Munster: ‘Passionate’ Graham Rowntree an excellent appointment according to Jack O’Donoghue

Munster flanker Jack O’Donoghue is delighted to see that the “passionate” Graham Rowntree has been elevated to the role of head coach.

The former England coach joined the Irish province in 2019 as their forwards guru and quickly became a popular member of the backroom team.

With Johann van Graan leaving at the end of the season to join Bath, Munster went in search of their next boss.

Rowntree made no secret of his desire to replace Van Graan and O’Donoghue believes that the 50-year-old is an excellent appointment.

Hit the ground running

“Incredibly pleased,” the back-row told reporters. “From a passion point of view, the minute he came in the door two years ago he hit the ground running.

“To have him stepping up in that head coach role will be exciting and I’m really looking forward to it.”

That passion was in evidence last weekend when Munster faced Exeter Chiefs in the first leg of their Champions Cup clash.

Rowntree went viral on social media after giving his side a dressing-down at the interval following a poor first half display, but O’Donoghue also says that Rowntree can be “calm and composed.”

“Very passionate, I think you saw that from that little two second clip,” O’Donoghue added.

“He’s incredibly passionate about the game, about the scrums, about the breakdown, about the nitty-gritty stuff.

“He gave us a bit of a kick up the hole but the messages after that were really calm and composed. While that’s something you saw in that little snippet from after that the messaging and stuff we were very calm and composed, and we knew exactly what we needed to change and what we needed to do when we out there.

“Graham is an incredible character to have around the place. He’s well able to identify when you’re maybe a bit down and knows exactly how to pick a player up and to motivate a player.

“Certainly around selection and maybe they’re having a tough time with form and stuff, he’s a good man to put an arm around a player and bring him along.

“I think that’s just the vibe around the place and I think that’s why players do speak so highly of him.”

READ MORE: Graham Rowntree confirmed as Johann van Graan’s successor