Mark Chisholm eyes bright future for Munster’s emerging stars
It may, for instance, affect some diehard followers of Munster, who have borne witness to the glories of the past and mutter darkly about their team’s prospects for the future, particularly at the outset of a 21st campaign in Europe, eight seasons removed from the most recent glimpse of a European trophy.
So when you sit down with someone who has cast a fresh pair of eyes on a familiar landscape it can serve as quite a jolt to hear how good the view looks, especially when that person has 58 Test caps for Australia, is a Super Rugby champion, and a seasoned captain in the French Top 14.
Step forward second row Mark Chisholm, Munster’s newest breath of fresh air and a Wallaby still with a spring in his step, set on a determined course to improve both himself and his new team.
The 34-year-old former Brumbie, who makes his European Champions Cup debut at Thomond Park today against Treviso, joined in August from Bayonne as head coach Anthony Foley looked to fill some of the experience deficit created by Paul O’Connell’s departure.
The Queenslander has plenty of reasons of his own for making a success of this move to a province who made a lasting impression on him as a youngster when they beat his beloved world champion Wallabies in 1992.
“I was ecstatic when they put their hand up to wanting me, very happy, and it’s a great club to be a part of,” Chisholm told the Irish Examiner.
The chance to join Munster came in the wake of Bayonne’s relegation from the Top14 to ProD2 last summer with their captain of three seasons desperate to recreate the winning feeling he experienced with the Brumbies’ 2004 Super Rugby title run under David Nucifora and Laurie Fisher.
Chisholm had two years to run on his Bayonne contract but “I couldn’t see myself fitting in any more”.
He explained: “I hadn’t given up on my professional career. I’m not saying ProD2 isn’t professional but I felt I had more to give to rugby and more to ask of myself. I guess that’s the sort of person I am, always striving to be the better player and not comfortable settling for where I’m at.
“So the opportunity to win silverware here really re-ignited my feel for rugby again.”
Chisholm does not disparage the environment at the French club but his first impressions of life at Munster and his arrival here suggest all was not rosy there.
“To be brutally honest I was a little bit in awe (arriving at Munster). I was intimidated and a little bit worried that maybe I wasn’t up to the standard they required, just because of the intensity and the quality of the players I was watching training. I hadn’t been in this sort of atmosphere, team environment, and this level of professionalism, being accountable for every action, I hadn’t really been in that for the four years or so I was in France.
“I’m not speaking ill of the great bunch of blokes at Bayonne but I was a little bit concerned that maybe I wasn’t up to the standard here and inside of that the challenge of getting back to where I wanted to be excited me.
“I got here and just wanted to rip in with the boys.
“I wasn’t ready to be giving up, I still feel I’ve got a lot of rugby left in me and I’d like to keep the standard of where I am increasing and this is the place to do it.
“I’m excited by the challenge and if the first three months is anything to go by, what’s to come is, who knows, but I’ll be pushing myself to be the best I can be.”
For many in the province’s post-O’Connell world, all is gloom and doom but Chisholm, who enjoyed a group lunch with the injured and Toulon-bound former Ireland captain in Limerick recently, suggested his absence had galvanised those he left behind.
“A lot of great players, not only Paulie, have left the club but the exciting thing is this new group of players can achieve such greatness without them.
“We can’t live in the shadow of the last few years, we have to look forward, to a new identity for Munster and the way we’re playing at the moment we’re starting to get that clicking together.
“It’s exciting the places this group could go to and with that belief and trust in each other we can go there.
“Forward is the only way. This team can’t go backwards, it can only look to improve, that’s the great thing about this place. Every individual is looking to improve their game, take accountability for what they’ve done the week before and improve on that. We’re not complacent with where we’re at at the moment and that’s exactly what you need in a team.
“We’re just starting out and by the end of this European Cup we’ll be a totally different team.”
Mark Chisholm on bacon and eggs, lunching with Paul O’Connell and grappling with his children’s Irish homework…
“There’s a lot to consider, especially with the tin lids. They’ve been there for four years and they’ve got their little clique with friends that they’re all leaving behind and they’ve got to start anew. It’s a little tough on them and I’ve a lot of sympathy towards them but we’re just lucky that Limerick and Ireland have been so fantastic towards us.”
“Actually I didn’t. To be honest, the name of Munster really spoke for itself. The history here and the way they play, everything about it, I really didn’t need to ask anyone what it was like here.
“I’m happy to be associated with Munster. Back in Australia, the tour we had over here when we (then world champions in 1992) played and lost to Munster, we were always watching them on TV and when they won Heineken Cups and things like that, watching their players come through.
“A good mate of mine, Paulie Warwick, helped out a lot, more family-wise than rugby-wise. That took care of itself but asking Paulie about schools and things like that, he said ’no problem’ and he was a really good help with that.”
“The language, the gaelic language. My boy’s in fourth class and he brought home his Irish homework and he said ’I can’t understand it’. So I said, ’come on, let’s have a crack at it’ and I went on Google Translate and after half an hour I had to give up. I really had to give up, I couldn’t find any correlation to words, Latin-based or whatnot, it’s a bit like the Basque language.
“He’s 10 but my younger ones, Allegra and Xander, are five and six and starting it now so hopefully they’ll have a better grasp of it.”
“You know what? After living in France for four years, getting bacon and eggs for breakfast. Being able to go out for breakfast at 10am and get bacon and egg rolls. I probably shouldn’t say that to the nutritionist but yeah, I’d live on them.
“The Frenchies don’t have bacon like the rashers we have, they have poitrine (pork belly) but it doesn’t have that meat on it, just basically fat. So having the chance to have a hot breakfast, that’s great.”
“In terms of replacing Paulie, you can’t. What I’d like to think is that I can bring something to the table but there’s no way another player could fill the shoes of Paul O’Connell, for Munster or Irish Rugby. In terms of what I can bring, hopefully it’s along the same lines or maybe even improve on an area that the team needs improving on but I wouldn’t put myself in the class of replacing the great man.”
“No, no but I’ve had lunch with him. Great bloke, really good bloke. The boys have this What’s App group and one of them said ’Paulie’s looking for a lunch date, who wants to come?’ Well, I’ve got nothing to do, I’m in.
“I’ve played against him but to meet him away from the field, a lot of blokes we don’t actually know off the field but I can’t speak highly enough of him as a person and a rugby player.”
“Last week’s game. I wasn’t playing, I was at home, but those last four minutes against Edinburgh, the workrate of the boys on the field after 82 minutes, they just kept going and to be watching that on TV was just fantastic.”
“I had a lot of good times in a Wallabies jersey but to be honest it has to be back at the Brumbies in 2004, Super 12 final and that whole season really. It’s one of the great memories because of the players I played with and the style of rugby we played. I had a great time as a young bloke learning off David Giffin and players like that, you can’t measure that really.”
“I’d love to. It’s been a long time since I’ve won a bit of silverware, so I’d love to win something.”
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