MUNSTER WILL MAKE the long trip to Belfast this weekend with some momentum, having picked up six points across their opening two URC fixtures.
Sure, it’s a small sample size, but two rounds in Clayton McMillan’s side boast the best return across the provinces. Munster are ninth in the table with six points, one clear of both Connacht and Ulster, with Leinster’s three points leaving them lagging behind in 13th.
Much can change over the coming weeks, with Munster’s next two URC assignments interpro clashes away to Ulster and Leinster, either side of a home Champions Cup tie with Racing 92.
A province still stinging from the struggles of last season will need to put together a more consistent body of work before anyone gets too carried away, but so far, the signs have been highly encouraging.
Saturday’s defeat of the Bulls saw a handful of young stars impress, on a night where Munster’s attack was sharp and the setpiece was solid. Areas which proved weak spots last season were now serving as the platforms for an encouraging Munster victory.
The renewed confidence in Munster’s play was encapsulated by the all-action performance of 20-year-old out-half Charlie O’Shea, making his first start at Thomond Park.
“I think what gives people confidence, what gives him confidence, what gives the coaches confidence, what gives the players around him confidence is what you do on a daily basis, your ability to prepare,” says McMillan.
“And he’s a real student of the game for a young guy, and all preseason he’s probably made an impression through the way that he’s presented.
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Charlie O'Shea scored two tries in Saturday's defeat of the Bulls. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
“He’s an impressive young man. And, yeah, we saw evidence of that on Saturday. But like everyone, like a team and individuals, you’re going to have good days and not so good ones, and it’s just important that we just temper our excitement around him and just allow him to just continue to be Charlie O’Shea.”
O’Shea stole the headlines but an impressive Munster pack were at the heart of a strong team effort.
“The Bulls, you probably don’t come across too many bigger provincial sides in world rugby, and we accept that. They had a number of quality players that weren’t there, and so we probably got them at a good time, but that’s not to undermine the huge effort our forward pack put in, particularly at scrum time which is an area that has been problematic at times, certainly last year, and it’s an area Jimmy Duffy has put a huge amount of time into.
“We feel like we’ve recruited really well, even though we were probably criticised for some of those recruitments over the summer.
“You can’t beat experience and someone like Kieran Brookes, he brings a massive amount of experience.
“Even our player of the day was Jack Aungier, for the way that he scrummaged, and Jack’s only 27 but he’s played 100 games for Connacht so it’s not his first rodeo.
“I think having those blokes around, and Marnus (van der Merwe), they’re able to bring their knowledge in, it’s created a bit more experience and depth in those key positions and if we continue to have good days it builds confidence, and we can go from a forward pack that’s moved from surviving to thriving.”
Getting more from that Munster pack was a key target for the season, as was adding a more lethal edge to the province’s attack.
Munster prop Kieran Brookes during a training session on Tuesday. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
“We accept that against good teams in particular, you aren’t going to always just waltz over in two or three phases, but we can certainly have ambition to do that.
“And so what I liked was that we stayed true to ourselves in terms of the strikes in both the Glasgow weekend and the Bulls. We probably got a little bit more reward from the strike to score mentality against Glasgow than we did against the Bulls. But, yeah, I think it’s more an ambition and a style of play that we want to embrace as opposed to, you know, having an expectation that we’ll score from everything. It’s not the reality.”
This weekend the province head into their first interpro of the new campaign. On their last visit to Belfast in January, the province went down 28-3 in a bitterly disappointing defeat. Munster then beat Richie Murphy’s side 41-14 in Thomond Park in April.
“It’s certainly etched in the memory,” McMillan said of that Belfast performance.
“It’s one of those games that you remember in detail, but not for the right reasons. For us, again, we think we’ve put in decent performances against teams that we believe will be there at the business end of the season.
“We feel like we’ve acquitted ourselves pretty well. We’re a long way short of where we need to be. The challenge gets even greater, I believe, when you go up to Ulster and play a quality team.
“If we consume ourselves with what happened 12 months ago, then we might do ourselves a disservice. We’ve got that awareness, but we’ve got to put our attention into what we think we need to do, from a mindset point of view, from playing our game, and how we go about executing.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Munster confirmed Michael Milne, Diarmuid Kilgallen and Fineen Wycherley will all miss Saturday’s game due to injury.
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'We're a long way short of where we need to be' - McMillan wants more from Munster
MUNSTER WILL MAKE the long trip to Belfast this weekend with some momentum, having picked up six points across their opening two URC fixtures.
Sure, it’s a small sample size, but two rounds in Clayton McMillan’s side boast the best return across the provinces. Munster are ninth in the table with six points, one clear of both Connacht and Ulster, with Leinster’s three points leaving them lagging behind in 13th.
Much can change over the coming weeks, with Munster’s next two URC assignments interpro clashes away to Ulster and Leinster, either side of a home Champions Cup tie with Racing 92.
A province still stinging from the struggles of last season will need to put together a more consistent body of work before anyone gets too carried away, but so far, the signs have been highly encouraging.
Saturday’s defeat of the Bulls saw a handful of young stars impress, on a night where Munster’s attack was sharp and the setpiece was solid. Areas which proved weak spots last season were now serving as the platforms for an encouraging Munster victory.
The renewed confidence in Munster’s play was encapsulated by the all-action performance of 20-year-old out-half Charlie O’Shea, making his first start at Thomond Park.
“I think what gives people confidence, what gives him confidence, what gives the coaches confidence, what gives the players around him confidence is what you do on a daily basis, your ability to prepare,” says McMillan.
“And he’s a real student of the game for a young guy, and all preseason he’s probably made an impression through the way that he’s presented.
“He’s an impressive young man. And, yeah, we saw evidence of that on Saturday. But like everyone, like a team and individuals, you’re going to have good days and not so good ones, and it’s just important that we just temper our excitement around him and just allow him to just continue to be Charlie O’Shea.”
O’Shea stole the headlines but an impressive Munster pack were at the heart of a strong team effort.
“The Bulls, you probably don’t come across too many bigger provincial sides in world rugby, and we accept that. They had a number of quality players that weren’t there, and so we probably got them at a good time, but that’s not to undermine the huge effort our forward pack put in, particularly at scrum time which is an area that has been problematic at times, certainly last year, and it’s an area Jimmy Duffy has put a huge amount of time into.
“You can’t beat experience and someone like Kieran Brookes, he brings a massive amount of experience.
“Even our player of the day was Jack Aungier, for the way that he scrummaged, and Jack’s only 27 but he’s played 100 games for Connacht so it’s not his first rodeo.
“I think having those blokes around, and Marnus (van der Merwe), they’re able to bring their knowledge in, it’s created a bit more experience and depth in those key positions and if we continue to have good days it builds confidence, and we can go from a forward pack that’s moved from surviving to thriving.”
Getting more from that Munster pack was a key target for the season, as was adding a more lethal edge to the province’s attack.
Last week, new assistant coach Jared Payne outlined the “strike to score” focus he’s looked to implement, as he shares the coaching of the attack alongside Mossie Lawler.
“It’s a mindset, really,” McMillan explains.
“We accept that against good teams in particular, you aren’t going to always just waltz over in two or three phases, but we can certainly have ambition to do that.
“And so what I liked was that we stayed true to ourselves in terms of the strikes in both the Glasgow weekend and the Bulls. We probably got a little bit more reward from the strike to score mentality against Glasgow than we did against the Bulls. But, yeah, I think it’s more an ambition and a style of play that we want to embrace as opposed to, you know, having an expectation that we’ll score from everything. It’s not the reality.”
This weekend the province head into their first interpro of the new campaign. On their last visit to Belfast in January, the province went down 28-3 in a bitterly disappointing defeat. Munster then beat Richie Murphy’s side 41-14 in Thomond Park in April.
“It’s certainly etched in the memory,” McMillan said of that Belfast performance.
“It’s one of those games that you remember in detail, but not for the right reasons. For us, again, we think we’ve put in decent performances against teams that we believe will be there at the business end of the season.
“We feel like we’ve acquitted ourselves pretty well. We’re a long way short of where we need to be. The challenge gets even greater, I believe, when you go up to Ulster and play a quality team.
“If we consume ourselves with what happened 12 months ago, then we might do ourselves a disservice. We’ve got that awareness, but we’ve got to put our attention into what we think we need to do, from a mindset point of view, from playing our game, and how we go about executing.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Munster confirmed Michael Milne, Diarmuid Kilgallen and Fineen Wycherley will all miss Saturday’s game due to injury.
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Ambition Clayton McMillan Munster Rugby