Fielding Munster’s Payne

THE hailstones hammered against the windows, the players shivered in their boots. It could hardly have been further removed from Cape Town, where Shaun Payne was born and spent much of his childhood.

He left five years ago to discover a new rugby life thousands of miles away. After four seasons in South Wales, he made his way to Ireland and, more specifically, to Munster, a team he knew well from personal experience.

Shaun’s paternal grandmother emigrated from Sligo and that is why he qualifies for an Irish passport and, accordingly, is eligible to play for Ireland.

“I was a small kid and so I was a scrum-half from the age of six until going into the Air Force for my two years of National Service. Then I started growing. I played for the Air Force U21 side and changed over to centre and full-back having become a lot stronger and quicker. Three months after coming out, I went to university - and into the Natal U21s for two or three years as a full-back. I had one or two games in the Natal senior side but once rugby went fully blown professional in 1995, I made my breakthrough into the Natal Sharks first team.

“I have 21 Super 12 caps and 79-80 caps in total with Natal. I played in a Super 10 final against Queensland at Kings Park. We lost. I played a Currie Cup final at Kings Park. We lost. I was again involved in the Super 12s final, although I wasn’t even on the bench, and travelled over to Auckland for the game. We lost. That was ’96. Later again, I played in the semi-final of the Super 12s against Auckland in Auckland. We lost 50-30 something. I played in the semi-final of the Currie Cup. We lost. And then, in September, ’99, just before I left, I played in the final of the Currie Cup. We lost. With me and Natal, it was a case of so near, so far.”

How near was he to becoming a Springbok?

“Ask the coaches. People said I was close but I never paid any attention to that. I think I’ve improved a lot since then. When I was younger, I wasn’t confident enough to try things, to step up to the plate the whole time, I was holding back a little bit. I used to get a little nervous going into Super 12 games, facing Jonah Lomu and Joel Vidiri and the like. I’m under no illusions. I’m not saying I should have been there.”

In 1999, Shaun felt it was time to move on and so he linked up with the famous Swansea club in the rugby hotbed of South Wales and for the first two years never regretted the move.

“I had four seasons there and really enjoyed it,” he insists. “For the first two years, I would say we had a really strong side. We won the Scottish-Welsh League and got to the quarter-finals of the European Cup. But it was downhill for the last two years. They went into administration in March last year and that was the last straw.”

Things looked bleak for Payne and his wife Michelle. Then Alan Gaffney contacted his agent offering a deal with Munster. He never hesitated: “Munster being Munster, I wasn’t going to say no, and holding an Irish passport as well, it had to be a good move.”

Shaun was encouraged to come because Christian Cullen was doing likewise. He knew the All Black legend having played against him in the past and believed that being in the same side had to be good for his own game.

“I am in awe of the man. He is a great player. The prospect of playing in the same team was fantastic. I played against him at Palmerston North in 1998 - Natal Sharks against Wellington. And we won. I remind him about it all the time. And the challenge for my place is coming not only from Christian because Munster has a shed-load of backs. So I’m taking nothing for granted.”

The Paynes have set up home in Douglas, Cork, near a number of other Munster players including Ronan O’Gara, Peter Stringer, Frankie Sheahan and David Pusey. Christian Cullen is only just down the road.

“My contract is for two years and I think it’s gone well. I had my first taste of the Thomond Park atmosphere in the Treviso game and loved it and the guys tell me Saturday will be even better. I knew all about the Thomond crowd, everybody in Europe does. I wait with bated breath to see what it will be like. We’ve got to give them something to cheer, to sing about.

“Last week, we didn’t secure enough ball, what we did get wasn’t good quality. We gave them too much respect in defence, too much space to run into, we could have stepped up a little more, but the main thing was we didn’t have the ball. I’m not pointing any fingers, it’s up to one to fifteen, and there are a lot of things to be rectified.

Gloucester are difficult to defend against. They’ve got their wide game, moving the ball from side to side, and you’ve got to cover that. Then they have the option of kicking long with Paul, McRae and Goodridge, and they have these superb little dinks they put through the middle. We hustled well but they were still making yards on the outside. This time, we’ve got to put them under pressure. I think we’re good enough to do that.”

Does Shaun Payne (32 next month) fancy the idea of playing for Ireland? “People ask me that and I always reply, ‘of course’. But my goal is to do well with Munster. If you play well with your club, the rest will look after itself.”