Former Ireland head coach Eddie O’Sullivan has criticised Munster for “mucking around” for too long as they remain without a long-term successor to Graham Rowntree.

Rowntree and Munster surprisingly parted ways in October last year and since then Ian Costello has taken over as interim head coach above Mike Prendergast and Denis Leamy.

Munster also bid farewell to forwards coach Andi Kyriacou due to family reasons in November as the backroom team that won the United Rugby Championship is no longer in situ.

Rowntree successor

O’Sullivan was speaking as a pundit on RTÉ after the side’s away victory over the Dragons on Saturday and believes the lack of decision on Rowntree‘s successor is hurting them.

“The one thing you don’t want in these situations is for it to turn into a sort of soap opera, and we’re getting into that realm now,” said the former Ireland head coach.

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“Is Mikey Prendergast going to be the next coach, he’s put up his hand, why are they holding back announcing him? If he’s up they should tell him rather than let it run on for month after month.

“This is going on since October. It’s not a good thing for a rugby team to have this indecision going on around the organisation, the longer it goes on the messier it could get and it won’t help the changing room.

Prendergast has publicly thrown his hat into the ring to take over the top job and O’Sullivan believes the longer the wait goes on it doesn’t bode well for the attack coach.

‘Mucking around’

“If I was in Mike Prendergast’s position I’d want to know if I was going to get it or not going to get it,” he added.

“The longer it goes on that he’s not getting it and they’re looking around, it would indicate that he’s not going to get it – and then if they do give it to him at the end, some can say why didn’t you give it to him at the outset?

“This indecision doesn’t help Mikey Prendergast or the team.”

O’Sullivan concluded: “Tonight’s performance doesn’t help anything either. The second half was sloppy so it’s getting to the point now where do we go through this for another two or three months before we find out what’s happening? It’s a long time to be mucking around.”

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Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/ex-ireland-coach-criticises-munster-for-mucking-around-over-naming-graham-rowntree-successor