Munster Begin Pre-Season Programme Under New Coach McMillan
Centre Tom Farrell had an impressive first season in Munster red, scoring 11 tries in 26 appearances and winning the inaugural URC Playmaker award ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy
The Munster senior Men’s squad have started week one of the pre-season training programme at their High Performance Centre in Limerick, as preparations for the 2025/26 season begin under new head coach Clayton McMillan.
Munster have two pre-season fixtures scheduled, with a trip to Gallagher Premiership club Gloucester on Friday, September 5 (kick-off 7.30pm), before they host reigning English champions Bath at Virgin Media Park on Friday, September 12 (kick-off 7pm).
Intriguingly, McMillan’s men have also been drawn in the same Investec Champions Cup pool as both Gloucester and Bath. To buy your ticket(s) for the Munster v Bath pre-season match, please click here.
The Munster squad had a seven-week off-season after a 2024/25 campaign that ended in Durban at the quarter-final stage of the BKT United Rugby Championship at the end of May.
New signings JJ Hanrahan, Dan Kelly, and Conor Ryan (pictured above) have joined the province at the HPC in UL, with Lee Barron and newly-capped Ireland prop Michael Milne also joining permanently having spent the final months of last season on loan.
Birr man Milne earned his first two Ireland caps against Georgia and Portugal earlier this month, and will link back up with the Munster squad later in the summer.
Fionn Gibbons, Shay McCarthy, Evan O’’Connell, Ruadhán Quinn, and Kieran Ryan move up to the senior squad after graduating from the Munster Rugby Academy.
Along with Milne, Tom Ahern, Craig Casey, Gavin Coombes, Jack Crowley, Alex Kendellen, and Calvin Nash returned from Portugal two weeks ago after Ireland’s second summer Test. They have started their respective off-seasons.
Brian Gleeson (pictured below), Diarmuid Kilgallen, and O’Connell all trained with the Ireland squad this summer, and returned to the HPC on Monday.
Munster captain Tadhg Beirne is currently on tour with the British & Irish Lions, and was their player-of-the-match during the first Test win over Australia on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Munster’s Academy players returned to the HPC last week to begin their preparations for the upcoming campaign.
Ireland Under-20 internationals Michael Foy, Conor Kennelly, Oisín Minogue, Luke Murphy, Gene O’Leary Kareem, Eoghan Smyth, and Tom Wood have returned from the World Rugby U-20 Championship in Italy, and have started their off-season.
Emmet Calvey, Kennelly, Minogue, Smyth, and Wood are the new additions to the Academy. For more information on the province’s new Academy recruits, click here.