Foley craves consistency as Munster target title

Last year's third-place finishers are gearing up for the start of the new season and preparing to square off with Edinburgh Rugby in their opening match.

The 2011 champions have a new man at the helm in Foley who believes his side have the potential to be vying for honours come the end of the season.

And trophies in the Munster cabinet will see Ireland come calling for players that he believes have the potential to become international stars.

But consistency is key and the first task is to produce a winning side who can go toe-to-toe with the best in the business week-in week-out.

"It doesn't matter what competition it is for us we have to get into that top four and give ourselves a chance to win it," said Foley at the GUINNESS PRO12 launch.

"Obviously we want to maintain some of the things that we were good at last year.

"We want to remain stingy in defence and we want a forward pack that will generate and win us balls.

"It's all about possession and the biggest bully keeps the ball and how you use it after that is down to your half-backs.

"We need to get more players playing for Ireland and to do that we need to get competitive and start winning trophies.

"We have the players, I know we have the players because I see them every day.

"I know they're good enough and I know they want it, it's just a case of getting them to believe in it and getting them to a stage where they know how we want the game to be played."

In order to win trophies Foley knows he needs strength in depth but this season he believes that he has the tools at his disposal to go all the way.

"As a squad at the moment we are very happy with where we are at, we just need to get our performances right on the pitch and if we can manage that we can compete with anyone," he added.

"That's something that interests me as a professional coach and all of my professional players to give ourselves the chance to win trophies.

"I don't ever think I've been involved in a Munster team that has been in transition, we have lost players and replaced players.

"I think we have something like 45 players at the moment so I don't think we need any more we just need the ones that we have to be fit."

Follow us on Facebook, join the conversation on Twitter, sign up to our YouTube channel for extensive match highlights and sign up for our newsletter for regular updates on the GUINNESS PRO12