REGARDLESS OF the outcome to Munster’s Magners League semi-final against the Ospreys on Saturday, or a potential final at home to either Leinster or Ulster the following Saturday, the position of Tony McGahan and his coaching/management staff will be unaffected. That much was made clear last night by the Munster CEO Garrett Fitzgerald.
Amid rumblings of discontent amongst Munster supporters, there had been some idle speculation that McGahan’s job might be on the line after their exit from the pool stages of the Heineken Cup for the first time in 13 seasons and the Amlin Challenge Cup semi-final defeat at home to Harlequins.
“It’s not an issue,” said Fitzgerald. “That’s not an issue full stop – win, lose or draw. We’re not firing anyone. This business isn’t run on that basis, we don’t operate that way.”
Having been assistant/defence coach to Declan Kidney for both of Munster’s Heineken Cup triumphs in 2006 and ’08, McGahan is now in the first year of a renewed two-year deal, and neither the head coach nor Munster have any inclination whatsoever to end it prematurely.
Nor will there be any further shake-up to the Munster coaching structure, with Anthony Foley set to move from defence coach to forwards coach in place of the departing Laurie Fisher, and akin to McGahan, Jason Holland (backs coach), Paul McCarthy (scrum coach) and Shaun Payne (team manager) all having another year on existing contracts.
Between them, McGahan and Foley (having overseen the defence for four and a half seasons between them) will oversee that remit. “They’ve done it for the last few years and will continue to do it,” said Fitzgerald.
While Munster have won four and lost four of their European matches this season, McGahan was chosen as the Magners League coach of the season last Sunday night, after a campaign which saw Munster top the 22-game league by 13 points with 19 wins in 22 matches. This gave them the highest winning ratio (76.6 per cent) of any team in the three major European leagues this season, as well as the highest winning ratio (86.36 per cent) of any team in the history of the Celtic League since it assumed a home-and-away format eight seasons ago.
Fitzgerald also confirmed if Munster win their semi-final on Saturday, then as the top-ranked side in the play-offs “there is no choice of venue really” with regard to hosting the May 28th final against either Leinster or Ulster at Thomond Park. “Even if we wanted to move it to the Aviva, I don’t think it’s available as the Carling Nations Cup matches are on that weekend.”
Similarly, for that reason, if Leinster host the Ospreys, they would do so at the RDS, and were it to be an Ulster-Ospreys final, it would be held at Ravenhill.
With both Munster and the Ospreys out of Europe, this is a last shot at silverware for both teams. “A lot of the players know each other from playing internationally and with the Lions,” said Paul O’Connell, “and there have been four games against each other this season, so we both know what to expect and know each other very well.
“We have had a few disappointing performances this side of Christmas and no more so than a few weeks ago against Harlequins,” added O’Connell. “This weekend is a big shot at redemption for us and our supporters and we know we need a big performance.
“We haven’t been in the mode of chasing bonus points in recent weeks, we have just been out there winning games. Both teams will be looking to do whatever they can to win the game on Saturday. After the Harlequins game it is important we put in a big performance for ourselves, the staff and management and the fans,” admitted the Munster captain.
Looking ahead to Saturday’s second semi-final, Fitzgerald admitted ticket sales thus far “are only average”, adding: “Obviously only having the match confirmed last weekend and not knowing whether it was Saturday or Friday, there are about 12,000 tickets sold at the moment, and we expect a bit of a surge in the next few days.”
Meanwhile, Dan Tuohy has been named in Ulster’s 31-man squad for Friday’s Magners League semi-final pending clearance from an MRI scan on the hamstring injury he sustained in Ulster’s win away to the dragons last Friday.
In addition to the quartet of internationals – Paddy Wallace, Stephen Ferris, Andrew Trimble and BJ Botha – who remain sidelined, Brian McLaughlin will also be without Willie Faloon, who injured his shoulder in training two weeks ago and will undergo surgery tomorrow to repair a torn rotator cuff.
Talented youngster Luke Marshall has returned to training after a wrist injury and he may feature against Leinster.
ULSTER SQUAD– Forwards: J Cronin, T Court, P McAllister, D Fitzpatrick, R Best, N Brady, A Kyriacou, D Tuohy, J Muller, N McComb, T Barker, P Wannenburg, TJ Anderson, A Birch, C Henry, R Diack. Backs: R Pienaar, P Marshall, I Humphreys, P Jackson, I Whitten, L Marshall, N Spence, D Cave, M McCrea, S Danielli, T Seymour, C Gilroy, C Gaston, J Smith, A D'Arcy.
Tickets for the Munster-Ospreys semi-final are currently on sale at the new 2011/12 season prices with a limited amount of junior and family packs:
Category A (Stand)€40
Category B (Stand)€30
Adult Terrace€20
Junior Terrace*€10
Family Terrace (2+2)*€40
Adult Child Cat B*€40
Tickets can be purchased from the Munster Rugby website, by telephone on 0818 719300 and are also available from the ticket office at Thomond Park Stadium Limerick, Tramore road Cork, the Munster Rugby stores in Cork and Limerick and from Ticketmaster outlets nationwide.
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