Fifth man.

Munster Rugby CEO Ian Flanagan has confirmed that the province are in the market for a fifth coach to add to their current ticket – but it is not their main priority at the moment.

Following the departures of Jerry Flannery and Felix Jones last summer, former England international Graham Rowntree and Wallabies legend Stephen Larkham were brought in to work alongside head coach Johann van Graan and defence coach JP Ferreira.

Larham has been working primarily with the backs while Rowntree has been handling the forwards but it appears Munster have identified another area that needs attention – perhaps in the form of a skills coach or someone to help out at lineout time.

Speaking via a conference call yesterday, Flanagan said the province’s main focus right now is a safe return to rugby but they will actively continue to search for a fifth coach.

“There is a position which we’ve identified, which is a fifth coach position,” said Flanagan yesterday.

“Essentially there’s no update in that space. I think it is something that is on our radar.

“Equally, in the current environment and circumstances, I think anyone who is out there looking to find coaching positions is finding it a challenging market place simply because all clubs are dealing with a period of financial uncertainty and so on.

“So we’re clear that our focus at the moment because it is an enormous amount of work going on around the return to training and then the return to play, we’ve instituted a whole host of sanitation and protocols, and we’re adhering to the guidelines which have been agreed with the department of health and the IRFU and so on.

“Our main focus at the moment is ensuring our current staff return to training safely and that we take care of their health and safety and that we manage the next two months of return to train safely in advance of those August games and that we navigate our way through those.

“That’s the main priority for us more than anything else at the moment, so I’ve got no update regarding a fifth coach, only that it’s a position that we’ll keep under active review and actively in talks with Johann regularly on it.”