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United Rugby Championship

Munster continue to secure backroom staff after reshuffle

By Josh Raisey

9 hours ago

Munster skills coach Mossy Lawler before the United Rugby Championship match between Ulster and Munster at Kingspan Stadium in Belfast. (Photo By Seb Daly/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Munster skills and assistant attack coach Mossy Lawler has followed in the footsteps of fellow coaches Denis Leamy and Mike Prendergast in signing a two-year contract extension with the province.

The coaching set-up at Thomond Park has seen plenty of change over the past two months, with head coach Graham Rowntree departing alongside forwards coach Andi Kyriacou just over a month ago.

Ian Costello has taken on Rowntree’s role in the interim, with former Northampton Saints and Hurricanes boss Chris Boyd joining earlier this month as their new performance consultant. Boyd’s arrival came shortly after Alex Codling joined as forwards coach consultant.

This latest deal ensures there will be some continuity in the Munster coaching staff after what has been a tumultuous start to the season.

A former Munster player between 2000 and 2008, Lawler returned to the province in 2023 after eight years with Connacht, and helped them top the United Rugby Championship table and reach the competition’s semi-final last season. Prior to rejoining Munster, he served as attack and skills coach for Connacht’s senior men’s team, as well as elite player development officer for their academy and head coach of Connacht Eagles, their second-tier side.

Fixture

United Rugby Championship

Ulster

14:35

20 Dec 24

Munster

All Stats and Data

Munster currently sit in 11th place in the URC with only three wins from their opening seven matches, but have made a promising start to their Investec Champions Cup campaign, sitting in third place of Pool 3 after two rounds.

The 2023 URC champions have all-Irish derbies over the coming weeks, with a trip to Ulster coming this weekend before hosting a formidable Leinster outfit.

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Comments

1 Comment

Ed the Duck 5 hours ago

The stage is set Felix…

Join free and tell us what you really think!

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Comments on RugbyPass

OJohn 49 minutes ago

Does the next Wallabies coach have to be an Australian?

Kiwi Joe refuses to put our best team on the field. Nick Bishop is telling you that not just me.

25 Go to comments

Jon 56 minutes ago

Does the next Wallabies coach have to be an Australian?

Another good article Nick, and yes the similarities between RA and the WRU are so obvious you would think they have been swapping class notes.

It is clear that the problems in both Australia and Wales are structural and go way beyond who is the Head Coach and his place of birth.

What ever imminent decision is made in Wales about the Head Coach, Gatland has still got enough credit in the bank to be seen as an adopted Welshman.

And a far as leaving the team in a better place than he found it. .....Eddie set the bar so low that Joe cannot fail and whatever happens with the Lions Tour any sane Wallabies fan can see that he is taking the team forward.

25 Go to comments

dw 56 minutes ago

Does the next Wallabies coach have to be an Australian?

I aspire to coach Australia, but I'm not qualified and I'd be terrible. Dan and Les I assume are aspiring to coach Australia AND probably will one day. But they aren't ready yet. And Joe is the best fit for now. What's so hard to accept about that? Breathe in son. Kiwi Joe does not mean you harm.

25 Go to comments

dw 59 minutes ago

Does the next Wallabies coach have to be an Australian?

Nah mate. Tell us about the real trauma they did to you. It's not possible for someone to be this angry obsessed with a sports team without a nasty incident. Did they not pick you when you tried out for them? Does Ewens time at randwick and the tahs complicate your theory?

25 Go to comments

dw 1 hour ago

Does the next Wallabies coach have to be an Australian?

Deans won a rugby championship and made a rwc semi-final.

25 Go to comments

OJohn 1 hour ago

Does the next Wallabies coach have to be an Australian?

They have been screwing over Australian rugby since Deans in 2008. Any fair minded Australian rugby fan would be pissed off too.

25 Go to comments

OJohn 1 hour ago

Does the next Wallabies coach have to be an Australian?

Deans didn't resign. He was sacked by the ARU because after 6 long years as Wallabies coach, playing Tah favorites, and Australians having almost completely lost interest in rugby due to Deans' Tah favoritism and bumbling, the Wallabies were a complete and utter shambles of a team. We fell back from being ranked 2 to about 5 I think.

He started well on the back of John Connollys nauseatingly boring coaching but it was downhill soon after. Deans came close to destroying Australian rugby. Kiwis wanted him to keep coaching the Wallabies forever and were outraged at his sacking. Just absurd.

25 Go to comments

IN 1 hour ago

‘The problem with this year’s Champions Cup? Too many English clubs’

also never let rugby pass tv do u20 broadcast not on youtube again , with the chat it was boring as hell! i wouldnt pay for that shite!, idiots didnt even start youtube broadcast on time, please make it back on youtube not this ameteur hour cock up!

36 Go to comments

IN 1 hour ago

‘The problem with this year’s Champions Cup? Too many English clubs’

what you say is true , 16 teams expanded to 4 qualifiers from earlier challenge cup rounds, but either way you are asking teams to lose money by not playing! for some clubs this is much needed income! so how do you reward them for loss income?

36 Go to comments

Jon 1 hour ago

Does the next Wallabies coach have to be an Australian?

OJohn....How about you keep your crass comment about the rugby or the politics. Commenting on anyones family or personal circumstances is way out of order and you should be removed from this site for doing so.

25 Go to comments

JW 1 hour ago

‘The problem with this year’s Champions Cup? Too many English clubs’

possible for a team to literally finish last in the URC

Huh? You mean last in their (4 team) pools/regions? My idea was 6/5/4, 6 the max, for guarenteed spots, with a 20 team comp max, so upto 5 WCs (which you'd make/or would be theoretically impossible to go to one league (they'd likely be solely for its participants, say 'Wales', rather than URC specifically. Preferrably). I gave 3 WC ideas for a 18 team comp, so the max URC could have (with a member union or club/team, winning all of the 6N, and Champions and Challenge Cup).

And the reason say another URC (for example) member would get the spot over the other team that won the Challenge Cup, would be because they were arguable better if they finished higher in the League. It won't diminish desire to win the Challenge Cup, because that team may still be competing for that seed, and if theyre automatic qual anyway, it still might make them treat it more seriously (major problem with the comp/concept atm as teams use it as a trial match for the squad, especially if they think theyre going to qualify normally that year).

what does base mean in this context? how would it be quantified?

A theoretical evaluation of the leagues. By all sorts of means, performance, representation, financials etc. All to be discussed and decide of course (my numbers could turn out completely wrong), so enjoying your critique of such ideas.

36 Go to comments

OJohn 2 hours ago

Does the next Wallabies coach have to be an Australian?

That's right, keep those Australian coaches down. How dare they aspire to coach Australia. It must be a kiwi !

25 Go to comments

dw 2 hours ago

Does the next Wallabies coach have to be an Australian?

What exactly did the tahs do to you in your childhood? I've never seen someone's thoughts so dominated by a sports team they dislike. Wait, are you secretly working for the tahs by making them sound more appealing?

25 Go to comments

dw 2 hours ago

Does the next Wallabies coach have to be an Australian?

O John, you are absolutely right. I think you should email Phil Waugh and tell him to hire the non existent 2024 version of Rod Macqueen so the wallabies can go straight to number 1. You are the true voice of rugby in Australia with your satire.