Frisch: 'I’ve never won a trophy before so it was a dream come true'

Antoine Frisch played an integral part in what followed next as Munster found their feet, not only rescuing their season but compiling that memorable run of five wins away from home to close out the campaign with the URC Grand Final victory over the Stormers in Cape Town

DEFENDING TITLE: Antoine Frisch taking it game by game in defending their title. Pic: ©INPHO/Tom Maher

After a title-winning debut season, Antoine Frisch believes the addition of skills coach Mossy Lawler and a continuing next-game focus is giving Munster an excellent shot at repeating their BKT URC success in 2023-24.

Munster, who face Dragons at Musgrave Park in Cork tomorrow afternoon, are off to an unbeaten start to their second campaign under Graham Rowntree and a coaching staff now augmented by former Reds winger Lawler, who signed on this summer as a skills coach after eight years at Connacht. The Thomond Park win over the Sharks in round one and last Sunday’s draw at Benetton paint a very different picture to the early disappointments of Frisch’s first days with the province having signed from Bristol Bears in the summer of 2022.

The French-born outside centre with an Irish grandmother made his debut in an opening-day defeat at Cardiff before joining the Emerging Ireland tour to South Africa 12 months ago while his new team-mates got the Rowntree era off to a miserable start, losing five of their opening seven URC matches.

Yet Frisch, now 27, played an integral part in what followed next as Munster found their feet, not only rescuing their season but compiling that memorable run of five wins away from home to close out the campaign with the URC Grand Final victory over the Stormers in Cape Town.

“It’s incredible isn’t it? I didn’t think it would happen but it was an amazing experience, a really special year, especially how it happened,” Frisch said. “Like we had a tough start so it was amazing, an amazing year.

“I’ve never won a trophy before so it was a dream come true.” 

Now comes the difficult second season and a title to defend but the centre said the mindset that first dug Munster out of a self-inflicted rut and then propelled them to a first piece of silverware in a dozen years has been continued into the current campaign.

“I think it was just taken week by week and game by game and having the mindset to improve,” he said. “It’s the same mindset we’re bringing this season as well. It’s really just focusing on the process more than anything else and if you do that and give everything on the weekend then good things happen.

“Obviously you need a bit of luck as well but we had that towards the end, so it was class.” 

If Munster are to repeat their success then the addition of Lawler as skills coach could be pivotal and in Frisch the Limerick man has found an instant admirer.

“Mossy has come in as well and he’s bringing a lot of detail to our attack and giving us, especially us backs, everything we need to improve. All the tools you need, all the solutions, he gives them to you so I feel we’ve improved massively from even the final, so that’s pleasing.

“It's the little things and the competitiveness also in the squad. All the young lads stepping up, coming through the academy. They’re really performing and putting pressure on, putting their hand up for selection. That just adds a real competitiveness to the team.

“Mossy coming in and adding a lot of detail to what we do. Like in our carries, in our attack shape, what we're trying to achieve in attack and just giving you little work-ons individually as well and that has a ripple effect on the whole team obviously. So he’s brought in a lot of detail, big impact.” 

Frisch also hinted at another potential driver for Munster this term, though it will have to wait for the return of the province’s Ireland players after such a devasting World Cup quarter-final exit to New Zealand in France last month. Scrum-half Craig Casey has already returned to training at the High Performance Centre while props Dave Kilcoyne and Jeremy Loughman and fly-half Jack Crowley have also popped in ahead of their respective returns to duty and the centre senses they will quickly find an outlet for their disappointments with the national team.

“Absolutely, I reckon they’ll be quite frustrated. They’ll probably take it out on the teams we’re going to play so I think they're looking forward to getting back in. I reckon there's a lot of frustration.”