'Chris Boyd will act as another layer of support' says Munster Rugby interim head coach Ian Costello

"CHRIS Boyd will be joining us at the end of this week and with his knowledge and experience we are really excited to see where he can contribute. It'll be business as usual for the rest of us, but Chris will be there to see where he can help improve us in all aspects of the club, not just on the pitch."

This was interim Munster Rugby head coach Ian Costello's thoughts on the province's announcement of Boyd joining the Munster set-up as a Performance Consultant. In the wake of Gramham Rowntree leaving the head coaching role at the province the club are still on the hunt for someone to fill his boots and having someone like Boyd to join the team in the meantime is a huge boost for Munster.

Boyd has a distinguished coaching career which includes leading the Hurricanes to a Super Rugby title during his time as head coach of the New Zealand club between 2015-2018. 

The New Zealander joined Northampton Saints as Director of Rugby ahead of the 2018/19 season and throughout his four-year tenure, oversaw the return of the English club to regular knockout rugby at domestic and European level. 

Costello went on to speak about the Performance Consultant role stating: "Coaching is part of the job but it's about all aspects of performance as well. Chris is a highly experienced coach, coach developer and consultant around all elements of performance, he does it for World Rugby, New Zealand, Tonga and currently with Highlanders and we know his association with Northampton as well.

"As we are still going through the process of looking for a head coach we are always looking for layers of support and that will be Chris' role. He is going to support the coaching team and then all areas of performance outside of that. We are delighted to have Chris on the ground with us here at the HPC and we feel the best way to work together would to have him here to understand the environment."

There is no time like the present to get the highly experienced New Zealander into the set-up as Munster turn all their attention to first round of the Investec Champions Cup this Saturday against Stade Français in Thomond Park at 5:30pm. With all of their Irish Internationals back from International duty interim head coach Ian Costello will have the pick of most of the squad.