Chris Cloete is coming to the boil nicely.
The 26-year-old South African flanker made the Munster faithful wait until November until he lined out but he is quickly finding his feet. In each of his three outings, Cloete has lasted longer and longer. Last Saturday, against Ospreys, he played the full 80 in another sizeable win.
Registered in Munster’s Champions Cup squad, and with Tommy O’Donnell out injured, we may get a good, long look at him in the back to back ties with Leicester Tigers.
Munster forwards coach Jerry Flannery has been working closely with Cloete since his arrival, in October, and is keen to see him get a run in that openside role. He noted that the try Cloete scored against Ospreys [below] is a good example of his rugby brain.
Clip credit: PRO14 Rugby
“Chris has settled in really, really well,” Flannery told The Hard Yards.
“He’s 100% a specialist openside. We were really fortunate in a way that Chris came in as Tommy O’Donnell picked up an injury up in national camp – with his AC – and it would have left us a little short there. Chris came in and he’s had a big impact.
“He’s a clever player, in terms of if you saw his try against Ospreys – he was tackled and released the ball, then he picked it up again, went in and scored. He’s short but he’s very, very powerful. He’s slotted in well here. It’s going to be very… he’s a good addition to the squad and he gives us something different.
“We had Conor Oliver at the start of the season there, a young openside side who had played fantastically well for us last year. We were looking forward to it as he was tearing it up in preseason, but he injured his shoulder and that would have left us thin in terms of cover at 7.”
Short, powerful and clever definitely sums up the former Southern Kings star. He is compact but built like wrecking ball and has yet to find a Munster jersey to properly fit him.
Wise in the ways of showing off that hard-earned physique, Cloete may well be using a tactic Flannery himself was once tempted to employ back in his playing days.
“I’d say whatever jersey we find,” he remarked, “Chris he’s to just try get it tapered in to make himself look bigger. Small man syndrome – I know a lot about it myself!”
Check out our full Champions Cup preview in the latest episode of The Hard Yards:
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