Taute vows to get best from Farrell

CENTRE Jaco Taute believes Munster signing Chris Farrell can progress to international level and the Springbok says he is happy to help the Tyrone native achieve this goal. Former Ulster player Farrell moved back to Ireland during the summer after three years with Grenoble in France and Taute believes he can be a lethal exponent for Munster and Ireland. ‘He’s a great bloke, really enjoys playing for Munster and is a young guy with big aspirations,’ said Taute, who has started alongside Farrell (below) in the centre in the bonus-point wins over Benetton and the Cheetahs in the opening two games. ‘He has goals to play for Ireland and that’s normal, that’s why he came back. For me as a foreign player, I want to get the best out of him. ‘He played very well in France in a losing team at Grenoble. I studied a number of his games before he came, to see what type of player he is, so we could get the best out of him. ‘He is very balanced and likes to have the ball in his hands. Playing inside him is about creating as much space as is possible so he can thrive. He is a hard runner, gets his hands through, so he can off-load. ‘We would like to see more of that. It’s all about putting him into space, trying to create space for him, putting him into positions where he can use his strong running ability,’ added Taute, capped three times by South Africa and who has scored eight tries in 27 appearances since joining Munster a year ago. Taute says losing Munster head coach Rassie Erasmus and defence coach Jacques Nienaber to his home country will be a blow for Munster but they won’t take a backward step. ‘As a squad we’ve been together a year now with Rassie and Jacques and we’ve been through some tough times, which really bonded the squad. ‘We know that challenge [Erasmus’s departure] will come but we’re a really close, tightknit bunch of guys. We put the team first and not individuals.’