Ireland call rekindles Holland’s Munster fire

Only a call-up to the Emerging Ireland tour to Romania stopped Billy Holland from having a long and miserable summer after a frustrating end to Munster’s season.

Two semi-final defeats, in the Heineken Cup and RaboDirect Pro12, had left the lock frustrated, disappointed and so sick of rugby, he did not even watch the finals he felt Munster should have been playing in.

Then came the call to represent his country for the first time since his Ireland U21 days, and the effect of the selection has taken even the 29-year-old Cork man by surprise. Set for his seasonal debut on Friday when Munster complete their pre-season preparations against London Irish in a SEAT Challenge game at Waterford’s Regional Sports Centre, Holland is facing the new campaign under head coach Anthony Foley with renewed energy.

“We were sick to the teeth at that stage, and sick of rugby,” Holland recalled of his feelings back in May after the twin semi-final defeats to Toulon and Glasgow Warriors.

“Then to get the call to go on the Emerging Ireland tour, you’re delighted but then you’re thinking you’ve got to get your head right again.

“The season’s over and you’ve got to get back into a sort of mini pre-season, get your body and mind back into shape again. It was probably a good thing there were so many Munster fellas in Romania and in Argentina, that we didn’t have a full summer to dwell on that poor end to the season. We got to go out on the pitch again and blow off a bit of steam... in a good way. Now we’ve seven or eight weeks of pre-season done, which is the tough part of the year so we are looking forward to getting back in the jersey and getting the ball in hand.”

Holland started two of Emerging Ireland’s three comfortable Nations Cup bonus-point victories, over Uruguay and Romania, denied a clean sweep only because the opening 66-0 romp against Russia was abandoned after 45 minutes due to heavy rain and lightning.

“I’ve been surprised how much it has reinvigorated and given me the self-confidence to have been put within touching distance (of a full cap). You’re playing Joe Schmidt’s game plan, not just watching the Irish team in Argentina. You know their calls, you know their systems and their moves, and it makes it more realistic. Once you get a taste for it, you want more. It’s greedy, it’s a desire thing, you always want more of the good things.”

Suitably reinvigorated, Holland is equally determined that last season’s anti-climactic end to Rob Penney’s two-year tenure as head coach should not be repeated this time around.

“It was pure frustration, pure frustration and disappointment, that you get to two semi-finals and you don’t go any further. If you get to a semi-final and you play well and get beaten by, say, a Toulon, who are on top of their game and are outstanding, that’s a different story. But when you make a team like that play poorly and then you also make unforced errors and silly mistakes... it was the same against Glasgow.

“We kept making mistake on top of mistake on top of mistake. We have a phrase: Swiss cheese effect... ! there’s holes and they just keep multiplying.

“Unfortunately we did that in both semi-finals and it was very frustrating and disappointing we didn’t perform.

“Having progressed so far from where we’d been at the start of Rob’s era the previous season, where we’d been utter crap at times, we’d progressed nicely and then just let ourselves down, as players.

“Things like Glasgow at home in Thomond Park when we got beaten badly was completely unacceptable, so there was a little bit of a sour note, from our point of view as players, because we let ourselves down, we let the coaching staff down last year. So it’s a new season, a new beginning, new coaches, new drive and the ambition is still the same, if not higher.

“You only want to be getting to semi-finals if you’re winning them. Losing isn’t good enough. Munster have got to base themselves on getting to finals. Once you’re in a final, it’s 50-50, anybody can win in a final. It’s what happens on the day. It’s a cliché but you’ve just got to put yourself in that position and two semi-finals won’t be acceptable this year.”