Munster tying Brian Gleeson down to 2028 is one of those deals that reads like intent, not just a retention for the sake of it. This isn’t a “good lad, keep him around” contract, it’s the province looking at a young back-row with very high ceiling and saying: you’re part of the plan, properly, now. In a market where every serious athlete with Irish potential gets tugged at sooner or later, keeping your own blue-chips in-house is half the battle.

Gleeson looks like the sort of forward you can build almost everything you want to do around. At 6’4″, he’s not just a squat collision-merchant; he’s got the kind of frame that lets you be violent in contact and still play in the modern back-row lanes; the spaces where you have to hit a seam, get through the tackle, and be available again before the defence has reset its picture. That combination is what separates “promising young fella” from “this guy changes how teams have to defend us.”

From purely a Munster lens, the value is obvious: when we’re at our best, we’re a side that turns good shape into points by winning the first two collisions and then punishing the defensive scramble. But when teams don’t respect our carry threat, they crowd the next pass and kill the space behind the pod. A back-row who can win metres even when the defence knows what’s coming is a cheat code for that problem, both now and as he develops, because despite the size of him, Gleeson is still only 21 years old. Gleeson’s profile gives us a carrier who can hold defenders honest, not just because he’s big and powerful, but by being unavoidable.

In Ireland, we often talk about “athletes we don’t really produce here”, and Brian Gleeson is one of those.

There’s also a squad-building angle here that’s worth saying out loud: this is Munster protecting the future of our back row before it becomes a conversation. We can talk about systems all we want, but big European games still come down to whether you’ve got forwards who can bend the line, stay on their feet, and keep the attack alive when the opposition are trying to make it ugly. Players who can do that — and do it repeatedly — don’t come cheap, and they don’t hang around unless you’re proactive. It is unthinkable that Brian Gleeson didn’t have offers elsewhere — big money, big projects — because he brings the kind of violence and impact that very few 21-year-olds can bring.

Look at how he’s been used since the minute he finished his outstanding 20s campaign, where he was Ireland’s most important player in his first year, and how badly missed he was during the 20s Six Nations in 2024. In his first season with the 20s, he scored eight tries in ten appearances as an 18-year-old. In the one game he played in the 2024 Six Nations, he scored a try. He is undeniable.

He made his senior debut for Munster the next season, and played three Champions Cup games, all off the bench as a 19-year-old. In a preseason game against the Barbarians that year, he scored two tries, battering through defenders in each one. Later that season, he’d make a similar impact putting Juarno Agustus, of all people, flat on his arse on the loop off a lineout in Thomond Park.

I mean, good God.

He continued that run with some outstanding early-season performances against Scarlets, Edinburgh and, most notably, Leinster in Croke Park, where he was the dominant forward on the field before going off with an elbow injury.

Everything about him screams “potential multi-cap international”, even in an environment where that’s been hard to come by for Munster players in the last five years.

So the contract is the “easy” part. The next part is the proper part: more minutes, role clarity in the system, and the gradual shift from being an “impact threat” to “bankable starter.” If we get that right, a deal to 2028 won’t feel like a headline; it’ll feel like the boring, sensible thing we did before everyone else started talking about Brian Gleeson like he’s the problem that needs solving when you play Munster and Ireland.

And the best thing is, Brian Gleeson looks like he’s a problem that won’t be easily solved by anyone.