Tom Ahern buoyed by Ireland call but everybody back to square one at Munster

Munster's Tom Ahern walks down the Thomond Park tunnel after the win over Cardiff. Pic:  Ben Brady, Inpho

There was a double-edged feeling for Tom Ahern as he reported back to Munster for pre-season.

One the one hand, there was a spring in the step as the lock/flanker returned to the province as a freshly minted Ireland international having earned his first Test caps against Georgia and Portugal in the summer. On the other was the realisation that he and the rest of the Munster squad had to start again from scratch in terms of having to impress a new head coach.