Determined Cronin is a true inspiration, says boss Van Graan

MUNSTER coach Johann van Graan has praised the manner in which schoolteacher Neil Cronin chased his dream to make his first start for Munster at 25 years of age, saying he is a wonderful example for aspiring players.

Cronin, younger brother of Irish hooker Sean, spent last season teaching at St Munchin’s in Limerick, but his impressive displays for Garryowen saw the scrum-half rewarded with a oneyear contract by Munster.

It’s his second spell with his native province, having made four appearances off the bench in the 2014-15 season, but those cameo roles against Leinster, Cardiff, Glasgow and Connacht amounted to no more than 15 minutes of action.

Van Graan threw Cronin in at the deep end last Saturday and was rewarded with an excellent display as Munster ran out 38-0 winners over the Cheetahs.

“Sometimes in life we so often look at the negatives, but I think it is a feel-good story, it is a great story for an individual. When I met him the first time last year he was coaching and he coached a school team to a Championship,” said Van Graan, with Cronin being the assistant coach as St Munchin’s College won the Munster Schools’ Junior Cup.

“What a nice story of a guy who just kept going. Rugby is in his family and he used his coaching to better his rugby ability, came in with an open mind, worked hard and I am just so glad for him.

“I think it is a classic example of somebody that got an opportunity, worked pretty hard over the past 10 weeks, trained himself into the team and used his opportunity. He will be the first to say that the tempo was pretty high and, like I said, it is the next step for him. He has come in with a very open mind and a very positive attitude.”

Van Graan was also pleased with the way Joey Carbery performed in his first game.

“Joey Carbery to us is one of our 47 senior contracted players. It was good to get him onto the field, we said we are going to use the squad. Currently we have four out-halves available, we will rotate them,” he said. “I thought he slotted into the team pretty well. I also thought that JJ (Hanrahan) played a pretty decent game at 10 and then at 15. Then we’ve got Keats (Ian Keatley) and Bill Johnson available as well.”

Meanwhile, new Connacht captain Jarrad Butler says that while they were disappointed to be pipped by Glasgow on the opening weekend, they are looking for an immediate response when Zebre come to the Sportsground on Saturday.

Former Connacht coach Michael Bradley, who guided the Italians to a double win against the westerners last season, will come to Galway with a spring in his step after a bonus-point victory over the Southern Kings.

However, Butler says they have learned from their 27-26 loss to Glasgow at the weekend.

“You have to be on for 80 minutes against a team like Glasgow and for long periods we were in a good place, but credit to Glasgow, they made the most of the opportunities,” he said. “We were confident after a good pre-season, but knew it was going to be tough against Glasgow.

“But we will take a lot of learnings out of that and are confident that we can keep building.”

Connacht have four of their first five games at home and Butler knows they need to make them count.

“It is going to be a busy month. Zebre had a good win so we know what to expect, but there are a lot of positives we can take,” he added. Hard work: Neil Cronin has fought to get to where he is