Munster boss Graham Rowntree poised to add senior fly-half to his squad

Rowntree told the Irish Examiner that he was looking to bolster his number 10 options behind first-choice Jack Crowley and help bring through the next crop of out-halves.

POISED: Munster boss Graham Rowntree is poised to add a senior fly-half to his squad for next season to replace Bordeaux-bound Joey Carbery. Pic Credit: Dan Sheridan, Inpho.

Munster boss Graham Rowntree is poised to add a senior fly-half to his squad for next season to replace Bordeaux-bound Joey Carbery.

The URC champions yesterday announced of trio of academy players will be graduating to the senior squad for 2024-25 with fly-half Tony Butler, scrum-half Ethan Coughlan, both 21, and 22-year-old prop Mark Donnelly set to join lock Edwin Edogbo, 21, in moving onto professional contracts for next term.

Yet while Rowntree has consistently promoted young players to senior matchday squads since becoming head coach in the summer of 2022 he told the Irish Examiner that he was looking to bolster his number 10 options behind first-choice Jack Crowley and help bring through the next crop of out-halves.

Crowley, 24, last season emerged from a trio of senior 10s including also Carbery and Ben Healy to become Rowntree’s preferred playmaker and has since won the race to succeed Johnny Sexton as Andy Farrell’s starting fly-half following the veteran’s retirement at the end of last autumn’s World Cup.

That will see Crowley absent for lengthy periods from his province during Test windows and an experienced fly-half appears to be one of Munster’s prime recruitment targets for next season now Carbery has opted to move to the French Top 14 with Bordeaux-Begles.

“Watch this space,” teased Rowntree in an interview with the Irish Examiner yesterday. “I can’t say anymore, we’ll make an announcement soon enough.

“It’s important. Jack is Jack. He’s leading Ireland at the moment and Jack’s still got a long way to go, he’ll be the first to admit that but his calmness and his composure under pressure is incredibly impressive.

Munster Rugby Squad Training at Thomond Park.

"We’ve got Jack and Tony coming through and Dylan Hicks coming through and Tom Wood, Keith’s son, coming through as well. There’s probably scope for somebody in the middle of that to help bring through the young men.

“We’re likely to have Jack away for long swathes of time so there’s probably scope for someone to come in.”

Munster signed Oli Jager in November when the Irish-qualified tighthead prop secured a release from Super Rugby champions Crusaders seven months ahead of schedule and have also secured the services of Connacht back-three player Diarmuid Kilgallen for next season.

Rowntree added: “We’re still looking at a couple of things in our recruitment. We’ve only got a finite budget, understandably, but we’ve got a couple of guys who’ve retired to replace.

"We’ve got Kilgallen from Connacht which I’m delighted with - athletic, tall, good in the air and he will suit how we play the game. He’s a carbon copy of Shane (Daly) really and he’ll fit exactly with how we play.

“We’re not quite done yet but Oli doesn’t stop what we’re trying to do there. We have a certain amount of money.”

A lock to replace Leinster-bound RG Snyman does not appear to be a priority, however, with Rowntree adding: “The RG one, as soon as (Jean) Kleyn became an NIQ player it was going to be a challenge keeping both of them but look at what we’ve got coming through in the second-row department.

“Thomas Ahern, Edwin Edogbo, Evan O’Connell, man of the match Friday night for the Irish 20s, who’s really growing up and maturing into a great player.

“His work around his lineout is like his dad and his uncle. Like a carbon copy of Justin and Paul O’Connell, he’s learned a lot off them.

"So delighted with Evan and Edwin coming through and we’ve got back rows who can play in the second row as well, Gav’s shown that. I’m happy with our stock there at the moment.”

Rowntree said he was also confident in his newest senior half-backs realising their potential and becoming Munster mainstays.

“Yeah. I look back to when we started back in last summer (2022) and the first couple of weeks of pre-season, the likes of Ethan and Tony were instrumental in our training and they learned a lot.

“You train and review, train and review and a lot of our reviews were centred around ‘Ethan, what are we doing here?’, ‘Tony, look at this’. You’ve got to bombard these lads and make sure they learn.

“And I look back to how they’ve progressed since then and it’s impressive and both of those guys have got a big future at this club. The sky’s the limit for them but it’s up to them.

“All you can do is provide an environment to push them on, physically, mentally, tactically and hopefully you’ll see their desire come out and if they’re good enough I’ll pick them. I’ve proven that.”