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Graham Rowntree to be named Munster head coach
By Kim Ekin
Former England forwards coach Graham Rowntree is set to be confirmed as the new Munster head coach, according to reports in Ireland.
The current forwards coach at the province, Rowntree will take over from Johan van Graan who is departing Ireland to become director of rugby at Bath. Senior coach Stephen Larkham is also leaving, for the Brumbies in Australia.
Rowntree, who had formerly worked with England and the British and Irish Lions, joined Munster after the 2019 World Cup. In January he signed a two year contract extension that will keep in Munster until June 2024.
Now Munster want him to set up into his first role as boss at a senior professional club.
The 50-year-old is a highly experienced coach with a wealth of experience at Test level and across the Premiership.
He also previously served as forwards coach for Georgia. Having managed and coached elite players at Premiership and international level, Rowntree was assistant coach on the 2009, 2013 and 2017 British and Irish Lions Tours.
The former prop held the roles of assistant coach and forwards coach with England over a seven-year period, and has previously worked as forwards coach with Premiership sides Harlequins and Leicester Tigers.
Munster will be breathing a sigh of relief that they have confirmed a high profile signing for the role after van Graan rolled back on a decision to stay on at the province.
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Latest Comments
Was strange game, full of errors and the usual refereeing decisions. Both teams suffered as a result but Ospreys discipline was a major factor. I think this weekend will be different as the Ospreys will pick a full strength team but Scarlets will gain confidence in the fact that only Tipuric was missing in the forwards and they dominated that pack for the whole 80 minutes. If they can repeat that dominance at scrum and breakdown then the Scarlets backs will always have more to offer on the front foot.
Go to commentsAll non-British and Irish players should be excluded anyway. It should be for players born in the UK and Ireland not imports on residency! The Barbarians have sold out and are now a predominantly a SH team and the Lions are going the same way. It would be interesting to see what is on VDM’s passport, probably still South Africa. I feel quite strongly on this and would hope that the Lions committee see it the same way but money talks and so the decline begins.
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