Graham Rowntree remains calm despite Munster's injury woes

The expected lengthy losses of both World Cup winner RG Snyman and fly-half Joey Carbery to injuries as well as the possible summer departure of Jean Kleyn to France would have brought on palpitations in previous years.

CALM: Graham Rowntree during a Munster training session. Pic Credit ©INPHO/James Crombie

In another season, just three games in and with a trip to Ulster looming, the news might have sparked talk of a crisis at Munster.

The expected lengthy losses of both World Cup winner RG Snyman and fly-half Joey Carbery to injuries as well as the possible summer departure of Jean Kleyn to France would have brought on palpitations and predictions of impending calamity, so susceptible is the province to feverish hyperbole.

Yet while head coach Graham Rowntree would of course rather do without these significant issues as he plots the next stages of Munster’s BKT URC title defence and next month’s first two rounds of the Champions Cup, the boss remains calm and unruffled by the latest developments.

Yes, he described Snyman’s latest injury setback and the prospect of a third spell on the sidelines since his 2020 move to Ireland as “horrible” but he also trusts both his South African lock and Irish playmaker to deal with their latest bouts of adversity with the resilience and professionalism they applied to past setbacks.

“He’ll be out for a period of time, I’m not going to lie, but he’ll deal with it, he has done before,” Rowntree said of Carbery in Cork on Saturday after delivering the news he would be absent for “a few months”.

Yesterday at Thomond Park, Snyman’s situation elicited the same response: “He’s done it before, he’s come back from injury before and shown immense mental resilience.”

Kleyn, meanwhile, is now a South African World Cup winner himself and, by definition, no longer Irish qualified. That complicates his Munster future and the lock is reportedly interesting French Top14 club Lyon.

“We knew it was going to be challenging,” the head coach said, “hopefully we will get a bit more clarity on that soon enough but it would be wrong for to comment any more on it.”

The flip side of the gloom that injury news brings is a squad with confidence coursing through its veins ahead of the away day in Belfast on Friday night, borne of last season’s run to the URC title and the positive start to 2023-24 which has seen them win twice at home, against the Sharks and Dragons in rounds one and three respectively, with a hard-earned draw in Italy at Benetton in between.

Jeremy Loughman and Graham Rowntree.

That start of the title defence has begun with a heavy reliance on a hardcore of young senior professionals augmented by 10 academy players over the opening three matches gives Rowntree further cause for optimism while spirits were further lifted yesterday with the return to duty of Munster’s Ireland World Cup squad members led by captain Peter O’Mahony.

Tadhg Beirne, Dave Kilcoyne, Jeremy Loughman and Conor Murray all trained at Thomond Park in the main training session of a six-day turnaround from last Saturday’s 45-14 trouncing of the Dragons that featured fellow internationals Craig Casey from the start and Jack Crowley off the bench.

While Rowntree recognises the emotional and physical toll of Ireland’s World Cup campaign which ended with a quarter-final exit when so much more was expected, he also acknowledged his senior players’ bouncebackability from their Test-level disappointment in France.

“They’re thorough professionals, they’re good,” the Munster boss said. “That’s life, that’s professional sport, they’re forward looking, from what I’ve seen anyway, we’ve had no problems in that regard.

“Saturday night was a good win for us, the international lads are back in which brings a different energy to the group, a good energy with their experience.

“Their presence does a lot of that but they’re very respectful of the group that’s here and been on the go for a long time. But it’s a good lift having them back in the building.” The prospect of the frontline Ireland players making their seasonal debuts in red this weekend seems remote, but Rowntree did not dismiss it out of hand ahead of Thursday afternoon ’s team announcement.

“We’ll see. I’ll select late in the week with the coaches, we’ll see how people pull up from this big session of the week, see how they’re doing but I’m not rushing people back. The time has to be right.” There may be troubles on his plate and decisions to be made but the positives far outweigh the negatives.

One of them is the recruitment of former Munster back Mossy Lawler from Connacht as skills coach, an appointment made at the suggestion of former team-mate and current attack coach Mike Prendergast heartily endorsed yesterday by the head coach.

“He has a passion for the game. He works exceptionally hard. A knowledge of the game that is impressive and he has a passion to get people better.

“He has very good communication skills, with the lads one on one and in team sessions but in the classroom as well, he’s a very good and clear presenter, and his ability to drill down into skills into components, what components need to get better to improve a skill.

“He’s very impressive and he’s fitted in well, he’s good craic as well. He loves red wine like myself, we’re exchanging bottles of red wine, which is important. He’s fitted in nicely.

“He knew Mike of old, he’s got a connection with Munster with Craig (Casey, his nephew). I’ve been delighted with how he’s fitted in, a good man.

“I’m pleased with how that’s developing, that role. It’s a new role for us, skills coach, something we’ve talked about for a few years. The fit had to be right, and it was Mike who suggested it to me about this time last year. He suggested the need for the role and that maybe Mossy could fit that role. I met Mossy and I was sold.

“He was doing a great job at Connacht, doing very well, I just think he was keen for a fresh challenge. He has a history with the club and the next thing, we got him, luckily.”