“If someone’s unhappy he’s not playing or whatever, if he’s sulking . . . that’s frowned upon”

Jason Holland’s years of service with Munster give him a broad perspective when it comes to the Heineken Cup. The province’s backs coach spoke to Michael Moynihan about bitterness, losing to Leinster – and the future for the men in red.

HE MADE 102 appearances in Munster red, so you can extrapolate Jason Holland’s career tackle count from that. Little wonder, then, that he doesn’t blink at your first effort: have Munster drifted away from that blue-collar work ethic that established their credentials in the last decade or so?

“It’s a tough one. I don’t think we ever really went away from that, though I can see how people would have the opinion that we did. But even if we did – without knowing it – it’d be in our minds that couldn’t continue. You have to be hard-nosed and physical to play winning rugby, no matter what happens with new rules and so on. You can’t take away the hard approach. I don’t know if we left that behind for a while but if we did we’ve certainly gone back to it.”