Munster attack coach Mike Prendergast is to coach Ireland A during their clash with England A in February’s fixture during the Six Nations window.
Prendergast, who has publicly confirmed his desire to fill the vacant head coach role at Munster, will be involved with the second string Ireland outfit at Bristol’s Ashton Gate on February 23rd. Played on the same weekend as the senior side take on Wales in the Six Nations, this will be Ireland’s first A fixture since facing New Zealand in 2022.
Ian Costello, the southern province’s current interim head coach, welcomed the impending appointment – first reported by The42 – as “huge for Munster.”
“The more players, coaches, staff that we can have operating with national teams, that’s what we’re all about,” said Costello after Munster beat the Dragons on Saturday.
“It’s not just about players progressing and us celebrating that, it’s great to see staff getting those opportunities to develop. It’s great for Mikey, and it’s great for the club, what he’s going to bring back as well. It’ll be huge for Munster.”
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Costello also confirmed Dian Bleuler played his last game for the province at Rodney Parade and will now return to his parent club, the Sharks. The South African loosehead, who was signed as injury cover, was due to return to Durban after last week’s Champions Cup loss to Northampton, only for Munster to extend the deal by seven days.
“This was the conversation to get him to play this week,” explained Costello. “There was an agreement up until last week and to be fair to the Sharks, they were very accommodating with him staying one more week.
“The beauty of it is Josh Wycherley is back from injury, Mark Donnelly is back at the moment, and we have Kieran Ryan, an unsung hero to a certain degree. He’s an academy player, finishing in a dominant scrum [against the Dragons], he’s getting a lot of experience and he’s going to be really important in the next bloc.”
Saturday also saw Chris Boyd’s last in-person involvement with the province. The New Zealand native had joined Munster as a temporary high performance consultant and will return home having attended the bonus-point victory at Rodney Parade. He will remain in contact with Costello as Munster consider their options to fill the head coach role.
“He’s going home for a period of time,” said Costello. “This was the original arrangement, he’s been a massive support to the coaching group, added a lot of experience, a lot of knowledge.
“He’s a great guy to work with. He goes home now and we’ll be in constant communication to see what the rest of the season looks like.”
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