Clermont’s Canuck Cudmore committed to the French way
Not a man to be messed with, clearly. So why is he talking to me about wines?
“Let’s see, you’re a steak man?”
Well, if it’s on offer...
“You’ll want something from the south, maybe a Faugeres from down around Beziers, or a nice Saint Chinien.
“They’re not well known, certainly, but I think they’re up and coming wines, and I’m a big fan. You’ll always have your classic Bordeaux, of course, but anything in the Cote du Rhone area, or further south from that, all of those areas produce pretty good wines.
“You’ll be set with any of those.”
Cudmore belies the fearsome image with a considered view on other matters also. Take his thoughts on Joe Schmidt, the short-odds favourite to replace Declan Kidney. The second row doesn’t fob off the question with a barrel of cliches, but outlines Schmidt’s coaching strengths.
“I wouldn’t be worried about Joe at that level at all, I think he’d do a hell of a job,” says Cudmore. “In terms of his coaching, obviously I can only speak for myself and my experience of him when he was here with us in Clermont.
“One thing, definitely, is that he’s extremely precise in his work and because of that he gets his players to play to a very high standard. He always gets the very best out of the players in his squads.
“In addition, he’s a very nice guy and he gets his point across very clearly. At the same time he takes no shit. He’s no pushover.
“He’s a very intelligent man, and that’s probably the big thing with him — intelligence and his precision in communication. That’s very important when it comes to getting a big group of players to gel together and to work hard for each other.
“He’s always been the kind of coach who comes up with good ideas in terms of game plans according to the teams you’re up against, which is a huge strength. I have great time for Joe and I’d wish him all the best if he takes on the Ireland job. I think he’d do very well.”
Cudmore even does a good job of glossing over the incident which marked him out as a public enemy for most Munster supporters — his brawl with Paul O’Connell in Thomond Park back in 2008.
“I have great memories of playing over there. Great team, fine stadium, outstanding fans. We’ve had some great games over there. Unfortunately I was expelled from one of those games but hey, that was all my own fault.”
Like his team-mate Nathan Hines, the fact Clermont had to deal with perennial European powerhouse Toulouse last weekend is taken as a positive by Cudmore ahead of the Munster game.
“It’s a challenge, because Toulouse are a great club, but in some ways that made it easier to prepare for the Munster game.
“Last weekend, if we had been playing a team lower down in the table over here, then we might be guilty of looking past them to Munster. Of taking them for granted. But because it was Toulouse, with all that goes with them, we had to buckle down and be on our game. The Toulouse game was our entire focus, and we put ourselves under pressure to perform.
“That pressure is something we put on ourselves, like any sporting group. We have high standards for ourselves and we want to do our best every week. We have an internal pressure, we want to do well week in week out, and that comes with playing sport at a high level.
“You’ve got to be precise in what your job as well, and we work hard at that.”
Despite scorching past Toulouse 39-17, Cudmore side-steps the issue of favouritism neatly.
“I don’t know if we’re favourites, necessarily. It’s finals rugby, so favouritism doesn’t count for that much.
“And we’re well aware that Munster have gone overseas and won games abroad plenty of times. You could say we’ll be favourites, but it’s knock-out rugby, which means it comes down to whoever can find their form on that day.”
It’s all a long way from Squamish, the little town in Canada where Cudmore grew up. He never thought he’d be discussing hearty reds and cheeky whites with familiarity. Or speaking French with ease.
“No, not at all. Growing up I thought I’d be working in the bush, driving a snowmobile and spending the weekend drinking beer.
“That was the plan for my 20s and 30s, certainly. It’s funny how things change.
“I’m from the west coast of Canada, not even the French-speaking part. Small town, blue-collar, where there’s a culture of working hard and where it can be a little close-minded.
“Ice hockey fans? It’d be hard to find a place in Canada where people aren’t ice hockey fans. I didn’t play too much but we followed the Vancouver Canucks in the NHL. They were our team.”
The big man acknowledges that French culture presented a few obstacles at the start for him.
“The language barrier was huge when I got here first. Bonjour and merci were my only French words, and it took a year and a half, two years to get to grips with that. But I’m very happy with my decision to stay.
“I have a wine bar/restaurant, Vinomania, in Clermont, and a nightclub as well — The Five. My wife is building some other businesses here, so we’re pretty well entrenched. Well settled. The kids are happy in school, we built a house here, this part of France is beautiful — why would we want to move?”
Why indeed? Cudmore does a decent job of selling a weekend in the south of France. “It’s going to be a nice weekend and Montpellier’s a beautiful place, lovely old town with these striking sand-coloured buildings, cold beer, a good game.”
Nicer than Clermont? “Well, let’s not get carried away.” That affection for Clermont is genuine. So is his fondness for the Gallic life.
“I’m living the dream, buddy. I just woke up. Afternoon naps are a regular occurrence over here.
“You should move over. If I see a job opening with a French newspaper I’ll give you a call, how’s that?”
No bother, kid. I’ll even bring the Faugeres with me.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
