Charting the new season for Munster: what does success look like?

Here, we give a taste of what may be coming down the tracks for Munster between now and next June.

STAR IN THE MAKING? Munster's Ronan Foxe. Pic: Ben Brady/Inpho

It is 15 weeks since Munster’s 2023-24 season came to crashing halt with a URC play-off semi-final defeat at home to eventual champions Glasgow Warriors and we are back at the beginning once more, all wondering whether the 2022-23 titleholders have what it takes either to return to the league summit or make a deeper run into Europe than last term’s ceiling of the Champions Cup Round of 16.

Maybe both are in the stars for Graham Rowntree’s squad but what exactly can supporters expect from their heroes this season? Here, the Irish Examiner gives a taste of what may be coming down the tracks for Munster between now and next June.

So where did we leave things?

A blistering run of 11 URC wins in a row saw Munster recover from a mid-season slump exacerbated by a glut of injuries to claim top spot in the regular season standings, earn home advantage for the play-offs but then appear to run out of steam, dispatching Ospreys handily enough in the quarter-finals but then coming up short to a thoroughly polished Glasgow Warriors side at Thomond Park in a 17-10 semi-final defeat a week later.

With that disappointing end to the season came the departures of full-back Simon Zebo to retirement in the wake of fellow back-tree stalwarts Keith Earls and Andrew Conway, while centre Antoine Frisch left for Toulon, fly-half Joey Carbery departed for Bordeaux-Begles and RG Snyman moseyed up the M7 to Leinster.

Are Munster in a better place than last season?

Those departures have seen an awful lot of rugby IP and top-level experience disappear out the door from the High Performance Centre but while their replacements this summer do not come with the same star power, they could all prove to be canny acquisitions for head coach Rowntree. Uncapped South African wing Thaakir Abrahams has arrived from French Top 14 side Lyon and Ireland fly-half Billy Burns has travelled south after six seasons at Ulster while from Connacht come experienced outside centre Tom Farrell and back-three player Diarmuid Kilgallen.

Munster's Thaakir Abrahams. Pic: James Crombie/Inpho

Jean Kleyn’s return from a 10-month injury absence which saw him play just 68 minutes following his World Cup-winning bench role with South Africa is akin to a new signing in Rowntree’s eyes while there is excitement about an academy intake which includes powerful Ireland Under-20 back-rower Seán Edogbo, younger brother of the equally exciting lock Edwin Edogbo.

Are Munster better equipped this season than last? Maybe not better, but nor do they look drastically worse.

What do Munster have to improve this season?

Consistency of performance across the campaign. The last two seasons have seen Munster behind the 8-ball after the Christmas and New Year fixtures, outside the play-off berths and needing a strong run to get back into contention and qualify for the following year’s Champions Cup. To their credit, Rowntree’s squad have done what was asked of them and more, their winning run to the 2022-23 URC title exceeding expectations on the back of a stirring string of results on the road.

The fear is that the need for another late dash to reach expectations may not produce such heroics and so what Munster really need is to stop excelling in bursts and start producing an even level of excellence across the campaign. It’s easier said than done but a strong mid-season, when the Champions Cup pool stages are in full flow, can reap dividends for business end of 2024-25.

Which player are you most looking forward to watching?

Thaakir Abrahams has the footwork and pace to suggest he is a genuine gamebreaker and it explains why Lyon were so disappointed to lose him after just one season following his move from South Africa’s Sharks.

“Tucky”, 25, is diminutive at 5ft 9ins but deceptively strong and crucially for Munster’s attack he possesses X-factor, a much-needed trait in a league full of defensive brick walls and rapid line speed.

Which player has a point to prove?

Munster boss Graham Rowntree described the 30-year-old Billy Burns as being at a career crossroads, his last of seven Ireland caps coming in 2021 and running out road after six years at Ulster. Signed on a one-year contract, it is telling that Rowntree is already talking about extending his stay and extolling Burns’ virtues as a mentor to younger players, specifically younger fly-halves Tony Butler and Dylan Hicks. Yet it is the pressure Burns can put on first-choice 10 Jack Crowley in the coming months and the performances he can deliver in the Ireland star’s absences that will determine his worth to the Munster jersey.

Who could be this season’s bolter?

The aforementioned Seán Edogbo has all the tools to make his first season in the academy look like a cakewalk, just as the back-rower looked to the manor born in an Ireland Under-20 jersey last season yet keep an eye out for another of this year’s intake, tighthead prop Ronan Foxe. In the climate of an IRFU moratorium on signing non-Irish qualified props, in order to fill the perceived vacuum currently behind Test starters Andrew Porter and Tadhg Furlong, a strong upward trajectory from the 2023 Ireland U20 World Cup finalist over the next few seasons could see Foxe fast-tracked into Munster contention and perhaps beyond. Former Test prop Rowntree, certainly, is a fan.

A good season means… 

A return to at least the URC semi-finals and qualification for the Champions Cup knockout stages. Going beyond the Round of 16 would be a bonus given the ever-increasing strength of the European elites but there are tough pool assignments to come against Stade Francais, Castres away, Saracens and round four trip to English champions Northampton Saints and merely reaching R16 is a realistic objective.