Former Chief Tom Hayes: Munster will find little piece of Thomond in Devon

By Charlie Mulqueen

Tom Hayes is convinced that Munster supporters will find a home away from home in Sandy Park tomorrow.

“Back in my time, physios and fitness staff used to come in from other clubs and tell us that the only place they could compare Sandy Park to was Thomond Park,” recalls the former Shannon second-row, who later moved to Devon in the beautiful south-west of England to play with the Chiefs.

“That’s something their coach Rob Baxter said to me as far back as the All Blacks game in 2008, the year I joined, that’s where he’d like the Chiefs to really get to, to have that kind of connection between the supporters and the team.

“I think he did achieve that kind of atmosphere. Coming to the end of my second season there, when we got promoted, once we were into the play-offs, there was a notable change in the atmosphere and the sense of excitement in the people. From then on, there was no looking back and I think it has only got better ever since, with constant improvement, year-on-year.”

Hayes won three All-Ireland League titles — two as captain — before his departure for England.

After a couple of years in Plymouth, he and wife Rachel (daughter of the late Ireland and Lions wing-forward Colm Tucker) moved up the road to Exeter with their children Ogie, Daire and Joe. It was there that Tom, brother of the legendary John, played the best rugby of his career (including a two-year role as captain), made 136 appearances, loved every minute and very nearly stayed put.

“I spent nine years in Devon, the first three or so in Plymouth, and it’s a lovely part of the world,” he recalls. “We had made a lot of friends and were getting to the point of, if we don’t go now, we’ll never go.”

So, back they came, with Hayes masterminding Shannon’s promotion to the top division of the AIL last season. This week, he is concentrating on today’s local derby with Young Munster before focusing on the Heineken Cup clash of his two favourite clubs.

“Losing that home game last season to Leinster really stuck in the craw of all at Exeter and I know they will want to win all this year’s European games at Sandy Park,” he said. “I would always have considered them fairly balanced between the strength of their forwards and backs, although I know they’re getting a bit of criticism over there for playing boring rugby.

“However, out of their first six games in the Premiership, they have 29 league points with five win bonuses, so if they’re scoring that many tries, you can hardly say they are boring. They are level at the top of the table with Saracens on 29 points. They are certainly well organised and well driven in the pack and that’s a foundation there that they can launch off, and you can’t say the likes of Henry Slade, Jack Nowell and Phil Dollman, who seems to be perennially underrated, and all these boys aren’t well able to cut teams apart, given half a chance, so they deserve a bit of the credit for driving the Chiefs forward.”

Sandy Park houses around 13,000, though there are plans for a 20,000-seater ground.

They’ll fill the place on Saturday and the atmosphere will be brilliant. From early in the day, it will be hopping with a very good, friendly atmosphere. All the Munster crowd will get on very well and I’d imagine there won’t be too many grumbles coming out of Sandy Park no matter which way the result goes. Most clubs on their first visit are always fairly pleasantly surprised at the set-up and hopefully they will leave with a good reflection of the place.

Rob Baxter played for Exeter for 14 years as a tough second-row forward in the Tom Hayes mould before being appointed Chiefs head coach in 2009. Hayes came under his influence on his arrival the previous year and a close friendship developed to such an extent that Hayes was appointed captain in 2010, when they were promoted to the English Premier Division, a job he retained the following season.

“Rob was forwards coach when I joined and took over in my second season. He’s a good fella, an intelligent fella, a good conversationalist and certainly good company. He knows how to enjoy himself while being fully switched on. He keeps a good perspective on everything.”

As to who will take the spoils tomorrow?

“I might kick to touch on that one. I know where my heart lies but I’m not telling you.”