Defiant McGahan hits out at Munster’s detractors

MUNSTER COACH TonyMcGahan last night vowed “not to let a very small minority destroy or try to put cracks in what is an excellent team and an excellent organisation.”

McGahan was reacting to criticism which his side has shipped after a poor start to the season in both the Magners League and the Heineken Cup.

Though Munster answered many of their critics with an impressive 24-10 victory over Ulster at Thomond Park on Saturday night, McGahan wished to send a stinging message to those who have castigated his side in recent weeks.

Unnamed former players were the chief targets of his ire.

Said McGahan: “We can’t control what’s put out there but the most frustrating thing for the players, the management and the whole organisation is that some former players are out there making some ill informed comments.

“That they are so far removed from the squad and so far removed from the current set-up makes it very disappointing.

“The lucky thing for us is that we don’t take any notice of it because we don’t have any people in our organisation like that. We are own harshest critics. We don’t need anyone else to tell us whether we have played well or not played well. We certainly knew we were well below standard in the way we were performing and tonight (Saturday’s Ulster victory) doesn’t get away from the fact we haven’t performed well. We haven’t become a bad side or a great side after this evening’s result.”

He continued: “We live in this environment. We know what works and doesn’t work and certainly know when our standards aren’t met.’’

He vowed: “We’re not going to let a very small minority destroy or try to put cracks in what is an excellent team and an excellent organisation.”

McGahan said his squad haven’t panicked after a series of poor performances or become paranoid by criticism from certain quarters.

Skipper Paul O’Connell concurred with his coach and revealed that the Magners League to Edinburgh a week ago left him the: “worst I’ve felt about rugby for a long time.”

O’Connell said: “I don’t take any notice of this stuff although I do know some guys do read a lot of the stuff that’s written and a lot of it is uninformed comment.

“Some of the ex-players that are writing were barely informed when they were playing with us not to mention when they’re outside now and doing whatever they do.

“I would have been aware of the comments and made aware of them by a few people but not rumours about a rift. I don’t know how to address that because there isn’t one there, at least not one that anyone has been telling me about.

“I’ve played on teams that have been slated plenty of times. The worst I’ve felt about rugby for a long time was after the Edinburgh game.

“We know where we are as a team and we know where we can be as a team. We know how good we can be and how bad we can be.

“It has been a sluggish start this year and there will be other days when we have to work hard and look at ourselves but I think we’re going in the right direction and today was a good performance.”