THERE’S RARELY A quiet week at Munster, but even by their standards, it’s been a busy one for the province. A week which started with a dramatic defeat in Toulon took in a worrying-looking injury to Craig Casey – which subsequently didn’t even rule him out of one game – news that Jean Kleyn would be ending his 10-year spell with the club, and finally, an unexpected vacancy coming up with the All Blacks that will surely see Clayton McMillan’s name mentioned in NZR headquarters.
The Munster boss is highly rated in his homeland and has long been touted as a potential future New Zealand head coach, having impressed with the Chiefs and previously coached New Zealand U20, Maori All Blacks and All Blacks XV teams. Yesterday, McMillan was asked if he would be interested in joining the next All Blacks coaching ticket – either as head coach or an assistant.
His reply that he “hadn’t even given any thought to the question” was not the outright dismissal Munster fans would have liked to hear. The New Zealander is under contract with the province until 2028 but Munster have been here before with Rassie Erasmus, who left his role early to join the Springboks in 2017.
A worry for another day, but one to watch. This evening Munster have enough on their plate as they look to secure safe passage into the Champions Cup knockout rounds. Their task, plain and simple, is to beat Castres in Thomond Park [KO 5.30pm, Premier Sports] and in an ideal world, notch a winning bonus point to put themselves in the best position possible. The various permutations are wide and varied, everything from Munster missing out completely – should they lose to Castres – to reaching the top two depending on results elsewhere, but Bath’s defeat of Edinburgh last night means a win of any kind will send Munster through.
Johann van Graan’s side are qualified with 16 points, with Edinburgh second in the pool on 10. Munster are on six points, ahead of Gloucester on points difference and trailing Toulon by three. Gloucester host Toulon tonight at 8pm.
“I think there’s a real danger in chasing points,” McMillan says.
“They’ve got to be earned. So, we’ll be approaching a match where it’s win the game first and we’ll put a good plan in place and there’s been good buy-in from the players. And if we execute that, then we give ourselves a really good chance. And if we execute it particularly well, then it opens up the opportunity maybe for us to chase a bonus point.
“But that’s secondary to what we know we need to do and it’s winning the game first. If we don’t win, we have no chance. So that’s the first thing.”
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Jack Crowley continues at 10 for Munster. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
Their hopes are boosted by Casey’s inclusion at nine. However, with Denis Leamy stating the scrum-half’s issue was “a significant injury to his AC” as recently at Tuesday, there will be plenty of eyes on the Limerick native as he goes through his warm-up this evening.
Overall, the side is similar to the one which started in Toulon. In-form Edwin Edogbo drops to the bench – the province cautious of managing the powerful lock’s minutes – while second row Jean Kleyn, hooker Niall Scannell and winger Thaakir Abrahams all come into the starting XV.
Castres are just a point behind Munster in the table so have plenty to play for themselves, knowing a win in Limerick can send them through to the knockouts. With that in mind, they’ve gone fairly strong with their selection as they go up against Munster for the 20th time.
“They could have sent anything from the B team to their strongest team. I think we’ve probably seen something closer to the latter,” McMillan says.
“That’s what the Champions Cup deserves. It deserves to see the best players playing against the best players in matches that have a lot riding on it. So, we’re happy that they’re sending that side of it over.
It just sharpens our sword, I guess, around making sure that we are at our best because we need to be.”
And much of Munster’s focus during the week has centered on their discipline. In Toulon, the province saw both Tadhg Beirne and Alex Nankivell yellow-carded as they were whistled for 14 penalties by Karl Dickson. Beirne’s time in the sin-bin proved particularly damaging, Toulon scoring 14 points either side of half-time as the captain – who wins his 100th Munster cap today – watched on from the sideline. They need to keep Matthew Carley less involved today.
“That’s probably the one area that let us down, or inhibited our ability to win that game, just our discipline.
Alex Nankivell was one of two Munster players yellow-carded in Toulon. Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
“There’s a fine edge between being competitive, particularly around the tackle-ball area, the breakdown, and vying to win the ball back mentality, and then getting that slightly wrong.
“I’m sometimes loathe to call it discipline. I think it’s inaccuracies and decision making. So those are the things we try and work on as skills, just like any other part of the game. We didn’t quite get that right on the weekend and in big games, all games really, if you’re operating with less than 15 people on the park it makes life hard on yourself.
“We’re not a good enough team at the moment to be operating with 14 for 20 minutes of the game, so definitely a work on.”
If Munster can build on the promising signs shown in Toulon, including some ferocious work defending the breakdown and a handful of incisive moments in attack, while cleaning up their discipline, they can finish this pool campaign on a high. Fail to make those corrections and there’s a real danger of a nervy night at Thomond.
MUNSTER: Shane Daly; Thaakir Abrahams, Tom Farrell, Alex Nankivell, Ben O’Connor; Jack Crowley, Craig Casey; Jeremy Loughman, Niall Scannell, Michael Ala’alatoa; Jean Kleyn, Fineen Wycherley; Tadhg Beirne (capt), Jack O’Donoghue, Gavin Coombes.
Replacements: Lee Barron, Michael Milne, Oli Jager, Edwin Edogbo, Brian Gleeson, Ethan Coughlan, JJ Hanrahan, Dan Kelly.
CASTRES: Theo Chabouni; Christian Ambadiang, Vuate Karawalevu, Jack Goodhue, Geoffrey Palis; Pierre Popelin, Jeremy Fernandez; Atunaisa Sokobale, Loris Zarantonello, Will Collier; Gauthier Maravat, Tom Staniforth; Baptiste Delaporte, Baptiste Cope, Florent Vanverberghe.
Replacements: Teddy Durand-Pradere, Antoine Tichit, Aurelien Azar, Leone Nakarawa, Tyler Ardron, Santiago Arata, Enzo Herve, Atu Manu.
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McMillan's All Blacks link a familiar fear as Munster look to avoid nervy night with Castres
THERE’S RARELY A quiet week at Munster, but even by their standards, it’s been a busy one for the province. A week which started with a dramatic defeat in Toulon took in a worrying-looking injury to Craig Casey – which subsequently didn’t even rule him out of one game – news that Jean Kleyn would be ending his 10-year spell with the club, and finally, an unexpected vacancy coming up with the All Blacks that will surely see Clayton McMillan’s name mentioned in NZR headquarters.
The Munster boss is highly rated in his homeland and has long been touted as a potential future New Zealand head coach, having impressed with the Chiefs and previously coached New Zealand U20, Maori All Blacks and All Blacks XV teams. Yesterday, McMillan was asked if he would be interested in joining the next All Blacks coaching ticket – either as head coach or an assistant.
His reply that he “hadn’t even given any thought to the question” was not the outright dismissal Munster fans would have liked to hear. The New Zealander is under contract with the province until 2028 but Munster have been here before with Rassie Erasmus, who left his role early to join the Springboks in 2017.
A worry for another day, but one to watch. This evening Munster have enough on their plate as they look to secure safe passage into the Champions Cup knockout rounds. Their task, plain and simple, is to beat Castres in Thomond Park [KO 5.30pm, Premier Sports] and in an ideal world, notch a winning bonus point to put themselves in the best position possible. The various permutations are wide and varied, everything from Munster missing out completely – should they lose to Castres – to reaching the top two depending on results elsewhere, but Bath’s defeat of Edinburgh last night means a win of any kind will send Munster through.
Johann van Graan’s side are qualified with 16 points, with Edinburgh second in the pool on 10. Munster are on six points, ahead of Gloucester on points difference and trailing Toulon by three. Gloucester host Toulon tonight at 8pm.
“I think there’s a real danger in chasing points,” McMillan says.
“They’ve got to be earned. So, we’ll be approaching a match where it’s win the game first and we’ll put a good plan in place and there’s been good buy-in from the players. And if we execute that, then we give ourselves a really good chance. And if we execute it particularly well, then it opens up the opportunity maybe for us to chase a bonus point.
“But that’s secondary to what we know we need to do and it’s winning the game first. If we don’t win, we have no chance. So that’s the first thing.”
Their hopes are boosted by Casey’s inclusion at nine. However, with Denis Leamy stating the scrum-half’s issue was “a significant injury to his AC” as recently at Tuesday, there will be plenty of eyes on the Limerick native as he goes through his warm-up this evening.
Overall, the side is similar to the one which started in Toulon. In-form Edwin Edogbo drops to the bench – the province cautious of managing the powerful lock’s minutes – while second row Jean Kleyn, hooker Niall Scannell and winger Thaakir Abrahams all come into the starting XV.
Castres are just a point behind Munster in the table so have plenty to play for themselves, knowing a win in Limerick can send them through to the knockouts. With that in mind, they’ve gone fairly strong with their selection as they go up against Munster for the 20th time.
“They could have sent anything from the B team to their strongest team. I think we’ve probably seen something closer to the latter,” McMillan says.
“That’s what the Champions Cup deserves. It deserves to see the best players playing against the best players in matches that have a lot riding on it. So, we’re happy that they’re sending that side of it over.
And much of Munster’s focus during the week has centered on their discipline. In Toulon, the province saw both Tadhg Beirne and Alex Nankivell yellow-carded as they were whistled for 14 penalties by Karl Dickson. Beirne’s time in the sin-bin proved particularly damaging, Toulon scoring 14 points either side of half-time as the captain – who wins his 100th Munster cap today – watched on from the sideline. They need to keep Matthew Carley less involved today.
“That’s probably the one area that let us down, or inhibited our ability to win that game, just our discipline.
“There’s a fine edge between being competitive, particularly around the tackle-ball area, the breakdown, and vying to win the ball back mentality, and then getting that slightly wrong.
“I’m sometimes loathe to call it discipline. I think it’s inaccuracies and decision making. So those are the things we try and work on as skills, just like any other part of the game. We didn’t quite get that right on the weekend and in big games, all games really, if you’re operating with less than 15 people on the park it makes life hard on yourself.
“We’re not a good enough team at the moment to be operating with 14 for 20 minutes of the game, so definitely a work on.”
If Munster can build on the promising signs shown in Toulon, including some ferocious work defending the breakdown and a handful of incisive moments in attack, while cleaning up their discipline, they can finish this pool campaign on a high. Fail to make those corrections and there’s a real danger of a nervy night at Thomond.
MUNSTER: Shane Daly; Thaakir Abrahams, Tom Farrell, Alex Nankivell, Ben O’Connor; Jack Crowley, Craig Casey; Jeremy Loughman, Niall Scannell, Michael Ala’alatoa; Jean Kleyn, Fineen Wycherley; Tadhg Beirne (capt), Jack O’Donoghue, Gavin Coombes.
Replacements: Lee Barron, Michael Milne, Oli Jager, Edwin Edogbo, Brian Gleeson, Ethan Coughlan, JJ Hanrahan, Dan Kelly.
CASTRES: Theo Chabouni; Christian Ambadiang, Vuate Karawalevu, Jack Goodhue, Geoffrey Palis; Pierre Popelin, Jeremy Fernandez; Atunaisa Sokobale, Loris Zarantonello, Will Collier; Gauthier Maravat, Tom Staniforth; Baptiste Delaporte, Baptiste Cope, Florent Vanverberghe.
Replacements: Teddy Durand-Pradere, Antoine Tichit, Aurelien Azar, Leone Nakarawa, Tyler Ardron, Santiago Arata, Enzo Herve, Atu Manu.
Referee: Matthew Carley (RFU)
Updated at 9am to correct pool permutations.
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Castres Champions Cup Clayton McMillan Munster Preview Rugby