Fisher: Munster may face ‘angst’ adapting to Penney’s style

Former Munster forwards coach Laurie Fisher believes the province’s current game plan under head coach Rob Penney could cause ongoing “angst” at his old club.

As a member of Jake White’s coaching staff at the ACT Brumbies, Fisher will today be helping to plot the downfall of the British and Irish Lions, when the tourists face Australia’s leading Super XV side at Canberra Stadium.

Yet he has been keeping close tabs on the Irish province he served from 2008-11 under Tony McGahan, whose successor Penney guided to the Heineken Cup semi-final in his first campaign but not before attracting criticism for the style of rugby he is imposing. New Zealander Penney wants his squad to play what they see in front of them and for his forwards to be equally comfortable out on the wings as going around the corner or up the middle, something Fisher views as at odds with the traditional Munster way of doing things.

“That’s Rob’s style and he was very successful with his Canterbury sides through the ITM Cup,” Fisher told the Irish Examiner. “It’s different, and it had its moments this year and at other times it didn’t. The difficulty is really bedding down that change when I guess it’s not the guts of what Munster do, which is up front, it’s the high ball, it’s aggression, a bit of manic, all those kinds of things. So it’s a little bit at odds with their traditional instincts and it’s not something that’s adopted at school level so the guys don’t come in with a base understanding or a skillset to be able to play that game. But he’s another 12 months at it, another pre-season at it and it’s been effective (in the past), it’s effective for the All Blacks and it can win football games.”

With the old guard, including Marcus Horan and Ronan O’Gara, gradually moving on to pastures new, Fisher conceded that younger squad members may be more receptive to the new style.

“There’s a core of senior players, Rog has gone, Marcus has finished up and Paul’s (O’Connell) got a couple more years, Donncha O’Callaghan a couple more years, so it really is the next generation now but I think style will be an ongoing source of discussion and perhaps angst in the Munster environment.”