JJ Hanrahan is the one that got away for Munster
Neither party wanted the move, and there’s little doubt that the Munster faithful were fairly soured by it too.
I should know, I’m one of them.
JJ felt a need to move on. Munster wanted him to stay and fight for the No. 10 jersey. His development is so important for Irish rugby. When I retired, I felt this guy had a big future in the green jersey — and I’m not talking about the Northampton jersey I come up against tomorrow in Paris.
His departure is one that sticks in the craw. Anthony Foley is a big fan of Ian Keatley — he was signed up for 18 months, JJ didn’t think anything was going to change there, and he decided to go. You can understand the coach backing an out-half and Hanrahan for wanting to progress himself. I’m not saying Ian Madigan to Munster doesn’t have its merits, but I’d prefer to be hearing talk of Hanrahan coming home.
There is a bit of bad blood there, but that’s professional sport. If you care about someone or something, you are going to be bitter when it ends.
Saying he had no option isn’t correct. He could have stayed and battled it out with Keatley. Whatever it takes. But he evidently felt he was hitting his head against a brick wall.
The crossroads Munster finds itself at now, there comes a moment when you pack down and push together. There’s a group of them at that stage now— Kilcoyne, Sherry, Archer, Dave Foley, Dave O’Callaghan (Munster’s standout player this season), Peter O’Mahony, CJ Stander, Denis Hurley, Tommy O’Donnell, Conor Murray, Zebo and Earls.
JJ was part of that group, he’s a local fella. That’s why people are annoyed. In everyone’s eyes in Munster, JJ has the ability to play for Ireland. We all feel he should be out there now. It’s not as if Dan Carter is playing out-half for Munster.
He is a special talent. Zebo is a special talent. I don’t throw that around liberally but I would also put Earls and Murray in that bracket. They have come through and were all there together. It’s something I feel strongly about. JJ is gone from that crew. If Munster were to lose a Zebo or a Murray, what does that indicate?
Encouragingly, there are 20,000 tickets sold before walk-ups for the Leicester game tomorrow night. I hope about an hour and a half before the game, there is somebody delivering a top-class leader’s speech in the team room in the Clarion Hotel. There’s an English team coming to town. It’s war. For me, that person should be Donnacha Ryan. He’s proud. He’s passionate. Stubborn. Intelligent. Full of the right values. He’s been there 12 years and has experienced the individual and collective peaks and troughs there has been in Munster rugby.
I hope too the words of Tigers coach Richard Cockerill are pinned up on the dressing room. For those who didn’t see his interview this week, let me paraphrase: If we beat Munster home and away, and Treviso, then the Stade Francais game is for a home quarter-final.
Lumping Munster ‘s home and away games together, flippantly like that. I don’t believe anyone in Munster should be accepting that. I certainly hope not. The blood is boiling.
Me? I’m all about JJ this week. Have been since Monday. Studying, watching, parsing him and his performance at the Rec against Bath last weekend.
I anticipate he will start against Racing tomorrow. He is in top form, a big threat that adds a lot to the Northampton attack. That’s not demeaning Stephen Meyler’s contribution in any way, but Hanrahan is sharp. Very sharp.
Northampton were 11-10 down after 72 minutes and he kicked a great penalty to win the game. His line kicking was good, he was ratty, contesting touch judge calls, counter-rucking, passing, his stepping was good. He’ll have too much of his own play sheet to be bothered by who’s in our No 10 jersey, but it might be Dan Carter all the same...
Rewind 12 months, and Racing smashed the Saints in Paris. Are we a better team than a year ago? Most definitely. Does that mean we will smash Northampton in Paris or Franklin’s Gardens a week later? Of course not. At the highest level of sport, don’t underestimate the power of fear. The fear of losing, of being humiliated. It’s a powerful weapon.
George Clancy is the referee. He has given 23 penalties in the last game he managed, and 21 of them have been against the defending team. Hence controlling the ball is king at Colombes tomorrow. It’s a hugely interesting stat. Half of those penalties penalised the tackler, so we have to understand that early or be prepared for a very long day.
We must be clinical too. The killer instinct. Last Saturday in Pau, our capacity to keep the ball was dreadfully poor. Leading 18-15, we couldn’t see out the game, conceding a last-minute penalty.
There was a bit of old Munster about the place. The coach Simon Mannix, the video analyst Elliot Corcoran. The three boys, James Coughlan, Sean Dougall and Paddy Butler. I met Elliot for a coffee that afternoon but wouldn’t go near the lads. Before the game, you have to respect their preparation. The mindset doesn’t allow a catch-up if you are a player of any serious attitude. You don’t even suggest it.
I think there’s a touch of reality biting for the Munster lads down there. They were kings of the jungle in the Pro D2, but after promotion, Top 14 is a different animal. The Pro D2 is a difficult championship to win in terms of grind and grunt. At the Top 14, there’s a greater skill element that presents a profound challenge for any team coming up.
Coughlan got a nasty head injury. It was bad, and I say that having seen a fair bit of claret spilt over the years. There was two jerseys destroyed with blood. I hope he got the required care afterwards. It was like a war scene. He got split open, and then re-split. You could see his head was well indented from the injury. He’s still the same. Driving forward. No retreat.
Old Munster habits.
