Munster Rugby's new South African signing joins squad at UL for pre-season training

THE Munster Rugby men’s team is continuing with their pre-season training programme at the High Performance Centre at UL this week with Ireland internationals Tadhg Beirne, Craig Casey, Jack Crowley, Oli Jager, Calvin Nash, Conor Murray and Peter O’Mahony joining the squad.

All seven internationals toured South Africa with Ireland over the summer and have completed their off-season.

Having obtained a visa, new signing Thaakir Abrahams has arrived in Munster and trained at the High Performance Centre for the first time last week. He will be integrated into squad training this week.

The squad were on the road on for an Open Training Session at Fethard Town Park. A range of family-friendly activities took place on the day.

The Munster men face Bath at The Rec on Saturday in the province’s opening pre-season game with the squad to be named on Friday.

Former Munster Rugby head coach Johann van Graan is the current Head of Rugby at Bath RFC.

Munster then face Gloucester at Virgin Media Park on Friday, September 6, at 7pm.

Nine players have joined the Munster Rugby senior squad this summer with four new additions and five players stepping up from the Academy.

Thaakir Abrahams, Billy Burns, Tom Farrell and Diarmuid Kilgallen are the new signings.

Abrahams has joined Munster on a two-year contract after one season with Lyon where he scored five tries in five Champions Cup appearances.

A former South Africa U20 international, Abrahams helped the Junior Springboks to a third-placed finish at the 2019 U20 World Cup. He represented Western Province at underage level before moving to Durban to join the Sharks, quickly making his Super Rugby debut in 2020.

His three seasons at Sharks saw Abrahams impress in the Champions Cup, URC, Super Rugby and Currie Cup competitions before his move to Lyon last summer.

Ireland international out-half Billy Burns has joined Munster on a one-year contract after an excellent six years at Ulster Rugby.
The out-half made 114 appearances for Ulster since joining in 2018, scoring 120 points and nailing down the starting 10 jersey.

Prior to joining Ulster, Burns made 101 appearances for Gloucester after making his debut as a 17-year-old. Born in Bath, he qualifies for Ireland through his grandfather.

Tom Farrell has joined Munster on a two-year deal after a very successful seven years at Connacht where he scored 21 tries in 112 appearances.

A former Ireland U20 international, Farrell joined Connacht from Bedford Blues in 2017 and quickly became a key member of their squad.

Exciting young speedster Kilgallen hails from Eadestown in Kildare and joins Munster on a two-year deal after scoring 12 tries in 23 appearances for Connacht.

Tony Butler, Ethan Coughlan, Mark Donnelly, Edwin Edogbo and Brian Gleeson move up from the Academy having already made 52 senior appearances between them.

Munster will open their 2024/2025 United Rugby Championship campaign at home to interprovincial rivals Connacht at Thomond Park on Saturday, September 21, kick-off 5.30pm.