Foley named as Munster captain

Anthony Foley was yesterday confirmed as Munster's new captain in succession to Jim Williams this season, while aside from unveiling their three newest signings, the current Britain rugby league coach, Graham Steadman, has been installed as their new defence coach.

The co-opting of Steadman, a former player and coach with Castleford, on to the Munster brains trust was not a direct response to the concession of nine tries in their two Heineken European Cup knock-out matches at the end of last season, according to Gaffney.

"No, no, no, not at all. It may appear a knee-jerk reaction to what happened in those matches, but I've always been keen on bringing in a defence coach," said Gaffney yesterday. "It was merely a case of someone being available and having the time to take on the responsibility."

A restructuring of their training schedules in pre-season, with the Cork-based contingent based overnight in Limerick for one night a week, has increased Munster's capacity for full training sessions from about two to three-and-a-half per week.

"It's just a case of manpower and a utilisation of time," explained Gaffney.

It was Jim Williams's decision to step down as captain after a singularly impressive two years at the helm, although with Frankie Sheahan and Ronan O'Gara the vice-captains, it could well be that Williams will be the de facto Celtic League captain.

Aside from the notable capture of Paul Burke, Gaffney has brought in Mike and James Storey (no relation). The former is an Irish qualified tight-head prop with plenty of NPC experience in New Zealand who would have joined a year ago but for rupturing his achilles tendon, while James Storey always impressed Gaffney when they encountered him in a Neath or Ospreys shirt.

"He's big, he's strong, he's powerful and a very good defender," says Gaffney, who concedes, "we didn't go out spending a bomb."

Gaffney has warned Williams that this, potentially his final season, "will not be a benefit year" and expects him to be challenging the likes of Foley, Alan Quinlan and David Wallace for a place in Munster's European Cup back row.

Eight players have retired, moved on or been let go, namely Dominic Crotty, Simon Kerr, Jason Jones-Hughes, Jeremy Staunton, Donal Sheahan, Martin Cahill, Eddie Halvey and Colm McMahon.

Offsetting the departure of Halvey and McMahon is the upgrading of Stephen Keogh to a full-time contract, something Trevor Hogan and Frankie Roche have also been given, while Munster have taken the calculated gamble of sacrificing one full-time contract, from 34 to 33, to expand their development contracts from six to nine.

In the short-term, with Paul O'Connell and Donncha O'Callaghan among the nine players sidelined for the first month because of their extended pre-season, and Dave Pusey recovering from the shoulder operation he required after being injured in the end-of-season tour warm-up match, Hogan is their only recognised lock for Tuesday's opening friendly against London Irish.

"Last year our front-line players were only available for seven games, and this year they're available for eight, so it may as well be a World Cup year," says Gaffney, with a slight tone of exasperation.

The fates decreed they would have been at full strength for games against the now defunct Celtic Warriors, but instead are now idle, and their frontline players will be unavailable for both fixtures against Ulster and Connacht.

"We were disappointed with our showing in the Celtic League last year, and we would hope to be more competitive this year," says Gaffney, though Europe remains the holy grail.

"It'll never go out of the mind. Last year's semi-final defeat was a major disappointment, one of the great disappointments in fact, even if they (Wasps) were the better side on the day. But we'll always have our dream goals."