THE CHANGES CONTINUE to come thick and fast at Munster and yesterday was another busy one at their HPC in Limerick. As the squad went through their most demanding training day of the week ahead of Saturday’s Champions Cup opener with Stade Francais, the province announced Chris Boyd was coming on board as a ‘performance consultant.’
The New Zealander’s voice will fill some of the space left by Graham Rowntree’s departure, with Boyd set to work alongside the remaining Munster coaching team, who continue to steer the ship in the absence of a permanent head coach.
Ian Costello, Munster’s Head of Operations and interim head coach, explained how it will all work. For a start, Boyd will arrive in Limerick later this week and will not be working directly with the playing staff.
“No, everything will continue as normal. So the coaching functions will be exactly the same, my role will continue as interim, Mike [Prendergast] doing the attack, Denis [Leamy] doing defence.
“What he’s here for is literally to support us, and that’s probably where he stands out in terms of his expertise, he’s done that now with the Highlanders, with Tonga, with World Rugby, with New Zealand. So definitely coach development would be one area he’d be really strong in, but right across all areas, our performance support. Can he add another set of eyes as a sounding board to bounce things off and keep adding to what we’re doing at the moment?”
Munster’s search for Rowntree’s replacement remains ongoing, with Costello central to that process alongside his responsibilities as interim head coach.
Boyd will not be involved in the recruitment process, and will arrive in Limerick amid a busy period of change. Andi Kyriacou left his role as forwards coach two weeks ago, while it has also emerged that Munster’s Head of Athletic Performance, Ged McNamara, is absent on personal leave. The IRFU’s Head of Athletic Performance & Science, Nick Winkelman, is currently assisting Munster’s S&C staff in McNamara’s absence. Aled Walters, Head of Athletic Performance for the Ireland men’s team, was also in attendance at training yesterday, with Munster placing a big focus on their S&C work after a challenging time with injuries.
Costello provided an update on the search for Rowntree’s successor.
“We want to make sure that we spread the net wide enough and we’re very clear about what we’re looking for and making sure we take our time to get the right candidate.
“We do stuff like this all the time. Someone like Chris coming in would be a fantastic addition. Nick Winkleman has been around, Sean Ryan [Ireland women's team Leadership & Culture lead] from the IRFU. We use Darragh Sheridan [IRFU Head Of High Performance Coach Development] regularly and anything really that can add to what we’re doing.
I suppose it’s stressing that, you know, things feel really good in here at the moment. There’s a lot more stability than what might appear on the outside. We’ve had a good month to reset, a good month to refocus on our game and what we want to work on.
“And now it feels like a really good time for someone like Chris to come in and add to that really and support everything we do across performance.”
Costello was asked if Munster are looking to hire someone with previous experience as a head coach.
“Again, it probably depends on the candidate. You guys will have speculated about who might be, you know, a candidate within the building. And there’ll be lots of interest outside the building. There has been and will be, we won’t get into individual candidates. But again, it’s looking at the CV, the experience, the fit.
“And I think us being at a stage where we’re a few years into our integrated model and our alignment as a club and we really are zipped up top to bottom.
“And there’s been a bit of turbulence in the last period, but we’re very happy with the direction of travel because a lot of work has gone into that. So it’s finding the right person that will come in and complement that, add to it and evolve to that. That’s probably the essential criteria.”
Last weekend’s URC win over the Lions was Munster’s first outing since the meeting with an All Blacks XV in early November – a game which arrived just a few days after Rowntree’s departure was confirmed.
In the time since, Munster have looked at their training plan and made some changes to the way they prepare.
“One of the key things we looked at is how we’ve been training and how it matches up with our statistics in games,” Costello explains.
And we feel our point of difference is probably around unstructured rugby. So we probably lean towards doing more structured work, more around our set-piece attack and defence. So if you look at it like a pie chart, we were weighted more to structured than unstructured.
“Our DNA is developed under Mike and Denis into that being our area of strength. So when we looked at our stats, it probably matched how we were training.
“We’ve had a real focus on tight transitions, speed. If you said to me what would be the one thing you would focus on more than anything else, to make those things function we talk about, is speed. So we’re training really, really quick, but each day has to feel a bit different. So the planning is important. One day we learn, we kind of install.
“Tuesday is our biggest day and it’s really dense and high speed, and then Thursday is like a switch on and off. We’re on, and then we’re off, and then we’re on. So it’s all about being quick.”
Costello feels some early results were evident in the Lions win, where Munster scored three tries on transition or unstructured play.
He also points to a ball-in-play time of 42 minutes. The previous high this season was 36 minutes.
“We’ve been working towards can we bring teams to 40 (minutes)?
“We have a very good track record when we get to 40. Our win ratio when we get to 40 minutes is high. But it’s very easy to say we’ll get to 42 minutes, but we have to go back and get the insights we needed, plan really well around our training and then how that transfers to our game. And that’s the bit that’s really exciting, that’s the bit where we’re evolving nicely.”
Munster are not really in a bad state, other than injuries, as people think. We won the URC 18 months ago with the most difficult run of 7 away fixtures the league ever produced. We topped the league last year only to be outsmarted in the semi final to the eventual winners. Also the league has been extra difficult to win since the Saffa teams arrived a few years back. Injuries have hit hard this season so far but they look like they are clearing up which will relieve some pressure on players who are incredibly playing week in week out.
@Liam23: besides the injuries and front row depth I’m not too worried.
2nd row, backrow, scrum half, back 3, we look good depth wise. Outhalf and centre we’ve not got much depth but can cope with an injury or 2.
@Liam23: nobody cares about the URC, Europe is the big one. And Munster have been miles off the top teams for years.
@Aidan Farrell: This is a complete fact, the three former URC winners did not even make the last 8 of Europe last year. The CC is such a higher level of competition. Whatever about Leinsters finals losses their win% in Europe the last 5 years is extraordinary, this is clearly what Farrell looks at rather than last minute drop goals to beat a Leinster side missing their 10 best player
@Eoin H: was also a second string munster team missing alot of players. its mad to think that some of the current leinster crop dont have any club medals. if leinster didnt care about the URC why did they go fully loaded against the bulls in the semi last year and get their ar$e served to them?
@Eoin H: There seems to be a mental fragility with that Leinster side. Given their huge playing pool and financial resources they really are underachieving massively.
@Eoin H: connacht and ulster havnt exactly being lighting it up in the Heineken cup but their top players are still being selected for Ireland so I think farrell looks at the bigger picture and can understand that some players are playing for average teams so won’t get the opportunity to progress to the later stages of the Heineken cup but that doesn’t mean that they are not good enough
@Patrick O’Sullivan: I can’t remember a time when we have been producing so many good quality academy players and it looks like munster are doubling down on further developing it’s underage structures and coaching systems to get even more lads coming through. However, unless we start producing front rows, it doesn’t matter how good the rest of our team is, once it comes to the knock out stages, teams will go after our scrum and milk penalties
@Mistral: you are probably correct regarding the mentality of the Leinster players. With all the playing and financial resources available to them only to underachieve is very alarming. This frail mentality is also evident on the national team where we faultered at the World Cup quarter final. ( although that might have been put down to player loyalty)
@Eoin H: @Eoin H: Leinster’s record in Europe over the past 5 years is indeed extraordinary as you say. Losing 3 finals in a row is quite unique- some might say lamentable. Add in 2019, and it becomes pathetically extraordinary. Sharp insights by you for sure and prefect language. As you say this feeds into Farrells selections – this is why he chooses Beirne, Aki, Hansen, O Mahoney, Crowley as staples in his team. Your rugby insights are very praiseworthy. Keep it up you savant.
@Aidan Farrell: less and less people care about the CC and that’s a fact. It’s seen in the diminishing amount that television channels are willing to pay for it. Interest in the URC on the contrary is growing
Munster usually come alive when their is a European game in front of them.
I’d agree with the comments that things aren’t as bad at they appear and that injuries have had a big impact on performance to date.
I’ll also agree that they haven’t been a genuine contender in Europe over the past couple of seasons.
Munster were on it the year they lost to Toulouse after extra time but not since.
Surely they wont risk Beirne?
@Thesaltyurchin: if he’s fit, he plays. You don’t rest your captain for the biggest matches. I can see him play the 2 European games and have the two Interpros off as a rest period
@5sZl1dX2: he’ll be rested this week. and play the next three games before a break before the final two ERC games. if we cant beat a second string SF at home then we have big problems. they have not won away from home in the top 14 all season.
@Niall English: stade are in a bad place themselves atm , but they showed some fight against Bayonne at the weekend to show that they may come for a draw at the very least
@Niall English: it’s mandated centrally contracted players get two consecutive weeks off.
@damien reidy: If Stade review what Bayonne did to Munster at Thomond last season, even with a third choice pack theyll have the power to dominate up front.
@5sZl1dX2: Yea probs, he does get through some amount of games tho.
@5sZl1dX2: not sure this match is that big. I don’t think we can compete at the business end of the CC (Toulouse, La Rogelle,, Bordeaux and Leinster have budgets and squads far deeper than. We should concentrate on the URC IMO, the CC is not what it was and doesn’t deserve the focus now it once demanded