A Whole Host Of Top Players Are Queuing Up To Sign For Munster
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There’s no shortage of top players queueing up to sign for Munster according to Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus.
The Munster boss was speaking at UL yesterday after his side secured a spot in the PRO12 final on Saturday with a comprehensive win over Ospreys at Thomond Park.
Erasmus says a number of ‘wonderful player’s have handed in their CV’s and want to join the province, but budget restraints are an issue.
Finding the right player at the right cost will be key for the southern province.
There’s a lot of players that want to come to Munster, it’s really never been a problem,” says Erasmus.
“I can tell you I’ve got CVs there of wonderful players who want to come and play for Munster.”
“I wanted to come here and Jacques wanted to come here. Munster is a wonderful brand, Munster is a world-wide brand. That will never be the problem. This helps a little bit, but Munster are a big name in the country where I’m from.
“It will always be a financial thing and then a numbers thing, you know, how many foreigners. The nice thing is we are bringing a lot of Irish-qualified guys in, good Irish-qualified guys to bolster our squad.
The two-time European champions would have liked to have kept Francis Saili for example, but at the end of the day they just couldn’t afford his wages with the former All Black reportedly on €500,000 a season.
“It’s more budget-constraint. We would have loved to keep Francis Saili but we just don’t have the money.”
The42 are reporting that it is believed that the IRFU have granted Munster permission to sign a NIQ second-row in the wake of Donnacha Ryan and Dave Foley’s departure.
“We must find another second row,” says Erasmus.
“I’m looking really hard and I’m trying really hard and we’ll find one. We’re only playing in September [when the 2017/18 season starts] and there is a lot of plans that we’re trying to make.
“Obviously, to lose Dave and Donners was a bit of a… not a shock, but I didn’t expect it to happen so quickly, both of them in one year. So it’s now my job to find a solution.”
