Helping hand.

Munster’s pre-season preparations are well and truly underway with new senior coach Stephen Larkham arriving in Limerick last week as part of a new look coaching ticket.

Former England and Lions coach Graham Rowntree is another new addition as forwards coach, but won’t take up his new position until after he is finished his duties with Georgia at the World Cup.

But another former England international with plenty of pedigree was in Limerick to assist today. Former Sale Sharks outhalf Charlie Hodgson will be assisting Munster for the next two days. We caught up with head coach Johann van Graan who explained this is nothing new.

“We bring in consultants continuously. He’s here for two days looking at some individuals, similar to what we did last season with Fourie du Preez when he brought him in to help our nines.” van Graan said.

“We’ll continuously look to add people and bring them into our set-up for a day or two.”

Van Graan added that there are “one or two” more guys set to come in over the next few weeks both “on and off” the field.