A record-equalling losing run of five successive games, three of them at Thomond Park, was halted with a win at Ulster in the Pro12 on January 2 but the Ravenhill win offered only temporary respite. Munster collapsed to a 27-7 Champions Cup defeat the following week against a Stade Francais side reduced to 14 men at half-time.

That Paris loss all but ended the province’s hopes of progressing beyond the pool stage in Europe for the second season in a row and post-match Foley admitted he would not continue as head coach if he felt he could not get the best out of his players.

The following days saw former England and Lions and future Ireland assistant coach Andy Farrell’s appointment as a coaching consultant until the end of the season. Chief executive Garrett Fitzgerald endorsed Foley’s credentials then as the right man to continue leading the Reds next season although there are suggestions Munster may look to appoint a senior figure as a director of rugby for 2016-17 to work alongside on the head coach.

“Anthony had an option on his contract and has been offered an option,” Fitzgerald said on January 12. “He specifically asked that it be parked, as he wanted to concentrate on team performance and he’s not in any rush at the present moment to do that. We’re quite happy at the moment to let it be as it is. The most important thing is team performance.

“We’ll review the situation once the Six Nations kicks off, that would be fair,” Fitzgerald added.

While the following weeks saw Munster rebound with bonus-point European victories over Stade at home and Treviso away, followed by a Pro12 win at Zebre, Foley’s side has taken another backward step during the Six Nations window, losing league games to Ospreys in Cork and last Friday at Glasgow, which have seen the province slide out of the play-off positions to seventh in the Pro12 table and in danger of missing out on Champions Cup qualification next season.

Failure to qualify would mark a new low in Munster’s fortunes.Foley has eight games to turn things around, including a final quartet of games against play-off rivals - derbies at Leinster and Connacht followed by home games with Edinburgh and Scarlets.