Experienced New Zealander Chris Boyd has joined Munster as a performance consultant as the province delay the appointment of a head coach.
The former Hurricanes and Northampton Saints coach is a highly regarded figure who led the Wellington franchise to a Super Rugby title and helped rebuild the English club from the bottom up.
He was gone by the time they won the Premiership and almost beat Leinster in a European Semi-Final last season, but his influence was key in getting them to that point.
Munster have not put an exact timeframe on Boyd’s involvement, stating that he will “support interim head coach Ian Costello and the wider coaching group over the coming months”.
Head of operations Costello has been working in the hotseat since Graham Rowntree left his position after a difficult tour of South Africa in October and the province beat the Lions in the Limerick man’s first game in charge last week.
Munster last week confirmed that assistants Mike Prendergast and Denis Leamy have extended their contracts, while Ireland Women’s assistant coach Alex Codling has been brought on board to work with the forwards for the next few months.
He’s being assisted by former Munster, Connacht, Leinster and Ireland hooker Sean Cronin, while Munster are interested in recruiting Cullie Tucker from Connacht.
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The appointment of Boyd gives Munster an experienced voice and some stability for the coming months, meaning they can tackle the Champions Cup and Christmas inter-provincial games. They open their campaign against Stade Francais on Saturday, before meeting Castres away on Friday week.
The timing of Rowntree’s abrupt departure was always going to make life difficult when it came to appointing a successor, with most leading coaches tied into contracts.
Leading former players like Ronan O’Gara, Paul O’Connell and Jason Holland have ruled themselves out, while Costello says he doesn’t want to leave his role which was only created last year and is seen as being strategically important.
Felix Jones’ name has been linked with the role and the RFU have said they would not stand in the way of the former full-back leaving for a club job, but he does not appear to be in a rush to link up with his old team.
“We are thrilled to have someone of Chris’ experience and calibre join us for what will be a very busy period for the club,” chief executive Ian Flanagan, who has yet to do any interviews around the decision to part company with Rowntree or the process of replacing him, told the Munster website.
“We have a huge amount of trust and belief in our coaching group who have done an excellent job over the past month and the addition of Chris will supplement the talent we have in this area.”
Costello believes Boyd can make a difference.
“We are fortunate to have an outstanding coaching group and support team in Munster. To be able to add someone of Chris’ experience is exciting,” he said.
Last week, IRFU chief executive Kevin Potts would not be drawn on Rowntree’s departure, which came out of the blue and has been subject to questioning.