STEPHEN LARKHAM SAYS it was an emotional experience telling Munster’s players that he will be leaving the province at the end of the season.
The Australian joined Munster in 2019 as senior coach and earlier this season, he indicated that he would be happy to extend his contract beyond the end of the current campaign.
However, Larkham subsequently opted to take up an offer from the Brumbies to return home as their head coach next summer, citing family factors as he confirmed his Munster exit.
Speaking yesterday, Larkham revealed how tough he found it to tell the Munster players of his impending departure.
“It’s the stage of my family as well and the ages of the girls,” said Larkham. “It was very difficult, it was emotional telling the boys. Everything was pretty rushed over in South Africa and I had to tell the boys at the end of training before we broke the news.
“It was emotional in the huddle, it was very difficult to get the words out.
“As I’ve said before, the environment is great here. The coaching set-up, the coaches, the staff, the facilities, the players. Everything is top notch. It’s going to be hard to replicate that going forward. So leaving all of that is difficult but I know I have done it for the right reason now.
“It’s still a very tough decision, it was back and forth and I struggled with it. And even now there are pros and cons to it.”
Confirmation of Larkham’s departure was swiftly followed by news that head coach Johann van Graan will also be leaving Munster at the end of the campaign, having invoked the six-month release clause in his IRFU deal to take up an offer from Bath.
Larkham yesterday underlined how the two leading coaching figures are focused on finishing on a high with Munster. They want a trophy before leaving.
“Since I spoke two months ago around the improvements we have made and still want to make, nothing has changed in that regard,” said Larkham.
“We’ve had the Bulls, Lions, and Leinster postponed so there were three opportunities to improve our game which were set aside, unfortunately. But on behalf of myself and Johann, we’re very much focused on having a successful season here before we do anything else.”
Having come through their recent Covid-19 challenge after the trip to South Africa, Munster happily have nearly a full squad to pick from ahead of this weekend’s United Rugby Championship clash with Connacht in Galway.
Munster beat Wasps and Castres in the Champions Cup this month before their clash with Leinster on Stephen’s Day was postponed due to Covid in the Leinster squad, but Larkham wasn’t happy with the most recent outing.
“No, we didn’t play well against Castres,” he said. “We need to put our hand up there and say we didn’t play well. There were four or five opportunities out there and that wasn’t Castres’ best team at all. I would certainly look back at that game and say we were below par for a couple of reasons.
“There were some amazing outstanding performances but in terms of the result, that was below par for us. We had individual performances but there were mistakes on the field that really hurt us.
“Was it a step down? I mean you have to be careful with that Wasps game. There was a red card early in that game and they were a very good side and played exceptionally well with 15 men.
“But where we came from with the team we put out? That was a sensational performance. Was Castres a step down in terms of performance? Without doubt. We weren’t happy with that at all internally. But we’re constantly looking for growth and development in this team.”
The42 Rugby Weekly / SoundCloud
Gavan Casey and Murray Kinsella take a break from eating and drinking to chat about some interesting contract news in Irish rugby.
