Munster announce departure of seven players as Clayton McMillan starts to reshape squad

More movement at Thomond Park is expected in the coming weeks.

FUTURE PROOF: Munster head coach Clayton McMillan. Pic: Shauna Clinton/Sportsfile

Change is afoot at Munster with Tony Butler, Paddy Patterson and Andrew Smith among the players whose time at the province has come to an end.

Fionn Gibbons and the academy trio of George Hadden, Darragh McSweeney and Dylan Hicks have also completed their time with the club as head coach Clayton McMillan looks to kick on from what was an at times difficult first campaign in time.

Butler played 28 times for the senior team over his five years with the club, two of them in the senior squad, and was one of those raw recruits who made his debut in the Champions Cup win over Wasps in 2021.

Patterson joined the club from the Leinster academy in January of 2021 and played 51 times for his new province. He played an important role in winning the URC title in 2023.

Smith only joined the club from Connacht in March of last year and scored four tries in eleven appearances, one in the famous round of 16 Champions Cup defeat of La Rochelle last season and two in the quarter-final loss to Bordeaux-Begles a week later.

A member of Ireland’s sevens team at the Olympics in Paris in 2024, he managed just one try in seven appearances this term. Gibbons played three times having joined the academy in 2022.

More comings and goings are expected in the coming weeks.