September 2014 and Tyler Bleyendaal’s proposed move to Munster was in doubt.
The multi-talented Christchurch back – a former New Zealand U20 captain – was set to join Munster back in 2012 before he suffered a serious muscle tear playing for Canterbury in the ITM Cup. Rob Penney had flagged the Kiwi as a serious talent so Munster kept tabs.
Penney had moved on before Bleyendaal inked a three-year Munster contract but a grave injury was soon to befall him and threaten his career.
Bleyendaal suffered a neck injury that required surgery and put his switch to Munster in doubt. There were suggestions, two years back, that Munster should put it down to an unfortunate experience and cut their losses.
One man was having none of it. That man was Munster’s newly installed head coach, Anthony Foley.
Asked at the time about the Bleyendaal situation, Foley said once the player has signed a deal he was a Munster player and the province would look after him accordingly, and with respect. He told reporters:
“We as a club need to look after the player and it’s not a piece of meat we are dealing with.
“It’s a human being, so there is a human side to this that we need to manage, and that is what Munster is about, it’s about the people. If a player has committed to us in terms of contract we need to make sure we are looking after this player as well.”
Bleyendaal never forgot the support he received from Foley, and Munster. In time, rehabilitation made his neck sturdy enough to take the three flights required to get from Christchurch to Ireland.
He got to work in Limerick but Munster, as much as they needed him, wisely opted to write off 2014/15. He did so well in pre-season [2015/16] that confident voices spoke of Munster not missing Northampton-bound JJ Hanrahan.
Bleyendaal got injured again and only played five games. He was missed. So was JJ.
The past summer has seen Bleyendaal back to the player he was as he took his first steps in pro rugby. He has started the season as Munster’s main outhalf and has looked decent; showing glimpses of talent.
On Saturday, at Thomond Park, Bleyendaal had an absolute stormer; his finest game in that Munster red. It was fitting, electrifying payback for a man that never stopped believing in him.
He scored a superb try after 66 seconds, bisected posts with conversions and penalties and was at the beating heart of most of Munster’s best moves.
Tyler Bleyendaal’s try started @Munsterrugby‘s scoring against @GlasgowWarriors. RT if this is your Round 2 #TryOfTheRound pic.twitter.com/vCpopf4S7Y
— Champions Cup (@ChampionsCup) October 24, 2016
The Munster crowd stood in unison to salute Bleyendaal when he was taken off with a bonus point secured and a win looking extremely likely.
It felt like a moment. It felt like he had arrived.
Bleyendaal was one of the first players that Foley signed. It is so fitting that Tyler played out of his skin in memory of Axel #MUNvGLA
— @Aoifs123 (@Aoifs123) October 22, 2016
Bleyendaal looked to the heavens as he left that Thomond Park pitch for the last time. One would be surprised if he was not sending ‘Axel’ a word or two as he was addressing the heavens.
Munster have an exciting, purposeful, dangerous No.10.
There can be no better pay-back to Foley than that.
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