Tyler Bleyendaal finally gets to stretch legs for Munster

A thunder clap. Sun. Rain. Hailstones. Welcome to the midlands Tyler Bleyendaal.

Even the former New Zealand Under-20 World Cup winning captain screwed up his face in a bewitched and bewildered sort of way as an assortment of stuff from the sky came hurtling over the trees.

He may have hoped for spring sun and firm turf in his first game for Munster since landing in Ireland in January. But yesterday at Naas Rugby Club the weather was capricious and a taker, not a giver as the 24-year-old stretched his legs for the first time on a rugby pitch since last summer.

Prolapsed disc

The former Canterbury player linked up with Munster in late January and on arrival continued to rehab a repaired prolapsed disc. Last week he spoke with a specialist and was cleared.

Bleyendaal is a 10 and a centre and a fullback. We could have asked him but yesterday was peculiar, a Munster day of blockade. Richie Boucher would have found it easier to access Gorse Hill than get to the Kiwi after the game. Forenoughts and the Vico Road, how about that.

“He hasn’t played in so long it was good for him to get through. We are very, very happy to get him into the game and to get him through 60 minutes,” said Munster coach Mick O’Driscoll.

“All going well and he comes out of it tomorrow he can push on. Who knows he might even feature this season, we don’t know yet. Possibly, that’s slightly optimistic but look he’s been running the opposition plays in training for the last four to six weeks, so we’ve no issue. He’s going to grow massively in confidence from that.”

One hour on the pitch as Munster A beat Ulster Ravens 41-27 was enough to allow O’Driscoll feel that a good day was done. Bleyendaal kicked a greasy ball erratically into the wind but his composure and passing, his sense of space and his tackling has not left him.

Complete footballers

Munster will expect him to push Ian Keatley at outhalf when the time comes and when JJ Hanrahan leaves at the end of the season for Northampton Saints, or, as O'Driscoll intimated, maybe sooner.

The Kiwi can also step into the centre. It’s what complete footballers do and why Munster signed him.

“Currently as it stands JJ and Keats (Keatley), both of them play 10, both of them play 12, both of them play 15,” added O’Driscoll. “Tyler plays 10, he plays 12 just as well, so we don’t really know [where he will play] is the honest answer. We will see how things are going.

“JJ is leaving so Tyler will be fitting in that role of 10 and 12 and I’d have no concerns playing either positions and see how he gets on playing alongside Keats. As long as he’s playing and playing well, we’re happy.”

His non-Irish look with tufts of fair hair curling out of his scrum cap, give him a little surfer dude-ish bang.

His vow of silence aside he cheerfully hugged, kissed, posed and shook hands with spectators.

His ability, well, Johne Murphy saw him from his panoramic vantage point at fullback. He was impressed.

“He’s got a great read on how to play the game and his view of space and what to do at the right time, from what I have seen so far, is excellent,” said Murphy.

“There were a couple of tries today that were down to him, just trusting what was outside him and letting the ball go. He was telling me August [was when he last played], so it’s been a long road for him.

‘Great awareness’

“No matter how much he wanted to stay on and at half time you could see he was ‘no, no leave me on, leave me on’. He’s a great awareness of space and where to get the ball at the right time.

“As a 10 that’s probably the most important thing. To come out and play the way he did after such a long layoff . . . he was very accurate and it showed the quality of player he is.”

It's sweet news after Munster's Christian Cullen experience. One hour of rugby in a season has rarely felt so promising.