Costello warns on small margins
Since Rob Penney’s departure after two campaigns that yielded a pair of Heineken Cup semi-finals but no silverware and a game plan that polarised fans, Munster have installed an all-indigenous coaching team with Costello (skills, defence, kicking), Brian Walsh (attack), Jerry Flannery (scrum) and Mick O’Driscoll (technical advisor) serving under new head coach Anthony Foley.
While Costello, who previously held roles with Munster at U20, A and Academy level, is understandably keen to look to the future, the frustration of how the 2013/14 campaign panned out is evident. Acknowledging Munster aren’t on an even keel financially with their rivals, he wants them to control what’s in their power.
“If we didn’t drop two balls against Toulon, we’d have been in the Heineken Cup final. If I asked the same two people to do the same thing again 99 times, they’d be successful, but those incidents cost us six points,” he said. “In the Pro12, we should never have been away from home in that semi-final we lost to Glasgow, we had a bad run leading up to that.
“Our inconsistency last year was terrible. We’d put in a top-class performance and then go out and lose to an Ulster reserve team. That’s reflective of how you prepare. I don’t want to talk about the past, but we must control how we prepare to get that consistency.”
Such is Costello’s eye for detail that you get the impression he could spend hours outlining how Munster will go about that this year. He has an avaricious appetite for coaching knowledge, but boils it down to increasing the probability of being successful, because nothing is guaranteed.
“Repetition is crucial, and having a really narrow focus. We challenge players to have unbelievable clarity, to know their roles inside out. If you do that, you’ve got a good chance of bringing intensity, and then we’ll challenge their accuracy on top of that. If you can transfer all of that under pressure, that’s how we go about establishing consistency.”
They’ll need to maintain high performance levels in what is a stinker of a Rugby Champions Cup group, with Saracens, Clermont and Sale.
“It was always going to be that way once they reduced the numbers in the competition,” admits Costello. “But nobody wants to be in our group either. Can we beat Saracens home and away? Yes, we’ve done it before. Clermont are a very tough side to beat away, but they’ve been beaten there recently which takes a huge psychological edge off them, plus they also have a new coaching group and a lot of players are gone too. Sale are a quality side too, a coming side.
“But the nature of this competition is you’re going to be playing exceptional teams at some stage — we’ve to ensure we’re as good as we can possibly be. It’s tough, it’s intimidating, it’s maybe not ideal for our first year together as a coaching group, but it’s a great challenge too.”
Costello is particularly excited by how the province’s new signings — number eight Robin Copeland, versatile playmaker Tyler Bleyendaal and midfield man Andrew Smith — will fare.
“James [Coughlan] has moved on which is something we didn’t envisage initially, but Robin brings an exceptional skill set to the table, and I just don’t know where his potential ends. He could make a huge impact for us in an already competitive area.
“Tyler is an excellent footballer, and for the style we’re going to play, we need a number of decision-makers. He supplements the quality we have already and is an excellent kicker so he allows you to play in the right parts of the field. I met Andrew in Australia a few weeks ago and watched him train with the Brumbies. The way he interacted with the group shows what he’s going to bring — a lot of experience, plus he’s a strong defender, a good distributor and a hard runner who knows the game really well. We feel we have some exceptional guys in the back-line and he may end up being vital in getting ball to them.
“There was a lot of thought as to why we brought in certain players; I wouldn’t be worried at all by the notion that we don’t have what might be considered to be a ‘marquee’ signing. I’d be more interested in the depth and quality we have.”
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
