THERE HAS BEEN no shortage of bumps in the road for Tyler Bleyendaal, the Munster out-half who is set to head into Saturday’s Heineken Champions Cup opener against Ospreys as the only fit senior No 10 in Johann van Graan’s squad.
Bleyendaal was Munster’s player of the season for 2016/17, but only managed a total of 23 appearances over the course of the next two campaigns, many of those coming off the bench, as he battled two serious neck injuries.
No wonder he is loving life in Limerick now. While injuries to Joey Carbery, JJ Hanrahan and Dave Kilcoyne, among others, leave the squad looking a little stretched ahead of the start of a new European campaign, there is something of a feel-good factor around the team at the moment. A return of five wins from six in the Guinness Pro14 has certainly done morale no harm, with a smattering of Munster’s Ireland internationals acquitting themselves well on their return to club duty against Ulster last week.
The addition of two new coaches in Stephen Larkham and Graham Rowntree over the summer, as well as the pursuit of World Cup winners Damian de Allende and RG Snyman, are also indications of a club moving in the right direction.
Having spent enough time in the dark, Bleyendaal is looking forward to a brighter future.
“Yeah look, new coaching staff, some new ideas. As a whole squad we have been challenged to improve or just get the best out of ourselves, both skill-wise and decision-making-wise, I guess,” he says.
“As a play-maker, I think with Stephen Larkham especially, he has almost given the whole team freedom and understanding of what we are trying to do and so as a play-maker that frees up a bit of time to make better decisions, to focus on ourselves as well, so I’ve really enjoyed it.
“When the news came that he was going to coach Munster it was pretty awesome, to be honest. He would have been a player I’d have watched growing up. He was in a pretty great Wallabies team. He’s been a successful coach as well. He’s just come in and he’s a pretty unassuming guy but he gets to the point and I think the boys are enjoying having him around.”
Talk to those who work closely about Bleyendaal and you get similar responses. Earlier this week, The42 asked both van Graan and captain Peter O’Mahony what Bleyendaal brings to the team.
“He’s calm,” said van Graan. “He’s one of those players who sees things before they happen, and he’s a big leader within our group.”
“He’s very, very cool,” O’Mahony added. “Delivers message excellently. Obviously a very good footballer and just runs the game really, really well.”
While Bleyendaal has not contributed as much as he would have liked on the pitch, his leadership off it is clear.
“I think you get to a point there where you just put the team first,” he explains.
“You have to put your own personal ambitions aside, especially when it comes to selection sometimes. When Joey [Carbery] came he was playing unbelievably, sometimes I was on the bench, sometimes I wasn’t in the squad at all it’s just about giving everything you have for Munster to be successful and if that’s helping out those guys with the detail or the training or maybe training as the opposition, there’s always something you can do. I’ve found myself on all sides of that.”
This weekend he finds himself exactly where he wants to be, Munster’s starting 10 in a big European game. It won’t be a new experience for him. He started in the semi-final defeat to Saracens last April, but before that you have to go all the way back to a 15-15 draw against Castres two years ago.
“I must be extremely stubborn or something, to be honest, because I don’t know, if you give it too much thought, you kind of do wonder [if I would have been able to get back to this point]. I love the game and I guess I’m very privileged to be able to play and I really enjoy my time with Munster,” he says.
“We’ve given ourselves the best chance over the last few years to get involved and get to a final and win some silverware [in Europe]. I think if you take a bit of personal stuff out of it, you want to be part of a successful team sometimes. It’s not always about yourself and what you do so I’d love to be a part of a squad that wins silverware and I want to do it here at Munster, so that’s why I say every day I turn up, whether I am playing or not, I give it everything.”
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