Back in January, I wrote an article called Signing A Prop in this series that spoke, amongst other things, about the need to add genuine size and power to our front-row options as a priority for the coming season. Thomas Du Toit was my preferred option. At the time, he was off contract but he ultimately joined Bath instead. There were a few rumours that Munster were (a) talking to him and (b) looking for dispensation to sign him from the IRFU, but they came to nothing in the end.

A few months after this, Munster would announce contract renewals for Niall Scannell, Dave Kilcoyne, Stephen Archer and John Ryan, who return to the province this summer after an excellent stint in Super Rugby with the Chiefs.

John Ryan was the only signing in the front five ahead of this season when it came to senior players. George Hadden joined the Academy from Clontarf with rumours abounding that he’ll be joined by the u20 tighthead Ronan Foxe later in the year.

There are a few different reasons for Munster’s reluctance to go big in the front-row market for this coaching group’s second season.

1. Anyone worth signing is expensive and, most likely, tied up contractually until the summer of 2024 due to the World Cup.
2. Getting dispensation from the IRFU for the immediate aftermath of the World Cup – season 2023/24 – is difficult as it’s the start of a cycle and the IRFU will be looking for depth options in the provinces, especially at loosehead.
3. There were other, higher-priority areas that needed to be filled in a hurry – midfield, in particular.

If I were to make an educated guess, I would suggest that, from a national perspective, it’s probably easier to get permission to sign a hooker and a tighthead for 2024/25 than it is to get a loosehead. For a start, Ulster have signed Stephen Kitshoff to a massive three-year deal and, usually, the IRFU are reluctant to allow multiple NIQs in the same position across the provinces.

When you combine that with Andrew Porter’s importance to the national squad – arguably Ireland’s most important, least replaceable forward – Cian Healy’s impending retirement, Dave Kilcoyne hitting 35 this season on a one-year provincial deal and, with Andy Farrell seemingly reluctant to trust any other looseheads outside of those three – even Jeremy Loughman seems to be way down the chart, even while at the World Cup – it’s almost inevitable that players like Jack Boyle, Josh Wycherley, Michael Milne and others will need to see a lot of primary game time in the next few seasons as it’s an area of national interest.

So, for me, signing an NIQ loosehead is a non-starter, especially with Ulster having Kitshoff signed up for the majority of the next World Cup cycle.

That leaves hooker and tighthead.

Last season, I was very much on the “sign a power hooker” train and, while it might be a priority for the coaching staff at Munster, I think the emergence of Diarmuid Barron as a quality option along with the reliable role set of Niall Scannell (on a fresh two-year deal) and the medium term potential of Scott Buckley and Chris Moore will probably see us look for academy signings as opposed to shelling out big money for a senior hooker.

When you also consider that Diarmuid Barron is something of a leader in this group and, for me, is a player with long-term potential at test level, I think spending big money on a hooker might not be a good use of funds unless you’re going after a real superstar.

That leaves one spot to invest in, and it’s one of the most expensive roles in the game.

The Tighthead Power Forward. 

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At this stage, I personally can’t see any way that Munster keep both RG Snyman and Jean Kleyn beyond the end of 2023/24. It will come down to Munster picking one or the other. I have had it put to me that because Jean Kleyn is now NIQ, both he and Snyman should leave at the end of this season in favour of Irish-qualified options taking over in 2023/24.

While that’s certainly possible, I don’t think that will happen.

When it comes down to that discussion with Nucifora, I think Munster will, rightly, put it to him that Jean Kleyn is a core leader and cornerstone of this Munster pack. Not only that, I think they will also point out that his newly found NIQ status is entirely because Andy Farrell didn’t select a player that Munster had developed into someone who could feature in key World Cup matches for the World Champion Springboks in four years of test rugby. Jean Kleyn’s NIQ status is because of decisions made at the High Performance Unit so why should Munster’s depth chart for the next three years suffer because of that?

It also would put way too much pressure on Edogbo, Ahern and O’Connell to step up sooner than I think they’re ready for. Ahern is the closest to being that guy – and I think he will if he can stay fit for longer than three months consecutively – but he’d be a lot better stepping up alongside Kleyn than instead of him.

Kleyn will be a more expensive contract this time around given his role at the end of the year with Munster but I think they’ll make that deal happen. Ideally, I’d get him on a three-year deal to ease in Edogbo and O’Connell, but I’d be happy with two.

Obviously, that leaves no room for RG Snyman. In an ideal world, we’d retain both with the idea being that they can pair with and develop our younger locks but I think it’s unlikely that we’ll get that dispensation after four contracted years at the province since 2019.

I think we’ll need to put time into Ahern this season to, essentially, replace Snyman role-for-role. That will only happen if Ahern can stay fit, sure, but I genuinely feel that if he can “break out” this year, then the potential loss of Snyman won’t hurt half as bad as it seems.

That will leave a bulk of funding that Munster can use in other positions. I think the smart play for 2024/25 is to go big on a tighthead prop.

Our contracting cycle seems set up to do just that.

All of our senior props bar Roman Salanoa are out of contract at the end of this season. John Ryan and Stephen Archer are on one-year veteran deals and we know exactly what to expect out of both – quality. That said, they are both heading into their mid-30s so we’ll have to freshen up the position at some point. Knox is coming into the last year of a two-year contract where he only managed 257 minutes last season – four starts and eight bench appearances. A lot of that was injury-enforced, sure, but I think it’s far from unfair to suggest that Munster need to see a return from the near five-year investment in him next season. Roman Salanoa was, arguably, in the same boat ahead of last season but he really managed to turn it around with nine starts in twenty appearances overall, culminating with a big run of important minutes on the trophy run at the end of the season.

Unfortunately, he isn’t expected to play any significant minutes until February at the earliest due to a knee issue, which should give Knox the space he needs to make a run at the jersey alongside Ryan or Archer if he’s capable of making a run. His fitness and application to being that guy is really important, especially with his contract running down. If he can stay fit, Knox needs to show that he can be a physical cornerstone of this team.

The physical ingredients are all there – we just need to see them on the field. This year must be the year.

Either way, I think the lane is clear for Munster to make a go at signing a big-name tighthead prop ahead of the 2024/25 season to pair with Salanoa and one of Archer and Ryan. If Knox can show he belongs, that might impact one of the veteran props but it would not dilute the need for top-end power, in my opinion.

With Michael Ala’alatoa likely to come under the same conceptual pressure as RG Snyman – Leinster have had him in place for what will amount to three seasons if he is, as rumoured, on a one-year deal post-World Cup – I think there’s space to bring in a NIQ tighthead to this Munster group. From an Irish perspective, Furlong is on a three-year central deal, and Finlay Bealham is the 1B to him at a good age with Tom O’Toole seemingly finding a spot as the younger backup trusted by Farrell and his staff.

So that leaves the question – who?

Who is worth spending the money on? To know that, we have to look at what our requirements are.

Last season, we were in the lower half of the league when it came to scrums won (90%) and next to dead last when it came to scrum penalties earned (13th out of 16 with 15 penalties across the entire URC campaign). That means we need an aggressive, super-heavyweight scrummager who earns scrum penalties.

With our system, we also need a prop that can take up some of our tighter ball carrying off #9 while also offering a hefty breakdown presence on both sides of the ball. Munster play on-ball rugby so we don’t need our props to be cardio machines – we need them to move in short bursts on both sides of the ball.

Finally, who’s available?

I think the answer to all of these questions is Carlü Sadie.

He’s joined Bordeaux this season as a medical joker for the World Cup so there could be scope to bring this 135kg tighthead power forward ahead of 2024/25.

This is the type of player I believe we should be looking at for a two/three-year deal to make us more competitive at the top end of Europe with URC winners medals in our back pockets.