Fineen used time out injured to improve his game

FINEEN Wycherley made use of his three months on the sidelines to pinpoint the parts of his game he wants to improve.

The Bantry man suffered a shoulder injury in October and didn't return to full Munster training until the last week of January – but Wycherley was still busy improving his game during his time out.

The 25-year-old has become an important player in the Munster squad and was capped for Ireland in the summer of 2021 but knows more is needed if he wants to move to the next level.

‘Probably for me, it’s around my carry, after contact keeping my legs alive and the option to catch the ball early and be able to ball play at a higher level,’ explained Wycherley, who sought the advice of Munster defence coach Denis Leamy.

‘I think it’s an easy skill but catching the ball early and keeping it off your chest, it’s something that you don’t think about a whole pile.’

‘But after the last couple of months, I have had a lot of time to think about it and for me it’s been that carry, the ability to make more yardage on my carry and to put guys away or whatever the call may be. 

‘That’s probably been the biggest work-on over the last couple of weeks,’ added Wycherley, who has now racked up over 90 games for Munster.

The West Cork man, who came through the ranks at Bantry Bay RFC, made his debut for Munster in 2017 and has developed into a key player in the squad. 

He wants more, and hopes working with former Ireland back row Denis Leamy at Munster can help him.

‘Obviously I couldn't do contact, but he just had so many drills, obviously he's worked with Josh (van der Flier at Leinster) and with different players in Leinster and he was able to give me a lot of those drills that I could use,’ Wycherley said.

‘They didn't have contact in them but it was more the mental side of things that you could do yourself with one other fella passing you the ball, low level drills but definitely over the last couple of weeks I see them helping me now when I'm back into full training and into games.’