McGahan Jets In To Take Up Munster Position
Despite a gruelling long-haul flight from Australia that eventually saw him, his wife and young family arrive at their Limerick home late on Wednesday afternoon, new Munster coach Tony McGahan was at his desk in the Munster Rugby offices at the University of Limerick early on Thursday morning.
Expressing his delight with his appointment, Tony McGahan said: “It’s an honour to be appointed coach to a squad such as this. It’s an exciting time, a great challenge but I have quality people around me, both players and management, and I’m certainly looking forward to it.”
There are some positions still to be filled in his coaching team and among those McGahan and the Munster management will be talking to over the weekend and early next week will be the former Brumbies coach Laurie Fisher, who flew into Cork on Thursday.
Fisher is one of those short-listed for the coaching job vacated by Jim Williams and the process to find that replacement for Williams will be hastened by McGahan’s arrival back to take up his new role and the return at the weekend from holiday of Munster Chief Executive Garrett Fitzgerald.
Player activity around UL on Thursday was relatively quiet with Munster’s fitness coaches Fergal O’Callaghan and Tom Comyns working away with Barry Murphy, Mark Melbourne, Niall Ronan, Conan Doyle, the returning Mike Prendergast and members of the Munster Academy.
The province’s Ireland squad members – those involved either at senior level in New Zealand and Australia or with the Churchill Cup squad in Canada and the USA – are not due to return for pre-season training until Monday week.