Munster must get motivated, warns Leamy

RABODIRECT PRO12: Munster v Connacht

Munster’s green contingent have long found their club to be a comforting place to rebuild form and confidence after bad times with the national side.

However, since beating Edinburgh 30-3 on February 9, Munster’s RaboDirect Pro12 campaign has come off the rails, with defeats on the road to Treviso and Scarlets compounded by a 13-13 home draw with Ospreys.

They’re seven points off the playoff places ahead of today’s Musgrave Park clash with Connacht, the first of their five remaining league games and one of just two before their Heineken Cup quarter-final trip to Harlequins.

Munster’s Billy Holland confirmed his belief this week that the likes of Ronan O’Gara and Donncha O’Callaghan — both jettisoned by national coach Declan Kidney — can help galvanise Munster’s efforts for the rest of the this season.

In contrast, Leamy, who retired from rugby last May due to injury at just 31, reckons his former colleagues may find it tough to motivate each other, particularly after an anaemic Six Nations that saw Ireland win just once in five games.

“Munster have a very difficult end of season coming up, in many ways,” he said.

“The league is probably gone at this stage; it’s very hard to create an atmosphere for a winning mentality when the non-performances are happening in the league.

“The guys that are involved with Ireland, like Peter O’Mahony, and Donnacha Ryan, are expected to come back and pick up the pieces, which I think is a big ask for the lads.

“Normally, going back over the years, when the internationals returned you were coming back to a team that had won four or five games over the period you were away. There was always a good atmosphere, the guys who hadn’t had a whole lot of game-time would have played a lot.

“Both Ireland and Munster were going well at the time, so everyone was feeling good about themselves. But this time, with everything the Irish players have had to go through, I’m not sure they’ll be feeling good about themselves.”

Leamy acknowledges the upheaval that has taken place in Cork and Limerick in the past 12 months. A slew of players, including David Wallace, John Hayes, Jerry Flannery, Mick O’Driscoll and Darragh Hurley, joined him in retirement — the majority also prematurely — while new coach Rob Penney’s gameplan has taken time to bed down too.

“There’s new coaches, a new way of playing that game, and everyone’s feeling that process,” he said.

“I wouldn’t be quick to criticise them; I imagine they’re training as hard as they can, and doing the right things, but there’s fine lines between success and failure and the top level of sport.

“At the moment, Irish rugby and Munster rugby are indicative of a lack of confidence that’s there, but the signs are positive in terms of the amount of young players coming through. However, Munster are a little bit away from winning a Heineken Cup for a couple of years.”

If Leamy isn’t giving the impression that he’d be desperate to get back in there to muck in, it’s because he probably isn’t. He gives himself “a seven or eight out of 10” in terms of how he’s coped with retirement.

Part of the change has included coaching at his alma mater, Rockwell College. Head coach Mark Butler jokingly warned to expect to hear cows in the background when giving Leamy a call, as he spends so much time on the farm these days. Has he become the new John Hayes?

“I have not!” he laughs. “I do go to the farm quite a bit, and it’s quite busy out there. But I leave the farm from time to time, whereas I think John has moved in with the cows at this stage, he loves it so much!

“Retirement hasn’t been too bad. I’ve met guys over the past couple of years who have struggled really badly in giving up the game. I found it difficult too, but I’d come to the stage where the injuries were getting a bit much. I was finding it harder and harder to come back from being injured. After the last [hip] injury, I reckoned I’d had enough of it. I was at peace with that, and I walked away from the game. I moved back to Tipperary [from Cork] and that gave me a nice detachment from where I spent all of my rugby career.

“I’m focusing on working at home and getting on with the rest of my life.”