Ronan O'Gara: Big decisions ahead for Munster and Mike Prendergast

Stphen Larkham leaving as attack coach creates a big opportunity for Munster to go after one of their own. The issue: Is Mike Prendergast interested in coming home at the moment?

Thu, 02 Dec, 2021 - 18:22

Ronan O’Gara

It's been difficult not to empathise with the Munster lads marooned in South Africa. Not least for the fact that, after everything, they got no URC game played down there and face a return trip to the southern hemisphere in the spring during the Six Nations.

With some of the group still in Cape Town and the vast majority heading into isolation quarantine at home, it’s impossible to expect that Munster will be at the pitch of it when they run out for the start of the European Champions Cup in Coventry next weekend.

Munster set their clocks by the first game in Europe. But their periodisation - a topic we broached last week - has been properly screwed up by the loss of the two fixtures in South Africa and the dearth of collective work with the group next week. That there are a couple of frontline players/coaches still stuck in Cape Town isn’t their greatest problem. They haven’t had a competitive game since October 23 and the loss to the Ospreys in Swansea. It’s far from impossible that the group can turn this around – it is Munster, after all – but it’s an ask. The one thing they won’t reach for next week is excuses.

What’s almost been lost in the backwash of this South African episode has been Stephen Larkham’s confirmed departure from Munster next summer to return to his native Canberra as head coach of the Brumbies. People may raise their eyebrows after an indication that the Wallaby was ready to commit beyond his current contract, but the pandemic has rendered a lot of that stuff null and void now.

Bringing your family to the other side of the world, settling them into school and keeping the family unit happy is the most important life stuff and that is difficult at the best of times. When Covid makes travel home to see family virtually impossible, it compromises anyone’s ability to settle and make your new surroundings a home. Stephen has daughters of an age now where college is a consideration. His family also hasn’t seen loved ones back in Australia for far too long, so cut him some slack.

However happy he may be in his day job as Munster attack coach, it will never override what happens when he goes home after work. There are more important things than rugby. There is no chance I could have made Paris, Christchurch and La Rochelle work if Jess and the lads were not completely on board.

In normal circumstances, there’s every possibility Larkham would stay and might be a potential replacement for Johann van Graan. But his departure leaves Munster with another important role to fill ahead of next season.

Watching all this stuff unfold over the past week or so, I thought of Mike Prendergast a few times, and what he is making of it all. Prendy has made a serious mark in the Top 14 at Racing 92. He is well travelled and, beyond those who recognise his skillset, may even remain under-recognised and -appreciated.

Larkham leaving as attack coach creates a big opportunity for Munster to go after one of their own. The issue: Is Prendy interested in coming home at the moment?

I listen to Donnchadh Ryan talking about him from their time together at Racing 92. Not only does he believe Mike to be an excellent coach, but any of the players you strike up a conversation with, he invariably crops up in the conversation for the work he is doing in Paris. Players really like his manner, insofar as he is very low on the stress scale. Whatever the opposite of a bollocker is, that’s Prendy, which is interesting in the context of the Top 14’s relentlessness and stress. You would think it would get to everybody at some stage (I should know) but the more you speak to players about him, the more you hear of his composure and serenity.

He is an attack coach by trade, but he has an impressive grasp of the whole game at this stage. But being a nine, I am sure the attack side of the game is the area that floats his boat. The key issue is where is his ambition at. At this stage, the environment is more important to him that a job title. I am not sure the title of attack coach or head coach would interest him as much as dealing with the right people in the right set up. And the right opportunity.

If I was involved with Munster, I’d be making it my business to check him out without delay but the fact that he has worked so hard at Racing 92, and the progress he has made will make him wonder are they closer to winning the European Cup than Munster. That’s a hard one to call, but it would obviously be a contributory factor for such any driven and ambitious professional.

This idea of Irish rugby’s wild geese heading off, fattening themselves, and sitting by the phone waiting for the right call from home is completely obsolete. The reality is that the situation has completely turned on its head. We are all extremely proud of where we come from but when you step beyond emotional rhetoric and examine the respective merits of the Top 14 versus the United Rugby Championship, then one realises that there is a far bigger rugby world out there.

French rugby is part of a broad sporting base in this country and can compete on the world stage in terms of eyes and ears for its domestic competition. The amount of sport, the stadia, the place is hopping and it’s only going to get bigger with the Rugby World Cup in 2023 and the Olympics in 2024.

I’ve been involved in pan-Celtic, European, Super Rugby and now the Top 14. In terms of ‘domestic’ options, the French league is the non-pareil in terms of history, prestige, pressure and demands. You could play the guts of three Super Rugby campaigns in one Top 14 season! What’s very important and interesting is the history and identity of a national championship like the Bouclier, which stretches back over a century. For Welsh, Scottish and Irish clubs, there is no such thing.

Tugging at the heartstrings is not the pre-eminent consideration in a professional context. Yes, Munster remains a huge job – that hasn’t changed. And it’s an opportunity to work at home with the club you cherished as a young lad. But Mike has seen a bit of the rugby world now and he will be so much wiser for all those experiences. I wouldn’t dream to speak for him, but don’t think it will be an automatic ‘I want that at all costs’ if Munster come calling.

Just like Stephen Larkham, family considerations must be prioritised, and that’s a conversation with Shonagh about where they want to bring up their three daughters over the next few years. From a rugby point of view, a lot of people would love the idea of coaching Munster to a Champions Cup with the province, but you can’t pretend there isn’t an issue with the lack of big matches, week on week.

Prendy has experienced the cut and thrust of the Top 14, the threat of relegation that can suffocate you, and the effect a couple of losses can have on someone. Looking at the table now, the gap between the bottom and La Rochelle in fourth place is only 11 points.

We produced our best rugby of the season last weekend in the 36-8 win over Pau, but the real surprise was Bordeaux-Begles hockeying Racing 37-14 in Paris at the La Defense Arena – after being 14-6 behind at half-time!

We are in Paris this weekend for Sunday night’s game at Stade Francais which means we have feet up Saturday night as the top two, Bordeaux and Toulouse, go head-to-head.

The world will be watching.