As we saw from the Champions Cup draw, Munster are in for one hell of a season.
Munster gave their players a full month off – as opposed to the usual 25 days – before hauling them back into University of Limerick for eight weeks of hard grind.
The first week was all about finding out about how much steam the players let off on their break and setting them up for the hard stuff in Week 2.
Munster’s head of fitness, Aled Walters says, “We started off with the skin-fold test. We got their body weight and body composition, so they all had targets to go away with… From there we went into a medical screen to see where we were at.”
There were also hip mobility and baseline Head Injury Assessment tests for the upcoming season.
Walters feels the bulk of the squad have returned in better shape than last season. He notes that Duncan Casey and Jack O’Donoghue have added 7 kilogrammes of timber to their frames yet not dropped back in their 1-kilometre time trial numbers.
This week is all about strength and conditioning training – gym, weight, bike and mobility work. From early July, the lads ‘crack into the rugby’.
Former Ulster centre Sam Arnold is quickly getting used to life at Munster, following his recent switch, and is hoping to follow the rapid rise of Rory Scannell.
A product of the Harlequins youth system, Arnold made 14 senior caps for Ulster but opted for a move south as the midfield should be less congested at Munster.
Rather them than us.
