Fisher in unfamiliar waters
The first impression was all about the hair, and no wonder. The Munster squad were expecting an Australian coach; they just weren’t expecting one who hadn’t had sat in a barber’s chair for over three decades.
The players met him last July and now Canberra native Laurie Fisher is viewed as one of their own. They got used to the hairstyle along the way.
He had left his job at the ACT Brumbies and his native Canberra under a slight cloud, his contract not renewed because of their failure to make it to the semi-finals of the Super 14 in any of his four years at the helm.
A change of scenery would suit him and the fact that his fellow Brumbie Jim Williams, the outgoing Munster forward coach, was returning home to assist Robbie Deans with the Wallabies caught his attention. However, when his job application landed on the desk of Munster CEO, Garrett Fitzgerald, it joined many others.
A lot of sifting had to be done but to the credit of the Munster think tank, they soon realised that Fisher might be their man and so it came to pass.
But . . . surely the hair was too easy a target for some of the wits in red jerseys?
“Well, there’s a time and a place for sledging, as we call it in Australia, and the good thing is that they understand that,” he says. “You can’t afford to get too far ahead of yourself — you get chopped down whether you’re one of the coaches or the players. The beauty is the lack of ego and the openness among this group.
“The hair has been a bit thicker in the past and a little bit longer. I’ve had long hair since I was 16 and that’s 34, 35 years ago now. I’m just letting it fall out strand by strand. I don’t have the heart to cut it down. I’m sure I’ll cop it from the guys but that’s the way it goes.”
However, now it’s crunch time for all concerned. Anything other than a win over Clermont Auvergne this afternoon will leave Munster’s aspirations of becoming only the second team after Leicester to retain the Heineken Cup in tatters.
That they can avenge Sunday’s defeat goes without saying — though Anthony Foley’s boast that nobody beats Munster twice in a row is sure to be tested — but to do so they must avoid conceding the penalties that bedevilled their performance in Clermont — and even on that famous night against the All Blacks.
Fisher accepts the point without necessarily accepting that the blame lies entirely at the door of his players: “There are a lot of 50-50 decisions and that’s the nature of the game.
“Is a guy off his feet? Is he not off his feet? Is he in from the side? Is he not in from the side? Referees are making decisions in an instant and it’s not a job I’d like to do. In the end, you’re going to give away near double figure penalties in a game of football. It’s where on the park that you give them away is the issue.
“We gave away six in a kicking position on the weekend and part of that is spending too much time in our own zone. The second thing is the need for a little more composure in our own end of the field. Penalties are part and parcel of the game and of course we’d like to give away less. But sometimes it’s not absolutely in your control.”
As for today’s game, Fisher argues: “The bonus is that we are playing them at home. The passionate support is an extra advantage, but it doesn’t win you the game. The ingredients for winning a game of football don’t vary that much; good set piece, quality kick-chase game, make good decisions, play at the right end of the park. We need to be doing all those things.”
The ACT Brumbies were part of Fisher’s life for a very long time. A useful performer on the pitch in his younger days, he still made more of a mark as a coach.
Matt Giteau, the gifted Australian out-half, was just one of those he brought along in his time as director of the academy before he took over the top job, and a title-winning side from David Nucifora in 2004.
After four years in that position — and without a Super 14 semi-final spot achieved — his contract wasn’t renewed. He might have moaned about the abnormal run of injuries that struck the squad, but he held his counsel.
Then Munster entered the equation. In almost every way it was a leap into the unknown. But as he says, there might be big names in the Munster squad but no big egos and they welcomed him with genuine good will.
While Fisher admits that it was “a massive dislocation” for his wife Bernadette and four children (Alice, Bill, Luke and Ruby), to leave Canberra, they have settled very well into their new surroundings.
“Rugby is rugby and rugby people are rugby people so you’re with like minded people. It hasn’t been a quantum change of environment for that reason.
“The children are happy at school, Bernadette has plenty to keep her occupied and we have a nice little house in a good estate in Carrigaline.”
“Everything is in place for us to enjoy the opportunity to be in a different culture and environment. It’s a life opportunity for us and one we need to grab with both hands.”
In spite of Sunday’s defeat in Clermont, it’s largely been a case of so far so good for Fisher, who looks back with most satisfaction on the games against Leinster in the Magners League and Sale Sharks in the Heineken Cup, not to mention a certain clash with the All Blacks.
“I thought the performance against Sale was tremendous,” he says.
“There were some wonderful examples of things we’d been trying to achieve; just good technique, good communication that was in evidence in that game.
“Leinster was also a great experience. In terms of execution, I thought our first 45 against Sale contained some tremendous things.”
Which is all very fine — except that a repeat of the hugely-impressive form of both games has been somewhat conspicuous by its absence in the meantime.
That was the case against the Scarlets in the Magners League, while there were several disappointing aspects to Sunday’s clash in Clermont. Inconsistency of this nature isn’t new in Munster teams, one reason why they often seem to make things unnecessarily difficult for themselves.
“There was a lot of changes of personnel, you lose key players for a month to the Irish squad and while they play football, there’s slightly different things in what they are doing and different techniques and different expectations,” he points out.
“You’re feeding guys back in. Look at last week. A number of guys hadn’t played for Munster for over a month. It’s hard to maintain momentum and continuity when things do change.”
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