ONE OF THE most immediate impressions you get from Clayton McMillan is that he seems like a fairly unflappable character.
The ability to stay calm is an important quality for any coach, and reports from New Zealand before he arrived in Ireland suggested that the former policeman was of that ilk.
Which is just as well, given the challenging time he finds himself navigating in his first season with Munster. The campaign started strongly, with Munster riding high through to their takedown of Leinster at Croke Park in October.
Things have been mixed since. The lows have included a big loss to Bath in the Champions Cup, as well as narrow ones against Toulon and Castres, the last of those coming at home in Thomond Park.
And it’s those defeats that mean Munster are playing in the Challenge Cup round of 16 against Exeter at Sandy Park today [KO 12.30pm, Premier Sports].
A feeble loss to Ulster up in Belfast in the URC in January was the low point in terms of performance, but a 45-0 battering at the hands of the Sharks a fortnight ago was miserable too. “Quite embarrassing” is how Munster wing Seán O’Brien termed it.
So McMillan has had a few occasions when his ability not to lose the plot has probably been important. Every coach has to let their players know when things simply aren’t good enough, but you can only use the hairdryer treatment sparingly.
McMillan joined Munster on a three-year contract and he expected some setbacks early in his tenure.
“I didn’t think it would be smooth sailing,” said McMillan this week. “All teams are going to have those days at the office. You just hope that you don’t have as many of them as we’ve probably encountered.”
He looks back on how costly Tadhg Beirne’s early yellow card was away to Bath, with the English side essentially ending the game as a contest during that 10-minute spell, while McMillan felt the scoreline away to the Sharks wasn’t a true reflection of the game.
That Ulster defeat, when Munster lacked physicality and accuracy, hurt the most. It was “the biggest punch in the nose we got,” according to McMillan.
Munster boss Clayton McMillan. Steve Haag Sports / Darren Stewart/INPHO
Steve Haag Sports / Darren Stewart/INPHO / Darren Stewart/INPHO
The Munster boss was pleased with how his players responded to the heavy defeat by the Sharks. Their two losing bonus points against the Bulls in Pretoria last weekend could be crucial in the URC play-off race.
For now, the URC has been parked and Munster are in the unfamiliar position of having a crack at the Challenge Cup. This is just their second time in the competition and the relative lack of glamour was underlined by Munster’s travel schedule yesterday.
There was no charter flight from Shannon. Instead, they bused it to Dublin, flew to Bristol, and bused it down to Exeter. Hardly a hardship and a fairly short journey, but different to some of the big European away days in the past.
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In fairness, this isn’t the time for Munster to be spending big on travel. Last week brought the crushing news of voluntary redundancies being offered in the organisation amid financial challenges.
So McMillan and his players are even more motivated to make a run at this Challenge Cup.
“It’s been well documented the challenges that the club are in and they’ve been through over the last couple of weeks,” he said. “How we can help that part right now is through winning rugby games and getting bums on seats.”
McMillan has named a strong Munster side, even while making 10 changes from the Bulls game.
Crucially, captain Beirne is back in the second row and halfbacks Craig Casey and Jack Crowley are retained. Those three are key to Munster finishing this season strongly.
There is an element of mix-and-match to the Munster side as wings Diarmuid Kilgallen and Thaakir Abrahams – who is expected to join the Bulls this summer – come in from the cold for their first appearances since January.
In the midfield, Alex Nankivell will make his 50th Munster appearance.
“The regard that I saw Munster in before I came, in terms of the tradition and the history of the club, I thought it was pretty special to be able to come over and be here for two years and then I was fortunate enough to resign,” said Nankivell.
Alex Nankivell with Mick Galwey. Steve Haag Sports / Darren Stewart/INPHO
Steve Haag Sports / Darren Stewart/INPHO / Darren Stewart/INPHO
“It’s pretty cool, especially seeing all the unreal players from outside of Ireland that have come here, the foreign players, so it’s pretty special.”
There is a sprinkling of younger players in the Munster team with Edwin Edogbo coming in to start and 21-year-old Ben O’Connor continuing at fullback, while 21-year-old Kiwi scrum-half Ben O’Donovan is set for his Munster debut off the bench.
“I think we’ve got some really good talent here,” said McMillan. “A lot of them are young and have been sitting behind other more established players perhaps over the last two or three years, and they’re starting to get runs on the board.
“From my experience, certainly at Super Rugby, I’ve had teams that have had a lot of talent but in my view, you need to play about 30 or 40 games to get it.
“There’s a huge amount of detail and for a lot of people, it takes them a little while to understand. That’s kind of where a lot of our guys are at, at the moment. But they’re accumulating that experience.”
McMillan remains convinced that Munster can become the force that they want to be, a team that competes in the Champions Cup and pushes for URC glory.
He believes that the lineout and scrum – the Sharks game excepted – have improved this season, but he’s well aware that Munster need to start putting everything together in more complete performances if they’re to start winning more often.
The thing that gives him the most confidence is what he sees behind closed doors.
“The attitude of the guys,” he said. “Like, there hasn’t been any day I’ve come in where I just thought this is a group that just doesn’t want to give more of themselves, they don’t want to get better, they’re not ambitious or that they don’t have an appetite or a hunger to learn.
“We obviously want to accelerate that so it helps us win those tight ones more often than we lose. So we remain a work in progress but there’s lots to be confident about.”
Munster fans will hope to see more evidence of why McMillan is confident in today’s Challenge Cup clash at Sandy Park, where the southern province lost on their last visit in the Champions Cup in 2023.
Immanuel Feyi-Waboso is back for Exeter. Andrew Dowling / INPHO
Andrew Dowling / INPHO / INPHO
Exeter have been able to bolster their team with the return of lethal left wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, who missed England’s Six Nations campaign with a hamstring injury, and who will be eager to make up for lost time with his pace and aerial contesting.
Captain Dafydd Jenkins is back in the second row after being rested for last weekend’s PREM win over Sale, while wise head Henry Slade returns at outside centre following the birth of his daughter.
Those are strong reinforcements and while this Exeter team is unfamiliar from the 2020 Champions Cup-winning side – Slade and hooker Jack Yeandle are the only survivors – they have new stars in the likes of explosive back row Greg Fisilau, Italy lock Andrea Zambonin, and lightning-quick right wing Paul Brown-Bampoe.
Last season was a tough one for the Chiefs as they underwent transition but director of rugby Rob Baxter seems to have guided them into yet another exciting new chapter. He has been in charge since 2009 and just signed a fresh multi-year deal.
Pushing back into contention to win PREM titles is the big aim for Exeter and they sit fourth at present, but their fans would certainly enjoy a crack at the Challenge Cup final in Bilbao in May.
This one seems a little off-Broadway for these two proud clubs, but it should be every bit as ferociously contested as anything we watch this weekend.
EXETER: Olly Woodburn; Paul Brown-Bampoe, Henry Slade, Will Rigg, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso; Harvey Skinner, Steve Varney; Scott Sio, Jack Yeandle, Jimmy Roots; Dafydd Jenkins (captain), Andrea Zambonin; Tom Hooper, Ross Vintcent, Greg Fisilau
Replacements: Joseph Dweba, Ethan Burger, Bachuki Tchumbadze, Rus Tuima, Finn Worley-Brady, Tom Cairns, Will Haydon-Wood, Campbell Ridl.
MUNSTER: Ben O’Connor; Thaakir Abrahams, Tom Farrell, Alex Nankivell, Diarmuid Kilgallen; Jack Crowley, Craig Casey; Jeremy Loughman, Lee Barron, John Ryan; Edwin Edogbo, Tadhg Beirne (captain); Jack O’Donoghue, Alex Kendellen, Gavin Coombes.
Replacements: Niall Scannell, Michael Milne, Michael Ala’alatoa, Tom Ahern, Ruadhán Quinn, Ben O’Donovan, Seán O’Brien, John Hodnett.
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'We've got some really good talent' - McMillan believes as Munster face Exeter
ONE OF THE most immediate impressions you get from Clayton McMillan is that he seems like a fairly unflappable character.
The ability to stay calm is an important quality for any coach, and reports from New Zealand before he arrived in Ireland suggested that the former policeman was of that ilk.
Which is just as well, given the challenging time he finds himself navigating in his first season with Munster. The campaign started strongly, with Munster riding high through to their takedown of Leinster at Croke Park in October.
Things have been mixed since. The lows have included a big loss to Bath in the Champions Cup, as well as narrow ones against Toulon and Castres, the last of those coming at home in Thomond Park.
And it’s those defeats that mean Munster are playing in the Challenge Cup round of 16 against Exeter at Sandy Park today [KO 12.30pm, Premier Sports].
A feeble loss to Ulster up in Belfast in the URC in January was the low point in terms of performance, but a 45-0 battering at the hands of the Sharks a fortnight ago was miserable too. “Quite embarrassing” is how Munster wing Seán O’Brien termed it.
So McMillan has had a few occasions when his ability not to lose the plot has probably been important. Every coach has to let their players know when things simply aren’t good enough, but you can only use the hairdryer treatment sparingly.
McMillan joined Munster on a three-year contract and he expected some setbacks early in his tenure.
“I didn’t think it would be smooth sailing,” said McMillan this week. “All teams are going to have those days at the office. You just hope that you don’t have as many of them as we’ve probably encountered.”
He looks back on how costly Tadhg Beirne’s early yellow card was away to Bath, with the English side essentially ending the game as a contest during that 10-minute spell, while McMillan felt the scoreline away to the Sharks wasn’t a true reflection of the game.
That Ulster defeat, when Munster lacked physicality and accuracy, hurt the most. It was “the biggest punch in the nose we got,” according to McMillan.
The Munster boss was pleased with how his players responded to the heavy defeat by the Sharks. Their two losing bonus points against the Bulls in Pretoria last weekend could be crucial in the URC play-off race.
For now, the URC has been parked and Munster are in the unfamiliar position of having a crack at the Challenge Cup. This is just their second time in the competition and the relative lack of glamour was underlined by Munster’s travel schedule yesterday.
There was no charter flight from Shannon. Instead, they bused it to Dublin, flew to Bristol, and bused it down to Exeter. Hardly a hardship and a fairly short journey, but different to some of the big European away days in the past.
In fairness, this isn’t the time for Munster to be spending big on travel. Last week brought the crushing news of voluntary redundancies being offered in the organisation amid financial challenges.
So McMillan and his players are even more motivated to make a run at this Challenge Cup.
“It’s been well documented the challenges that the club are in and they’ve been through over the last couple of weeks,” he said. “How we can help that part right now is through winning rugby games and getting bums on seats.”
McMillan has named a strong Munster side, even while making 10 changes from the Bulls game.
Crucially, captain Beirne is back in the second row and halfbacks Craig Casey and Jack Crowley are retained. Those three are key to Munster finishing this season strongly.
There is an element of mix-and-match to the Munster side as wings Diarmuid Kilgallen and Thaakir Abrahams – who is expected to join the Bulls this summer – come in from the cold for their first appearances since January.
In the midfield, Alex Nankivell will make his 50th Munster appearance.
“The regard that I saw Munster in before I came, in terms of the tradition and the history of the club, I thought it was pretty special to be able to come over and be here for two years and then I was fortunate enough to resign,” said Nankivell.
“It’s pretty cool, especially seeing all the unreal players from outside of Ireland that have come here, the foreign players, so it’s pretty special.”
There is a sprinkling of younger players in the Munster team with Edwin Edogbo coming in to start and 21-year-old Ben O’Connor continuing at fullback, while 21-year-old Kiwi scrum-half Ben O’Donovan is set for his Munster debut off the bench.
“I think we’ve got some really good talent here,” said McMillan. “A lot of them are young and have been sitting behind other more established players perhaps over the last two or three years, and they’re starting to get runs on the board.
“From my experience, certainly at Super Rugby, I’ve had teams that have had a lot of talent but in my view, you need to play about 30 or 40 games to get it.
“There’s a huge amount of detail and for a lot of people, it takes them a little while to understand. That’s kind of where a lot of our guys are at, at the moment. But they’re accumulating that experience.”
McMillan remains convinced that Munster can become the force that they want to be, a team that competes in the Champions Cup and pushes for URC glory.
He believes that the lineout and scrum – the Sharks game excepted – have improved this season, but he’s well aware that Munster need to start putting everything together in more complete performances if they’re to start winning more often.
The thing that gives him the most confidence is what he sees behind closed doors.
“The attitude of the guys,” he said. “Like, there hasn’t been any day I’ve come in where I just thought this is a group that just doesn’t want to give more of themselves, they don’t want to get better, they’re not ambitious or that they don’t have an appetite or a hunger to learn.
“We obviously want to accelerate that so it helps us win those tight ones more often than we lose. So we remain a work in progress but there’s lots to be confident about.”
Munster fans will hope to see more evidence of why McMillan is confident in today’s Challenge Cup clash at Sandy Park, where the southern province lost on their last visit in the Champions Cup in 2023.
Exeter have been able to bolster their team with the return of lethal left wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, who missed England’s Six Nations campaign with a hamstring injury, and who will be eager to make up for lost time with his pace and aerial contesting.
Captain Dafydd Jenkins is back in the second row after being rested for last weekend’s PREM win over Sale, while wise head Henry Slade returns at outside centre following the birth of his daughter.
Those are strong reinforcements and while this Exeter team is unfamiliar from the 2020 Champions Cup-winning side – Slade and hooker Jack Yeandle are the only survivors – they have new stars in the likes of explosive back row Greg Fisilau, Italy lock Andrea Zambonin, and lightning-quick right wing Paul Brown-Bampoe.
Last season was a tough one for the Chiefs as they underwent transition but director of rugby Rob Baxter seems to have guided them into yet another exciting new chapter. He has been in charge since 2009 and just signed a fresh multi-year deal.
Pushing back into contention to win PREM titles is the big aim for Exeter and they sit fourth at present, but their fans would certainly enjoy a crack at the Challenge Cup final in Bilbao in May.
This one seems a little off-Broadway for these two proud clubs, but it should be every bit as ferociously contested as anything we watch this weekend.
EXETER: Olly Woodburn; Paul Brown-Bampoe, Henry Slade, Will Rigg, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso; Harvey Skinner, Steve Varney; Scott Sio, Jack Yeandle, Jimmy Roots; Dafydd Jenkins (captain), Andrea Zambonin; Tom Hooper, Ross Vintcent, Greg Fisilau
Replacements: Joseph Dweba, Ethan Burger, Bachuki Tchumbadze, Rus Tuima, Finn Worley-Brady, Tom Cairns, Will Haydon-Wood, Campbell Ridl.
MUNSTER: Ben O’Connor; Thaakir Abrahams, Tom Farrell, Alex Nankivell, Diarmuid Kilgallen; Jack Crowley, Craig Casey; Jeremy Loughman, Lee Barron, John Ryan; Edwin Edogbo, Tadhg Beirne (captain); Jack O’Donoghue, Alex Kendellen, Gavin Coombes.
Replacements: Niall Scannell, Michael Milne, Michael Ala’alatoa, Tom Ahern, Ruadhán Quinn, Ben O’Donovan, Seán O’Brien, John Hodnett.
Referee: Jeremy Rozier [FFR].
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Alex Nankivell Challenge Cup Clayton McMillan exeter Munster SUAF