Veteran Payne gets back to basics

WHEN Shaun Payne signed for Munster five years ago, few took a great deal of notice. He had a good track record, initially in his native South Africa, where he was part of a crack Natal Sharks side, and more recently with Swansea.

But he had already reached his 30th birthday, and to the average punter it looked as if he had been signed largely as a utility back, should any mishap befall the regular full-backs, centres or wings.

Payne himself saw things in much the same light, and that’s one good reason why he now looks back in wonderment at how hugely his fortunes and expectations have changed in the meantime.

Last Saturday, he played his 28th Heineken Cup match for Munster. Combine that with his 22 appearances in the competition for Swansea and he qualified as a member of the Elite 50 Club. Even more importantly, in almost every one of those games for Munster, Shaun had excelled either as a full-back or left wing, and in the process become one of the fans’ favourites. Sometimes he stood in for injured players, most notably the luckless Christian Cullen, more often than not he was there on his own merits.

Either way, he was a huge success, whether in dealing with towering Garryowens, last-ditch try-saving tackles, counter-attacking or taking advantage of 50/50 try-scoring opportunities. He bagged his fourth in the Heineken Cup last week in typically opportunistic fashion. And yet only six months ago, it wasn’t meant to be this way at all.

The signs were that Shaun and Michelle, along with their children Dylan, 5, and Amy, 3 would be leaving their lovely home on the banks of Lough Derg in Ballina, Co Tipperary, and returning to South Africa. And then came the offer he couldn’t refuse.

“Towards the end of last season, I was talking with Garrett (Fitzgerald, Munster CEO) and Declan and was asked if I would like to stay on in a backroom position and to be there as a player as well for the next season to cover any mishaps,” he explained. “I love rugby and I wanted to stay, especially with a side like Munster that has such a good work ethic and such a good bunch of lads.

“So I jumped at the chance of being manager, a three-year term, with the first a kind of transition year while I was learning the ropes. I would train away and if there was a problem, I would be available to play. As it transpired, there were two problems. Mossie (Lawler) and Denis (Hurley) got injured at the same time.

“At that point, Declan sort of pulled me aside and told me it would be 100% rugby for the next six weeks. Just concentrate on playing. We were entering a really busy spell in the run-up to Christmas and he wanted me to be available to the team as a player without any outside influences that might affect my performances.”

Payne will be 36 in February and it may be asking a lot for him to maintain his form in the white heat of Heineken Cup action. No matter where you play, this kind of stuff is demanding but he is quite philosophical and indeed positive on that score.

“For me, the challenge is to stay switched on mentally,” he says. “You really need to get in and focus on the game. It’s a different feeling, say, when you’re a 21-year-old coming in, you’re bouncing, it’s all new, you’re absolutely nervous for every game, you can’t take your mind off it.

“Each year, you become more used to dealing with these situations. That in turn means you need to be able to switch on mentally, to be prepared. At 35, you can do it in shorter bursts, especially with all the training you receive. Technically, you’d be a lot better runner than you were at 21, 22 or 23.

“But aerobically, you’re not where you were when you were below 28. I could maybe do two or three sprints at the same pace that I could when I was younger. Then you could do eight, nine, 10 at a certain pace.

“Technically, we’re much better runners than we were two or three seasons ago, especially with Tom (Comyns), a former Irish sprinter, coming into the set-up. It’s all about recruiting the right muscles. I’m a lot stronger now than at 25.

“And as a player, I’m much more experienced than I was seven or eight years ago. That makes a massive difference, especially at full-back, in terms of being able to anticipate play and being in the right place at the right time. Nowadays, I’m able to read a game a lot better.”

Whether as player or desk man, Shaun will be in Munster for another three years, and he and the family are very happy about that. However, there are some disappointed grandparents back in South Africa who would like to see a lot more of Dylan and Amy but are reconciled to the situation.

“They want what’s best for us and they know there’s an opportunity for me to stay on here,” he said. “We tend to do a lot of visiting and they here a lot. It’s not a million miles away, it’s only about 8,000.”

And the Heineken Cup prospects? “I think we really must have our act together. If you look at the pool, it doesn’t make for good reading. The two previous winners plus Llanelli semi-finalists last year and Clermont, French Championship runners-up and Challenge Cup winners. It’s a great pool... if you’re not in it.”