Munster facing many challenges
Eliminated from the Heineken Cup on home territory and struggling to secure a place in the semi-finals of the RaboDirect Pro12. Add in that many of their greatest players are approaching the end of their careers, that Thomond Park is far from the fortress it once used to be and wholesale changes will be made in the management team and you understand the reasons for concern.
The name of the new head coach will be revealed over the next few weeks.
Anthony Foley is the favourite but with New Zealander Wayne Smith and South African Nick Mallett frequently mentioned.
Whoever gets the job should be under no illusions about what lies in wait. Several of the team’s greatest will hang up their boots and Lifeimi Mafi is moving on to Perpignan. The think tank has already installed James Downey of Northampton Saints and Cardiff’s Casey Laulala as his midfield replacement, but, with due respect to both, they are hardly signings to set the heart racing. If the ‘capture’ of Downey and Laulala truly reflects the level of ambition in the Munster camp, then the Red Army has good cause to worry.
As for the immediate future, the going is not going to get any easier with departing coach Tony McGahan admitting “it’s difficult to put into words” the task facing him in lifting the players’ spirits. With three rounds to play, Leinster are already as good as assured of a home semi-final. They are followed by the Ospreys with 58 points; Munster and Glasgow Warriors on 56 each and Ulster with 55.
Munster face Warriors at Musgrave Park on Saturday and renew their Thomond Park rivalry with Ulster on May 5.
Nothing easy there, although it’s not all doom and gloom given the manner in which the A side battled so gamely for a 36-29 extra-time defeat of Leinster A in the semi-final of the B & I Cup.
Then there’s the emergence of several young players who have come through from the academy. Mike Sherry was a big success on his first starting appearance in the Heineken Cup on Sunday and looks set for a long career in the red jersey. He will surely be on the Irish plane to New Zealand in June and there, too, should be Simon Zebo, a great man to finish off an attack whenever he has the opportunity.
The pessimists point to defensive limitations — as if no other wing of Zebo’s relative inexperience didn’t have to learn what to do when danger threatened. He must be given his head, just as Conor Murray and Peter O’Mahony have flourished once the coaches had placed faith in them.
As for Thomond Park and its loss of fortress status after two defeats there in the space of eight days, it still remains one of rugby’s great stadia. The atmosphere on Sunday was all you would have expected, with the fans of both sides mingling comfortably and easily. I saw a little cameo as Ulster took their well-deserved lap of honour when a couple of red-bedecked Munster fans called Stephen Ferris over to the boundary wall, offered their hands in congratulation and wished him all the best for the rest of the tournament.
Ferris appreciated the gesture just as the majority of the visiting supporters were loud in their praise of the sporting nature of the home contingent, a message they have been getting abundantly across in tweets and texts over the last 24 hours. In every way, it was a great occasion and one that spoke well of the spirit of camaraderie that exists between rugby fans throughout the island.
