The key is in the collective for Rowntree's Munster
FINE FORM: Munster full-back Mike Haley. Pic: Steve Haag Sports/Inpho
For all the frustrations of watching Munster at times this season, there is the underlying sense that if Graham Rowntree and his coaches can finally tease a cohesive performance from the collective, there will not many more repeats of the setbacks in Parma and Croke Park.
Yet while continuity and execution in attack have been consistent themes in this new campaign of two wins and two defeats, there has been excellence in the shape of individual performances, not least from full-back Mike Haley and centres Tom Farrell and Alex Nankivell.
Attack coach Mike Prendergast was only too willing to sing that trio’s praises ahead of Munster’s latest attempt to get back in the groove following last Saturday’s first-quarter capitulation and subsequent 26-12 defeat to Leinster.
That comes in Cape Town this Saturday evening as the province goes in search of improvement and a continuation of their excellent record, both in South Africa and against the Stormers in particular.
Munster have not lost their last nine Championship fixtures against South African opponents since their defeat to the Lions in Johannesburg in March 2022, including five games in a row away from home (four wins and one draw).
The 2023 champions have won all four of their previous encounters with the Stormers, most famously when they lifted the URC trophy at Cape Town Stadium.
And if the Reds want to continue that sequence, the ongoing stellar form of Haley and the midfielders in particular will be crucial to the cause.
All three start for Munster against the Stormers with the full-back leading the league with his 285 metres made after four rounds.
“I thought Mikey had one of his best games in a long time for Munster,” Prendergast said this week from Cape Town.
“Mikey’s a really consistent performer but I said it to the team this morning, I thought his performance overall and what he gave to us overall in terms of his backfield, there was very few balls that bounced, he caught them on the full and it just gives you that go-forward ball.
“He looked very, very elusive the other day. Every yard that was to be made was made and I thought he gave us an awful lot. Our counter-attack has probably been one of our strengths over the last season or two and a lot of it, not all of it, is credit to the back three. Our 10s are in the backfield at times but it’s a credit to Mikey and I think he showed that on the weekend.
“But I think if you give a license to a player like Mikey you know he’s a mature guy, he’s going to make a good decision and then pay you back from a coaching perspective.
"He does that a lot of times in games and I thought he did that a huge amount in the Leinster game when you’re coming up against a defence that don’t give you too much time to make a decision. I thought all his decisions were, the best part, the right decisions.
“He has that ability that sometimes when it might not be on for the counter, he kicks and when you kick and where you kick, he’s just a player who sees, he’s 30 years of age and he’s got very good rugby IQ and rugby smarts from the backfield. He doesn’t leave too many balls bounce and that’s allows him to get into those good counter-attack opportunities because of his reading of the game, his reading of the opposition.
"He’s a guy that works hard behind the scenes, he’d read opposition 10s, body shapes etc, so for me, if I’m an attacking coach he’s the type of 15 that I don’t like playing against too much because he can nullify a lot of your kicking.”
Nankivell, too, has been impressive in his two games either side of a shoulder injury, and the New Zealander has quickly formed an effective combination with summer signing Farrell, the midfield duo’s impact at Croke Park last Saturday one of the few positional, head-to-head victories against their Leinster opponents.
What Prendergast admires most about “Nanks” is his potential for making those around him on the field better players, and his fly-half foils in particular.
Jack Crowley continues at 10 on Saturday with scrum-half Conor Murray on his inside shoulder, as Billy Burns returns from injury to take his place on the bench with Tony Butler absent from the two-game tour.
“Nanks is a great player… just the bits and pieces around his game, his vision, his technical stuff, his communication.
“He’s got great power and his contact work but his ability to make players look good around him is incredibly exciting.
"He’s incredibly strong and guys like Jack, guys like Tony and Billy inside him at 10 and everyone that’s around him, he’s a brilliant way of connecting people together.
“He’s challenging as well and I like that as a coach. He’s challenging with players, challenging with coaches, defensively, attack, whatever it may be, he’ll always ‘why?’, the question and that gives the rest of the players an answer as well, which is great.
“He’s an incredibly good team player so yeah, Nanks has been a great signing for us.”
Nankivell and Farrell is one of the few combinations retained from last Saturday by head coach Rowntree as Shane Daly returns from injury to the left wing with Murray handed his first start of the season and John Ryan, Tom Ahern and Alex Kendellen the other fresh faces as Munster aim to become the sum of their parts.
W Gelant; S Hartzenberg, R Nel, D du Plessis - captain, L Zas; D Willemse, P de Wet; S Sithole, J Dweba, N Fouche; A Smith, JD Schickerling; M Theunissen, B-J Dixon, K Morabe.
A-H Venter, B Harris, S Sandi, R van Heerden, D Ewers, L Nel, H Jantjies, J Matthee.
M Haley; C Nash, T Farrell, A Nankivell, S Daly; J Crowley, C Murray; J Loughman, N Scannell, J Ryan; J Kleyn, T Beirne - captain; T Ahern, A Kendellen, J O’Donoghue.
E Clarke, K Ryan, S Archer, F Wycherley, R Quinn, E Coughlan, B Burns, S O’Brien.
Mike Adamson (Scotland).
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