Alan Quinlan and Niamh Briggs discussed the status of the Munster coaching staff on the Red 78 podcast this week.
There are rumours abound around Limerick.
Although there is no report yet about a contract extension for the Munster rugby staff, Alan Quinlan and Niamh Briggs discussed the potential two-year extensions this week. Johann Van Graan, Stephen Larkham and Graham Rowntree are all supposedly going to get contract extensions.
That would tie them to the province until 2024. For some Munsters fans, this will be great news. For many Munster fans, frustration has developed. Munster aren't winning trophies or developing players as quickly as their counterparts in Leinster. Since Munster don't play second fiddle to anyone, these extensions could be viewed as settling for second best.
But that's not how Briggs nor Quinlan see it.
Quinlan believes the extensions would make sense and shouldn't hinge on Munster winning a trophy this year. Briggs took it one step further.
"They're three years into the job now. I think it's great for stability," Briggs said.
"It's a very fickle world, professional sport. You're judged on performances, you're judged on results. People might think my Munster hat is too Munster, I can see at times what they're trying to do. I can see the evolution of what Larkham's input is at times. And I like where it's going."
Munster played some great rugby this year. They also played some self-sabotaging rugby. The consistency isn't there, but the potential is and Briggs thinks that is the key moving forward.
"Lack of consistency. We speak a lot about teams being consistent and that's probably why they're saying Connacht are playing really good rugby right now but they're not consistent, but for me Munster aren't consistent either. There's no real middle ground for them.
"They're either playing unbelievable rugby like the Scarletts game or they're gone down to these really slow, one-off runners, box kick chases. They've got to be able to marry that. If they can't get parity on the inside, they've got to be able to play out to the edges."
Even though this coaching staff is three years in and the team doesn't have consistency yet, Briggs believes they'll get there. She trusts this staff to develop further off the foundation that has been put in place.
"It doesn't upset me that they've got a two-year deal. I think it's good.
"We've still got to be patient."
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