Erasmus looking to add more quality during the summer

Munster face the Scarlets this Saturday in the Pro 12 final. Munster will be wary of the threat the Scarlets possess after they dismantled Leinster last weekend. Yet, regardless of the outcome, Rassie Erasmus will be pleased with his sides progression this season.

Whilst the Lions tour will dominate the Rugby world during the summer, Erasmus will be focused on strengthening his squad in their bid to improve on this year and keep standards high.

One area which Munster will need to find quality in, is in the second row with the departure of Donnacha Ryan, who has had his finest season to date, to Racing 92 and Dave Foley to Pau.

Donnacha Ryan is leaving the Province after this weekends Pro 12 final.

Erasmus has no worries about attracting players, saying that the Province have had numerous enquiries over the past few months,

“There’s a lot of players that want to come to Munster, it’s really never been a problem, I can tell you I’ve got CVs there of wonderful players who want to come and play for Munster.

“I wanted to come here and Jacques wanted to come here. Munster is a wonderful brand, Munster is a world-wide brand. That will never be the problem. This helps a little bit, but Munster are a big name in the country where I’m from.

“It will always be a financial thing and then a numbers thing, you know, how many foreigners. The nice thing is we are bringing a lot of Irish-qualified guys in, good Irish-qualified guys to bolster our squad.

“It’s more budget-constraint. We would have loved to keep Francis Saili but we just don’t have the money.”

Whilst it is always a priority in Munster to develop home-grown talent, Erasmus will be happy to be given the green light by the IRFU to sign a NIQ (Non Irish-Qualified) player during the off-season. Erasmus has extensive links in his home country and will sure to scout there.

“We must find another second row,”

I’m looking really hard and I’m trying really hard and we’ll find one. We’re only playing in September and there is a lot of plans that we’re trying to make.

“Obviously, to lose Dave and Donners was a bit of a… not a shock, but I didn’t expect it to happen so quickly, both of them in one year. So it’s now my job to find a solution.”

Hopefully any further Munster signings will be joining the 2016/17 Guinness Pro 12 champions.