Munster and Irish rugby mourns the passing of Jerry Holland

The Cork man helped transition rugby from the amateur to the professional era and was a pivotal figure in the rise and rise of his beloved Munster

MUNSTER'S OWN: Jerry Holland at the Munster Rugby awards with John Hartery, Chairman of provincial Team Management.

Munster Rugby’s first head coach of the professional era, Jerry Holland, has died at the age of 66, following an illness.

The Cork man played in the second row for UCC, Cork Constitution and Munster before moving to Dublin where he represented Wanderers and Leinster. He represented Ireland in three Tests, on tour against South Africa in 1981 and against Wales in the 1986 Five Nations, an honour shared with son Billy, who was capped in 2016 and played 247 games for his province between 2007 and 2021.

MAGIC MOMENT: Jerry Holland with coach Declan Kidney after Munster's first European Cup triumph in 2006.

Jerry Holland continued his involvement in the game long after he retired as a player, as both a coach and manager.

As Munster head coach from 1994 to 1997 he twice won the IRFU Interprovincial Championship and was a guiding hand in the province’s transition from the amateur era when the game went professional in 1995.

Holland resigned when the IRFU decided to make all four provincial coaching positions permanent, stating he was not interested in a full-time rugby career, preferring to continue working for the EBS in Cork.

Yet the lure of the sport remained and he managed Ireland A in 1998-99 before returning to a similar role with Munster in 2000, succeeding Brian O’Brien following that season’s maiden Heineken Cup final appearance, a narrow defeat to Northampton Saints at Twickenham.

Holland worked closely with the coaching duo of Declan Kidney and Niall O’Donovan as the team furthered its reputation as a European powerhouse with a squad that would go on to provide the backbone of the Ireland pack and half-backs for the best part of a decade.

When Anthony Foley lifted the Heineken Cup in 2006 it was the culmination of a six-year campaign that saw Munster finish runners-up for a second time in 2002 as well as reach three semi-finals on his watch while establishing Thomond Park as a fortress in the competition.

Shared moment: After the 2008 European Cup winal win with Paul O'Connell

He bowed out as team manager in 2007, handing the reins to the recently retired player Shaun Payne, whom he assisted in an advisory capacity as Munster won a second Heineken Cup in 2008. 

The commitment to rugby continued though as Holland returned to his club, becoming Cork Con’s director of rugby in 2010, also serving as the club’s president in 2016, the year he was also at Aviva Stadium to watch son Billy capped by Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt against Canada.

When Billy retired from professional rugby in 2021, father and son were both honoured as joint winners of the Cork Persons of the Month award in recognition of their immense contribution to Munster rugby and as “one of Cork's great rugby families”.

Holland in his playing days