McMillan not 'taking anything for granted' against 'motivated' Munster

All Blacks XV head coach Clayton McMillan. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Clayton McMillan knew his All Blacks XV squad had a game on their hands against Munster this Saturday before the bombshell dropped that opposite number Graham Rowntree had parted company with the Irish province. Yet the New Zealander also promised his players had plenty of motivation of their own to perform in the famous black shirt at Thomond Park.

Speaking in Limerick on Monday, just hours after the bulk of the squad arrived in Ireland and 24 hours before the news broke that Munster would be handing responsibility for team affairs this week to interim head coach Ian Costello, McMillan outlined what was driving his players while also explaining why their hosts could not be underestimated despite poor recent form, three defeats in a row and the absence of key frontline players through injury or Ireland call-ups.

“We certainly don’t take anything for granted,” McMillan said. “We’ve talked about the passion of Munster supporters and I’ve no doubt the people who get the opportunity to pull on the jersey, if your internationals are removed and people get the opportunity to play against a New Zealand team then there will be a lot of internal motivation to put their best performance forward. And they’ve proven in the past to be very successful at that. 

“Personally, other than looking a bit of footage to understand how we might approach this game I haven’t taken much interest at all in the outcomes of those recent fixtures they’ve played, and you look at the quality of those oppositions and you understand that it’s not going to be easy here.

“I’m a big believer in cohesion and whilst a lot of our guys know each other and play together in provincial and Super Rugby teams, and some national teams together, it’s a new group and we need to create our own identity and our own style and ensure that our own preparation is good.

“We want to win. We’ve come here to win but winning doesn’t come without effort so it’s going to be a big week ahead of us.” 

With Scott Robertson’s All Blacks Test squad currently preparing to kick off the European leg of their Northern Hemisphere tour against England this weekend and the head coach selecting the All Blacks XV squad in collaboration with McMillan, their close proximity to one another offers incentives for the Limerick-based players to showcase their talents at Thomond Park and the following week against Georgia in Montpellier with internationals ahead against Ireland on Friday week, and then France and Italy to follow.

It needs little encouragement from the All Blacks XV head coach to clarify the opportunities on offer in front of a full house on Saturday night.

“Absolutely, it’s a privilege to be selected in this team and it’s one that’s been done in direct collaboration with the All Blacks coaching staff, so all of these players are viewed as being right there, knocking on the door of All Blacks selection.

“So there should be a lot of individual desire to put their best foot forward knowing that if they manage to achieve that, that puts them in the shop window if there are injuries to the next team. But if we can collectively get everyone to put in a good individual performance then we’ll have a good collective performance.

“So we’re putting on a black jersey and that comes with some expectation and responsibility, So things like short turnarounds and pulling a group together late are not things we tend to dwell on. We just know what we need to do to put in a performance that will make people proud back home.” 

McMillan, whose day job is head coach of Super Rugby outfit the Chiefs and who also takes charge of the Maori All Blacks, brought an All Blacks XV to Dublin two years ago to face an Ireland A side at the RDS and guided the tourists to a 47-19 thumping of the home side. 

It was a side featuring Damian McKenzie at fly-half, and Patrick Tuipolutu in the second row, with the latter’s captaincy of the Test side in Yokohama last week and the former at number 10 in the 64-19 win over Japan an indication of the clear pathway for the current crop of players outside the national squad.

“It’s one of the key drivers of why we have this team,” McMillan said. “To give a broader number of players exposure to different playing styles, the Irish style and just the Northern Hemisphere, really. We don’t often get to play each other so that’s a benefit but it’s also about understanding the pressures that come with putting on a black jersey and then going out and having that expectation to perform and live up to that.

“These are some really good rugby players and there’s a lot of good ones that have been left at home but you’re only good as your last performance and most of these guys haven’t played for a couple of weeks so we just need to find a way.” 

Another of those players from the 2022 victory over Ireland A was future Munster centre Alex Nankivell, a player coached by McMillan at the Chiefs.

“I know ‘Cranky’ really well. He’s ultra-competitive and we were sad to lose Alex to Munster but he’d done practically everything he could to try get from where he was in New Zealand to just that next level. 

"It’s a competitive position and he didn’t quite get there but we’re really proud of him coming over here and it seems like he’s doing really and adding value to the team.

“There’s others in the Munster team we’re very familiar with too. We had the good fortune of borrowing John Ryan for a year, he is a great man and I look forward to catching up with him, and I saw Oli Jager here in the hallway last night, visiting a few of the lads.

“So there’s some good close connections in there and there have been for a number of years, coaches and players that have got very fond memories of Munster. So we’re really looking forward to not just the game but to embracing the whole region and in particular the supporters who we get the impression just really love their rugby.”