MUNSTER DIRECTOR OF rugby Rassie Erasmus has ruled out any move for Ian Madigan.
He said that Madigan was not on his radar and that they wouldn’t be bringing him back to Ireland from Begles Bordeaux.
“No, definitely not,” he responded when asked if there was any move to sign Madigan.
Erasmus is set to bolster his backline next season with Chris Farrell joining from Grenoble and JJ Hanrahan returning from Northampton Saints, although there are reports that Ian Keatley could be moving to France.
Erasmus has more immediate concerns to worry him as he prepares to keep Munster on top of the Pro12 next weekend with eleven of his men included in the Irish squad.
And that number could grow down the line with Erasmus confident that Dave Kilcoyne will work his way back into the Irish squad, having been omitted for the French match.
That means he will be available to Munster for next Friday’s clash against Scarlets at Thomond Park, which Erasmus describes as a mixed blessing.
“I’m very disappointed in a positive way. I don’t want to be quoted that I’m very disappointed and it comes out in a bad way. Ireland has got quality props, you know. I think it is more testament of the quality of players Ireland has available in the loosehead position.
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“But he will get there again, he is good enough to play international rugby, I believe. And eh’ll get his chance again. He won’t go down now and lie over and say: ‘I didn’t make it’. He’ll keep on fighting. Obviously you can only pick 23 guys to play and the squad is only so big, but we must really have quality loose heads if he doesn’t make it.
“My thing about Killer is if he’s disappointed or motivated or demotivated, or on a bad week or good week, you always know how he will pitch up for a game. He will always pitch up for a game positive, ready to go. I’m not sure if we will benefit from that because he is not that kind of guy. He wants to play well for Munster and that’s it.”
Jack O’Donoghue (ankle) and centre Rory Scannell (knee) did not train in University of Limerick yesterday (MON) but Erasmus has not ruled them out of Friday’s clash with fourth-place Scarlets.
Meanwhile, Erasmus said the loss of lock Jean Kleyn for the next eight to ten weeks is a blow but he expects the next man to step in and replace the South African.
“We are disappointed, but like any other player. When we lost Francis Saili last year we had to cope with that we lost James Cronin now, he’s been out for five or six weeks. I think when you start listing and numbering the amount of players that’s out you just try to get excuses for losing.
“And you know, Jean Kleyn is just like any one of the other players, the next guy will step in and take his opportunity and do well. Any player is a loss for us. So we will miss Jean just like all the others.”
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