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Munster confirm 8 contract extensions, including deals for Ireland call-ups Craig Casey and Shane Daly
By Sam Smith
Munster have announced eight-player contract extensions, including two-year deals for current Ireland Guinness Six Nations squad picks Craig Casey and Shane Daly. Brothers Niall and Rory Scannell, Jack O’Donoghue and Calvin Nash have also agreed on similar length contracts, while Liam Coombes and Alex McHenry have put pen to paper for one year.
Casey, the uncapped 21-year-old scrum-half who was an unused replacement in Ireland's defeat to France last Sunday, made the step-up to the Munster senior squad ahead of the 2019/20 season. Named 2018/19 academy player of the year, he has made 21 appearances for Johann van Graan's side, scoring two tries.
Daly, meanwhile, made an Ireland Test debut off the bench in last November's Autumn Nations Cup win over Georgia. He too made his Munster breakthrough in the 2019/20 season, going on to be named young player of the year. The full-back/winger has scored five tries in 24 appearances.
Three other Ireland players have been retained - hooker Niall Scannell, who has 20 caps, brother Rory, who has three, and back row O'Donoghue, who has two. The recently turned 27-year-old became the first Waterford player to captain the province in the professional era when leading the side against Cardiff Blues in February 2018.
Commenting on his first contract news of the season, Munster boss van Graan said: "We are delighted to be in this position, confirming player contracts for the season ahead.
"The calibre of this initial player group is a huge positive with the province retaining the services of experienced, quality players while also securing the futures of up-and-coming talent. It’s a further reward for the clubs, schools and volunteers that have invested time and effort into the development of these players."
Last-gasp winners at Benetton in their last Guinness PRO14 outing on January 30, Conference B leaders Munster return to action this Saturday following a three-week break with an away game at Edinburgh which will be followed by another away game six days later at Cardiff.
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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