McGahan extends contract

[An Tarbh]

Tony McGahan has extended his contract until the end of the 2011/12 season.

Originally posted by Munsterrugby.ie
Munster Chief Executive Garrett Fitzgerald today confirmed that Tony McGahan will continue on in his role as Director of Coaching for the next two seasons (2010/2011 & 2011/2012).

The 37 year old McGahan took over from Declan Kidney at the start of last season having joined the Munster set up in February 2005 as Defence Coach. That role that had expanded to Defence/Backs/Skills coach when Munster won Heineken Cup ***les in 2006 and 2008.

Comment on the re-appointment, Fitzgerald said, " We're obviously delighted that we have come to agreement with Tony for the immediate future. He has shown, in his short space of time as a head coach, that he has all the attributes to keep Munster Rugby to the forefront of the international club game while at the same time ensuring players have the required skill sets for the international game.

"We have already enjoyed considerable success in the course of his short tenure and we believe that Munster Rugby can only continue to prosper under his direction."

The news comes at a most opportune time as McGahan welcomes back his international contingent ahead of crucial matches in the Magners League and Heineken Cup. As he put the final touches to plans for a two day squad get-together he said. " I'm very pleased to be remaining on here for the next number of seasons.

"It's been a privilege to be involved with a group of players, management and officials such as are involved in Munster. I'm really looking forward to the immediate future, with crucial Magners League and Heineken Cup games in the offing, but I'm also delighted, both personally and professionally, to be remaining in Munster in the short term."

 

[MunsterMan]

Happy enough with that.

Good to retain out Head/Defence/Backs/Skills Coach. Excellent coach, but would be a lot better if he would delegate some responsibility. He is one of the top Defence coaches in the game IMO, and based on the Munster team last season an excellent skills coach too.

Would like to see him bring in a Scrum, Defence and backs coach.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

That's a good decision. McGahan has been an outstanding success with Munster. Paul Warwick, Keith Earls, Niall Ronan, Lifeimi Mafi, Ian Dowling, Denis Hurley (belatedly) and Tomas O'Leary have the Ozzie to thank for bringing their playing careers to a much higher standard than had previously been the case.

MunsterMan is right. If McGahan learns to trust his assistants more, he'll guide Munster to many more ***les. I believe he needs to start with removing Laurie Fisher as forwards coach (I never liked Anthony Foley as a player but he's coming along nicely as a coach) and bringing in some specialists to help the defence and scrum.