Three scenarios are in the offing for Anthony Foley following the appointment of Andy Farrell to Munster as a rugby consultant.
- Munster improve massively and Farrell is credited for shoring up defence while bring new attacking ideas.
- Munster’s season continues in its decline and they miss out on the Champions Cup places.
- Munster plod along as they are and barely make the Guinness PRO12 top six.
In all three scenarios, Anthony Foley’s job is in danger.
The appointment of Axel as Munster head coach was heralded, in 2014, when he replaced Rob Penney.
The New Zealander had attempted to shake up Munster’s up-the-guts style and was roundly lambasted for it. Reaching the European Cup knock-out stages in 2013 and 2014 was, at the time, put down to player power. Penney would not be missed.
The only problem is those players [Paul O’Connell, Ronan O’Gara, James Coughlan] that put their foot down – demanding an end to ‘wide wide’ tactics – were all winding down their time with the province.
What Munster have left are a smattering of talented players, a functional pack, guys lacking basic skills, a stand-in captain cupping water over the sides and a squad bereft of confidence. Six of the last seven games have been lost and a fourth successive European defeat is looming.
For going back to the drawing board, preferring risk-free rugby and for installing an indigenous but underwhelming coaching staff, Foley is in trouble.
The appointment of Farrell has the IRFU stamp all over it. Performance director David Nucifora gets to give his man some hands-on experience before he takes over as Ireland Defence Coach. At the same time, he is seen to address a painful gap in Munster’s game.
Rest assured, Farrell would have remained on gardening leave until after the Six Nations if Munster had managed to turn over 14-man Stade Francais at the weekend.
There had been murmurings of additions to Foley’s coaching staff but results bring power. The ship appeared righted when Munster bravely won away at Ulster. Optimism lasted barely a week, however, and Foley could not ignore the push to augment his tactics.
Shopping around for an innovative, driven, respected coach in the middle of a season is a mighty task so Farrell’s availability was ripe for Munster to pluck.
Off the back of this morning's news – Andy Farrell meets the squad in Limerick today. Training session for #MunVSta pic.twitter.com/obAHLhIP8J
— Munster Rugby (@Munsterrugby) January 12, 2016
Farrell’s installation benefits the province and benefits the man.
Any turnaround in fortunes now gets both credit while fewer questions will now be asked about player skill-set, recruitment, the state of the club game in Munster, management of the province and the long-running saga of training in Limerick and Cork.
Foley has bought himself time to continue his project of reforging the Munster of old with a new guard. He has also shown he is open to new ideas – temporary as they are.
Munster Rugby will hold a review at the season’s end. At present, Foley is far from a certainty to make it beyond that review.
He would like to add Ronan O’Gara [currently Racing 92] and Mike Prendergast [Grenoble] to his back-room staff but will he ever get the chance?
Once the consultant packs up and joins up with Ireland, Foley will have a year left on his contract and little room for manoeuvre.
