MUNSTER HAVEN’T BEEN too impressed by the negative discussion around their academy in recent times.
At Tuesday’s press event at the Castletroy Park Hotel in Limerick, there were several mentions of the criticisms, with head coach Anthony Foley hinting at a sense of dissatisfaction.
While recording a big bonus-point win over Zebre was the priority last Friday before facing into this week’s monumental inter-provincial derby against Leinster, Munster took pride in the make-up of their matchday squad at Thomond Park.
Every member of the starting XV was homegrown, while only Mario Sagario, CJ Stander and Ian Keatley on the bench were not in that category.
“That’s fantastic and if you look at the guys we have brought in, they add massively to the team as well,” says scrum-half Conor Murray, who made his post-Six Nations return off the bench last weekend.
At the same time, it is nice to know that homegrown talent is being brought through and in the correct way. There has probably been question marks raised about the academy system and how it’s working, but that’s proof that they are doing something right down there which is fantastic.”
Murray is perhaps one of the best examples of what the Munster academy has produced, particularly given that he was not an utterly outstanding prospect during his school years.
His development accelerated rapidly with Munster, however, as Murray advanced into the senior squad under Tony McGahan when still on academy terms.
While Leinster has the greatest reputation as a producer of high-quality young players and Connacht is increasingly being lauded with regards to the work being done by Nigel Carolan in the western province’s academy, Munster’s is consistently talked down.
“If you’re talking about Leinster, for instance, because of the sheer playing numbers up there you’re not going to be able to compete with the schools up there,” says Murray, who signed a new three-year contract with Munster earlier this season.
“It’s about our system and getting lads identified and the process to go through. I’m not the man to go through how the academy view and approach that, but my experience in the academy was fantastic.
You had a strength and conditioning programme, you had a rugby programme which was top notch and you had enough involvement with the seniors to know what’s expected of you and to see how the standards are upheld.
“It’s up to us senior players now. We’d a couple of lads from the academy train with us today, to show what’s expected of them and what’s not accepted and just learn from that.”
Rory Scannell, now in his third year with Munster academy, is the one of the latest youngsters to make an impact in Foley’s senior side, with the Corkman adapting to the demands of the Pro12 and Champions Cup impressively this season.
Recent graduates such as Jack O’Donoghue and Johnny Holland have been making their mark too, with that youthful trio all set to be involved again this weekend for the trip to Dublin to face Leinster.
“It would probably be easy to fall in love with yourself this week after running in seven tries,” says Murray when reflecting only very briefly on the win over Zebre last time out, before moving the conversation onto the Leinster clash.
Despite Munster sitting fourth in the Pro12 heading into this weekend, Murray knows nothing is even close to being decided as the southern province looks to salvage what has been a poor campaign by making the play-offs.
Our season hasn’t gone quite to plan so there is probably a bit of frustration in our group to go up there and play with our hearts and hopefully with a bit more passion than we have this year,” says Murray of taking on Leinster.
Whatever about those play-off ambitions, the Ireland scrum-half is also realistic enough to acknowledge that securing a top-six finish and the Champions Cup rugby that would bring is not a foregone conclusion.
“It hasn’t been spoken about, but we are all smart enough to know that we all want to play in the best competition, so I don’t think you need to ask many players,” says Murray.
“I think everyone is aware of where we stand and what we need to do.”
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