When it comes to positional trends, no role on the field is more prone to flux than wingers in test rugby. When you think about it, no position on the field has more “fireworks” players who burst onto the scene for a few years and score all around them before (a) slowly drifting back to a level of performance more in line with the average or (b) get hobbled by consistent injuries or (c) both.

List the names that come to mind straight away when we think of “huge breakout followed by option (a), (b) or (c) described above. I had a quick 30-second think about players who might fit this bracket at test level and I came up with; Jacob Stockdale, Caleb Clarke, Julian Savea, Anthony Watson, Nehe Milner-Skudder, Waisake Naholo, George Bridge and Alivereti Raka.

All had massively memorable seasons where they looked like players who would score that super elite 40+ test try marker at one stage or another or at least become one of the wingers people associate with rugby as a sport, like Doug Howlett, Jonah Lomu, David Campese, Bryan Habana and even guys like Joe Rokocoko.

The reality is, most wingers will never come close to this level of production because it’s exceedingly rare that a winger will stay relevant at test level for longer than two World Cup cycles. It’s why players like Keith Earls are so rare. Now there’s a man that exemplifies the old adage of being wary of the old man in a young man’s game.

Take Dave Kearney, for example. The peak of his test relevance came between 2013/14 and 2015/16. He’s earned three caps since his last block of regular test appearances in the build-up to and direct aftermath of the 2015 World Cup. He’s been a constant for Leinster in the interim period of seven seasons.

Simon Zebo follows a similar trajectory with his test relevance ending in 2016/17, with the majority of his peak production at that level happening inside a four-year window. Now that doesn’t mean that players are washed up after that four-year period – far from it – as they can still be highly productive at club level for years afterwards but as they age, injuries begin to pile up at a rate that’s outsized compared to other areas of the pitch.

At Munster, we know all about that with the knocks and injuries we’ve seen to Keith Earls, Andrew Conway and Simon Zebo who were all either injured or recovering from injury at the time of writing. Look at how many knocks Cheslin Kolbe and the likes of James Lowe have picked up in the last few years as an example elsewhere in the game.

Why have I spent 400 words laying this out? Because my hot take is that blowing a significant percentage of your provincial spend on a winger – even a power winger – is a Bad Idea. That isn’t to say that there isn’t value in signing a top-class, super-elite winger because there is but my ultimate point is that those players are so rare and so expensive that they are only worth pursuing as a finishing touch to a squad that is all but complete in every other department. Think signing Doug Howlett in 2007 – that’s how super elite we’re talking about here.

Over the last few years, we’ve been blessed – on paper – with two really good wingers that fall just short of this super elite status – Andrew Conway and Keith Earls. Earls has been a centrally contracted player since 2012 so he has, essentially, been a “free” player on Munster’s books since that point. Conway has been anything but, especially since his last contract renewal in early 2020, right before the pandemic.

I won’t go back over it but, purely from a budgetary and on-field production perspective, that has been a bad contract for Munster which comes to an end this season. I would be shocked if Conway is re-signed on terms anywhere close to his current contract value as it currently stands.

Keith Earls will, in all likelihood, finish up after the 2023 World Cup when his contract ends so if that holds along with Conway leaving, that will mean a radical shift of the “in principle” back three depth chart, especially if Zebo’s usage continues to dip in line with his age in the last year of his contract.

Munster have a good roster of back three players as it stands but they are all relatively similar in role type, with Shane Daly being the closest thing to a role variant in that layer below Earls/Conway/Zebo.

That, for me, leaves room for Munster to recruit a Power Winger. Systemically, I think a Power Winger is a perfect fit for what we want to do in Prendergast’s system as it makes it easier to earn wide edge positions without burning a forward and it gives you a compressing presence on loop routes as an inside threat.

What are the qualifying factors for a Power Winger?

• Height: Between 6’1″ – 6’4″
• Weight: 100kg+
• In Game Strengths: Ball dominant, straight line runner who can win collisions all over the pitch in phase play and off the set piece, impactful offensive breakdown presence, comfortable in a high movement attacking scheme as opposed to waiting on the wing to advance.
• Acceptable Weakness: Doesn’t need to be a lock down defender, doesn’t need to be an accomplished kicker – we can scheme around that.

With Ihechi Oji bubbling away in the NTS system, I think you could make a really strong argument for bringing in a more notable player in that role type for him, and others, to learn off in the same way that Edwin Edogbo and Thomas Ahern have benefitted from training alongside/sitting in the rehab room with RG Snyman for the last two years.

The question is this – who is available and fits our profile?

When it comes to bigger names, there’s no value to be had in this market in my opinion. Marika Koroibete, for example, recently moved to Japan on a three year deal worth – on the face of it – around €2,000,000 in wages which works out at around €650k per year before you consider other perks that would come as standard.

Besides the money issues, there aren’t really any Big Names coming up ahead of 2023/24. So when we’re looking at established names we’re looking at players aged 24-27 in the 2/3 cap bracket who are three players back in their World Cup depth chart or players coming towards the end of their test careers looking for something new.

The first player that comes to mind for me in this bracket is;

Target #1 – Leicester Fainga’anuku 

Current Club: Crusaders, New Zealand.
Out of contract in 2023? : Yes
Physical Dimensions: 6’2″/109KG

Fainga’anuku played a part in the recent All Blacks tour of the Northern Hemisphere but was solidly in the junior rotation when it came to the All Blacks wing slots before he left the tour for family reasons. He signed a three-year deal in 2019 with the Crusaders after some really exciting work at NPC level and in Super Rugby. I have no idea what type of money he’s on but I would imagine it’s more than you think but less than what his physical talents could earn up north.

He could be a perfect power winger for Munster, especially if he feels his World Cup prospects are slimmer than they appear in the shark tank that is the two wing spots he’s eligible for in New Zealand. Things move so fast there, you can find yourself tumbling down a depth chart so fast you wouldn’t believe it. If it can happen to George Bridge, an incredibly well-balanced and talented system winger, it can happen to Fainga’anuku.
He would be far from cheap – at least €400k per year when it was all said and done to just get him to make the move – but he would bring the kind of hard-edge setting and power in contact that could really add to our attacking framework.

If we’re looking for a player with a similar profile but slightly cheaper, we have the second target;

Target #2 – Salesi Rayasi

Current Club: Hurricanes, New Zealand.
Out of contract in 2023? : Yes
Physical Dimensions: 6’4″/105KG

You probably haven’t heard of Salesi Rayasi but he’s a fairly good fit with the criteria we’re looking for. He’s 26, a really powerful runner in transition. He’s out of contract this season and he’s in that kind of spot where he’s not a massive name inside New Zealand or a player with a groundswell of support pushing him towards All Blacks selection so a move overseas could make sense to him.

He’s not a hugely dominant ball carrier but he’s incredibly athletic and could make a real difference in our system. Not an exact fit, but enough to be worth pursuing for the right price.

My final option is one that fits an old profile that we haven’t really heard about in a while – the project player. The new law says that you can achieve national qualification if you’re resident in a country for 60 months. That’s five years – two contracts – and it means that any player you go looking for has to be young enough to be worth pursuing. That means someone ages 19/20 with the exact physical profile we’re looking for who can come straight into the senior squad and be productive inside two seasons and elite within three or four with a view to wearing a green jersey in 2027.

I have someone that I think might fit.

Target #3 – Ebenezer Tshimanga

Current Club: Western Province/Stormers, South Africa.
Out of contract in 2023? : Maybe
Physical Dimensions: 6’2″/104KG

Ebenezer Tshimanga is a monster. Originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tshimanga already qualifies for South Africa on residency – like the Tshitsuka brothers at the Sharks/Lions – so he’s likely already on the Springboks’ radar but how about we offer him a three-year contract on €180k per annum with a deal to improve on that thereafter? He’s not going to play test rugby for Congo, the Springboks winger slots are absolutely stacked so why not get in there before a French TOP14 club does?

He’s powerful, he wins collisions, he’s almost impossible to stop when he gets the ball on an angle and he’s 20. Get him into a system like ours and he can be a top, top player in the next five years.