Munster’s revival starts here, says Anthony Foley
The two-time champions crashed out in January after losing home and away to Clermont Auvergne the previous month and then falling to Saracens in north London in the final game, only the second time in 17 seasons they had failed to reach the knockout stages of European club rugby’s flagship tournament.
Now Munster head coach Foley wants his players to learn the lessons of that campaign, and use the hurt and disappointment to ensure the same mistakes are not made, as they face into a tough group also featuring French champions Stade Francais and old rivals Leicester Tigers.
He wants Munster to hit the ground running this weekend when Italian side Treviso visit Thomond Park.
“It’s massive, massive,” Foley said of the motivational factor provide by last season’s European woe.
“For the players, it’s a big competition, they are well hyped up. Treviso are first up in Thomond Park, we’ll all be nervous to get into that game and make sure we get a result at home. We’ve got to make sure we don’t allow what happened to us last year happen again.
“It hurt a lot, for the group, for the coaching staff, the supporters, it hurt us a lot. What I was very impressed with was how we turned up against Sale the following week and put in a performance in front of our fans, and then for the next run of games how we put down a marker from then on.
“To get to the (Guinness Pro12) final and not win was another disappointment. But from going to a massive low to putting the foot on the accelerator and not allowing it to affect the rest of our season showed the character that we had, and still have, in the changing room. The drive that the boys showed, I thought, built for what could have been an excellent end to the season but it was a very exciting run to be on.”
Foley, for one, believes he has developed as a person and a man manager following his first season since succeeding Rob Penney as head coach.
“I’d like to think so, I’d like to think I see things differently. Everybody changes, you try to develop other areas and make sure that we’re looking more at the person than the player because sometimes we get too involved with the player and how fit they are, how’s their passing etc without knowing who they are, what they’re studying, what their personalities are. You need to be talking to them more as people than players. Because as players, at times, you can be treated like a product and I think you get more out of the person in Munster, the sum is always greater than the parts and we’re probably trying to go into that a bit more.”
Munster exited at the pool stage last season following a 33-10 loss to Saracens at Allianz Park in round five but the province’s troubles began two rounds earlier when they went down at home in a 16-9 home defeat to Clermont. For Foley, that underlined one of the cornerstones of negotiating a path to the quarter-finals, that each group-stage game has a huge bearing on qualification.
“We’ve always had that mentality, you try and get as much out of every game,” he said. “What you do at home is your foundation for whether you advance. Losing to Clermont last year meant we needed to go and beat Saracens, neither of which happened. So what do we take from that? We’ve got to make sure that at Thomond Park, we’re on the money and you try and pick up a couple of results away from home and see where that takes you.
“Looking at last year, one result away from home, plus picking up whatever (losing bonus points) can help you to the quarter-finals, but that might not be the case this year.
“It’s such a tough competition. Everybody earns the right to play in this competition, it comes off your league performances and there’s a lot of very competitive teams in a lot of very competitive groups.
“I’d hate to be sitting down trying to pick winners and runners-up out of these groups, it’s tough across the board and it just shows the level of competition that’s within the European Cup this year.”
Returning Thomond Park to the fortress it once was is a must for Foley, who says his team needs Munster’s passionate support in big European games and is hopeful the upcoming fixtures with Treviso, Leicester and Stade Francais will provide plenty to spark the imagination.
“You want Thomond Park to be full, you want it bouncing. We’ve talked about the importance of our supporters to us. They have a massive effect on how we play, even take the last three or four minutes of the game the last day (at home to Ulster in the Pro12), the boys were camped on their own line and needed to hold on, and I thought the crowd were excellent and got in behind them.
“We need similar but a larger volume and when we have that everybody rises and has a good feel for the game.
“The European Cup should send a tingle down everybody’s spine and if you look at there is excitement coming up.”
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