The Axel crux: Rob Penney on why it didn’t work out in Munster

Crusaders head coach Rob Penney makes an emotional return to Cork Saturday regretting still he never got to finish what he started with Munster over a decade ago.  'I loved the place, I loved the boys, the potential. But for those reasons, I had to step aside, to give Axel his crack'

BACK IN TOWN: Rob Penney at the Crusaders' captain's run Friday at Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Pic: Jim Coughlan.

HE turns 60 in April but don’t ask Rob Penney whether he’s feeling wistful. “I’ve got no idea how that feels mate, ‘cos I’m not there.” 

Instead, he’s here, back in Cork, at the rugby pavilion in the Mardyke, catching up with old friends and Cork slang, readying his Crusaders to face Munster at Páirc Ui Chaoimh Saturday night though part of him might wish he was still in the home dressing shed.