Saili Arrives & Pre-Season Update

Francis Saili attended his first Munster squad session in Cork today watching on from the side-lines after only arriving from New Zealand yesterday evening.

The timely arrival saw the 24-year-old centre feature in his first Munster squad photo as he also joined his team-mates in getting his player headshot completed for the new season.

It wasn’t long before Saili was introduced to the team antics when Dave Kilcoyne appeared at the Munster squad lunch in his full Ireland training kit and the players erupted, standing up and chanting “Ireland, Ireland, Ireland”!

The squad have now completed their fifth week of pre-season and will play their first game in two weeks against Grenoble in Thomond Park. The focus will then switch to Connacht and the Limerick World Club 7s tournament before London Irish complete the pre-season games in Irish Independent Park on Friday August 28^th.

Commenting on pre-season progress Head of Fitness Aled Walters is more than happy with this summer’s programme.

“The guys have fronted up very well to what has been a challenging environment. We were really pleased with the way the lads returned to us after their break as they were all in good condition and it has certainly made life easier for everybody.

"We weren’t playing catch-up in what is a critical period of preparation for the squad, leading us to push the guys further and giving us a licence to work with the lads beyond where they usually would be at this time of year.

"As we move closer to matches the aim is to step up the intensity while maintaining a high volume of training. We will use our upcoming pre-season games as the final steps towards getting ready for the competitive season.”