MUNSTER RUGBY LEGEND Donal Lenihan has welcomed the appointment of New Zealander Rob Penney at Thomond Park, saying he’ll blood the next generation of players in the province.
Penney was announced as Tony McGahan’s successor in a statement yesterday.
“Rob Penney is not a name a lot of Munster people will know,” Lenihan said on RTÉ radio last night, “but he has a very good coaching pedigree and reputation in New Zealand.
“It isn’t as if Munster have made this appointment lightly; the interview process was quite comprehensive and has been going on for some time now so I know they’re quite happy with their appointment. But like with all these things, only time will tell just how he settles down here.”
And the Corkman insists part of the reason the Kiwi coach got the nod ahead of the likes of Anthony Foley is because of a track record with younger players in his native country.
“The one thing I think could have swayed the Penney appointment [is] part of his role in Canterbury over the years was to develop young players in the Canterbury provincial side for movement onwards up to the Crusaders in the Super Rugby competition. And I thin it’s well documented all the Munster players who’ve retired or are about to retire over the course of the season.
“A number of young players — the Conor Murrays, Peter O’Mahonys, Simon Zebos, Danny Barnes — these guys have played Heineken Cup on a regular basis now but I think there will be more younger guys required to come through and that will be part of the role Penney will play,” he added on Sport At Seven.
