Racing is developing something like the old Munster team ethos...
Something like that can change the tone and dynamic of a season within the squad. Because that’s exactly what was needed.
There was none of this ‘I’m having a look around, I’m seeing what’s best for my career etc’. He was unequivocal about his future and his admiration for Munster and what it means to him. That could be the kick-start the dressing room needs — ‘look what we have here, we need to start seeing the glass half-full as opposed to half empty all the time’.
Fair play. No bullshit. Straight out from Murray: this is what I want and this is where I want to achieve. Very Munster.
What wasn’t very Munster was the Thomond Park experience last Saturday night. The players have always been grateful for the backing of support from the faithful, so it’s unwise in my view to dismiss the frustration they showed Saturday night. There are brutal realities no-one can ignore. Ian Keatley is not the only Munster player struggling for his form. Maybe the No 10, along with the likes of Robin Copeland and Andrew Conway (who I think has been very good this season) will always be judged more harshly because of where they’ve come from. Munster has never been a place to pick up someone else’s perceived seconds, especially when that someone else is Leinster.
It’s one thing questioning the quality of player at Munster, but what has me scratching my head is the quality of animal you are dealing with now. Is that hurt there at the moment? For the players I soldiered with, a resounding yes. But I can’t vouch for the other lads. That was always the key for Munster teams going back 10 or 15 years. After a defeat, Gaillimh’s words always resonated: You don’t beat Munster twice.
Keatley is the starting 10 for Munster and with that comes pressure and responsibility. It’s a heavy jersey to wear. He has to show character and front up now. His confidence seems shot, but he needs to reach into that reservoir of mental strength that every top level 10 has to have. They wouldn’t be top level if they didn’t have it. What’s his point of difference? It’s his running game and he needs to focus on that, start attacking the gain line, using his pace. And convert those bread and butter kicks. If he gets that together for two or three games, the rest of his game will happen.
The training ground develops a bullet-proof technique if you stay with it. The mind is one thing, but you have to have a consistent kicking technique. He’s chopped and changed it. That happens. We all did it. There comes a stage, though, when he has to decide what kind of a kicker is he. Is he a timing kicker, a power kicker, what does he believe in? Until he decides that, he’ll never have the consistent outcome he needs. You work with different coaches and they all say different things, but the most important person is Ian Keatley. He’s the one who’s out there. Everyone else is a crutch. Get it right in training and the real thing becomes a matter of process. In a game situation, you have adrenaline and a faster heartbeat, which actually makes it easier, in my opinion.
What cannot be lost in all this is that Anthony Foley’s squad still has a potential 20 points to play for in the pool, and has five out of a possible 10 in the bag. A win on Sunday at Leicester opens up all kinds of possibilities for the new year, when they travel to Paris to play Stade Francais.
The irony isn’t lost on me how Racing 92 are beginning to foster a bit of the old Munster team ethos. Tonight is hugely important as we go to Franklin’s Gardens to renew battle with Northampton. We’ve got a bit of form together. The big difference in the last two months is there has been a bit of consistency, whereas before we were susceptible to getting spanked by Agen and Castres in the Top 14. That shouldn’t happen, irrespective of what XV we have out.
But there’s been the gradual creation of a team, a group. That hasn’t existed in the past. Compulsory fun doesn’t work with teams. A team gels when players are going for food together or going to the cinema without being pushed to do so. Then you know players want to play for each other.
It’s awkward talking about myself in this column, but there is satisfaction in being intimately involved in a game-week plan that comes together like last Saturday when we beat the Saints 33-3 in Colombes. It will never beat playing, because it’s a different satisfaction. But it’s nice nonetheless.
During the week, we split training into two groups, 30 minutes unopposed, and it was blatantly obvious from practice, that we didn’t have our calls nailed down. What chance had we against Northampton if we couldn’t do things instinctively when there was no opposition? That was the big target in our team meetings. Getting proper detail into our game, so we cut the menu by 80%, because while we’ve been good at some things, we’ve not been excellent at anything. Let’s get good at the small stuff. Monday and Tuesday learn your role, Thursday and Friday, add speed and intensity to it. It becomes autopilot on Saturday. Let it rip.
We left a lot of points out there last Saturday against Northampton, but there was a great excitement among the players. Our inside centre Henry Chavancy made 18 tackles and had 15 clean outs at ruck time. He’s not just like an extra back row forward, he’s become the heartbeat of the team. And he is local. Like Munster local, at the club here since he was eight. His enthusiasm and passion are infectious.
There’ll be a lot of interest here in how Toulon get on in Dublin. Leinster may be out of the reckoning but they still have a backline capable of taking down the best. And they could turn Toulon over. Which would be a second defeat for the reigning European champions who have still to go to Bath. It mightn’t stop them qualifying for the knockouts, but it might deny them a home quarter-final. That is key.
Basically, a home game for Toulon is a win. Simple as. Getting them away from the Felix Mayol presents a different set of issues.
Those other great pillars of Top 14, Toulouse, found out to their cost the difficulty of meeting a side like Ulster that plays with a speed and intensity that doesn’t exist in France. Toulouse, statistically, have the best defence in the Top 14 but that’s because the game here is played at a slower pace. But Ulster found holes all over the place in Ravenhill because of their game speed and the fact the game is reffed at a higher tempo in Europe. Toulouse have one eye on Top 14 at the moment — they have Toulon and Stade Francais after Ulster — so they might be vulnerable again this weekend.
