McGahan: skill is still vital

MAGNERS LEAGUE winning coach Tony McGahan yesterday denied that Irish rugby is fixated with producing gymnasium robots rather than skilful rugby players.

Munster’s McGahan faces more front-row selection headaches given the likelihood that Darragh Hurley will be ruled out of contention for tomorrow’s revenge clash with Ulster at Thomond Park, but he took time out to offer a different perspective on the argument made by former Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) fitness expert Mike McGurn who claimed that bulking up was more important than game management skills.

In a hard-hitting criticism of the modern game, McGurn said: “A lot of players are spending too much time on conditioning rather than with the ball. Rather than heading for the space or putting a guy into space they’ll try and run through you and that’s why they are getting hurt.

“If you put on too much weight, your ligaments can’t handle it and that’s where the risk of injury is.”

McGahan responded: “It is a difficult subject, to be honest. It’s difficult to make comparisons between countries because there are totally different environments.

“Kids in some countries, particularly the ones mentioned, are always out there exercising and their schools have excellent access to sporting programmes; maybe they’re a little more advanced physically anyway and that would be a focus, but they do have the advantage in certain countries of being outside all the time doing skills work.

“I suppose it’s fair to say that you’re guided by the environment you’re brought up in; if that constitutes being big and strong, winning a physical battle more than being tactically or technically better, then you need to be able to do that because the competitions we are involved in represent both styles.

“Over here, you go at the start of the season and you have the hard grounds, to the soft pitches where the attritional work is done, back to where you’ve got to play some rugby to get a result.

“I can only speak from Munster’s point of view and state that there is an excellent balance between physically developing the players and also making sure that they have the necessary skills levels across all components of the game. If you lean too far into one then you get to damage the other one.

“As a coach, I believe the players need to be prepared on all fronts; they need to have the required skills to come through. Prop forwards are completely different to outside backs and what their needs are and where the young man is (from a physical point of view). You have to look at whether he needs more weight or more speed, more conditioning and we would always look at the individual rather than the collective conditioning programme.

“I’m quite happy with the programmes being undertaken in the Munster academy and the sub-academy; we think we have a very good balance as to what the needs are from a physical perspective and from a game sense. At the end of the day, the game is rugby, the football is going to be in the hands of the players and skill is a core element of that.”

As far as this weekend is concerned, McGahan knows full well that a big Thomond Park crowd won’t accept too lightly the possibility of another home defeat to Ulster after a disastrous showing last season.

“We have no problem being in the spotlight, though, whether it is good or bad. We have to face up, front up and accept that it is a big match. Results are worrying at the moment; it is always a concern because everyone wants to be playing wonderful rugby and winning games.

“We have gone through three very poor away games, the Glasgow, Leinster and Edinburgh games, so we have been disappointed. This weekend is an opportunity to get a result and get back in the top four.

“I suppose we will (should) look at it on three fronts; the embarrassment (caused) last year in the way we folded to Ulster; that represents an opportunity to try to bounce back against a certain opponent. We’re also playing for ourselves to get a result and to finish at this stage of the campaign to be part of the top four,” he said.

McGahan does believe it could be a struggle for his side as he emphasised how much Ulster have progressed.

“Their form this season has been tremendous; they are the (go) forward team in Ireland at this stage and obviously the number one team in the Magners League; you don’t get there by accident.”

David Kilcoyne is likely to be called into the squad as McGahan selects Julian Brugnaut and Stephen Archer as the front row anchors. Kilcoyne will be on the bench as Hurley struggles with a shoulder muscle strain.