New Munster head coach McMillan wants to bring ambition and courage 'to play more ball'

Clayton McMillan recognised the upside for his coaching development with his move to Ireland.

Thu, 27 Feb, 2025 - 16:01

Simon Lewis

Incoming Munster head coach Clayton McMillan has said he wants to bring ambition and courage “to play more ball” to the province when he arrives in Ireland this summer for a role that "literally landed on my doorstep".

The Chiefs boss, who is also the Maori All Blacks and All Blacks XV head coach was announced as Graham Rowntree’s permanent replacement on a three-year deal on Wednesday night and the New Zealander will start work at Munster in pre-season at the conclusion of the Super Rugby campaign, with his Hamilton-based team making the early frontrunning after two wins from two.

McMillan, who has led the Chiefs to three Super Rugby finals and a semi-final in his four seasons since succeeding Warren Gatland as head coach in 2021, has the franchise’s highest win percentage (73 percent) in its history and his decision to quit his homeland for the URC raised eyebrows when the news broke in New Zealand.

McMillan and Chiefs chief executive Simon Graafhuis both separately faced the media on Thursday morning, the coach for his weekly press conference to preview Saturday’s round-three home fixture against the Brumbies, led by former Munster attack coach Stephen Larkham.

“I’ve been really transparent with the club, the players and New Zealand Rugby that it was always my intention to leave after the next Super Rugby season,” McMillan was quoted by Stuff.co.nz as saying. “And I didn’t go looking for this opportunity, it literally landed on my doorstep.

“I got a call over the summer break, around any interest in the role. It didn’t really progress anywhere for probably a month until it was revisited, and there needed to be a number of things that needed to be fleshed out before it became a real option.

“But I was real impressed with the process that they went through, and I got a really good feel for the passion of the Munster people, their aspiration, and they talked a lot about their vision for the club, and goals, and they aligned really strongly with mine, so we eventually came to the decision that we have.”

Of his upcoming new role at Munster, McMillan looked forward to the variety of challenges facing him in the five-nation URC.

“It’s an iconic club, one steeped in history, and when I did a little bit of digging, I feel like I could add some value there.

“They definitely challenge you in different spaces to what we’re accustomed to in Super Rugby. So to become a well-rounded coach, I think exposure to that can be helpful.

“And one of the things I’d love to take to Munster is some ambition and some courage to perhaps play with a bit more of the ball.”

McMillan also recognised the upside for his coaching development with his move to Ireland.

“I don’t see how this is going to be detrimental to my career.

”A lot has been made in the past around gaining international experience. I’ve been really fortunate and blessed to have done just about everything that can be done here in New Zealand from a coaching perspective.

“Obviously we’ve still got some aspirations around what we want to achieve this year. But I couldn’t ask for any more in terms of my coaching journey, and the timing was just right to put myself out there, outside my comfort zone, and see if I can cut the mustard up in the northern hemisphere.

“I’ll learn a lot, I’ll make some mistakes, I’m far from the perfect coach, but experiences I anticipate I’m going to get will make me a better person and a better coach.”

Chiefs CEO Graafhuis, meanwhile, told the New Zealand’s Newstalk ZB Sports Mix podcast of his disappointment mixed with satisfaction at McMillan’s career move to “bigger and better things”.

“It’s a big day for the club in terms of the news that broke today around Clayton,” Graafhuis said. “He’s certainly had a massive presence with the club and although disappointed, we do celebrate that stuff too.

“In a lot of ways we're here to develop players and coaches and it's good to see them go on to bigger and better things. And hopefully we're an important part of that development cycle.”

As to McMillan’s triggering a clause in his Chiefs contract to make his move to Munster, Graafhuis added: “Don’t want to get into the technicalities of it but Clayton was contracted here until the end of 2026 but he actually had an exit clause at the end of 25.

“So what he’s doing is actually in line with his contract, so he’s not walking away from anything. He had an option to get out of it. I’d hoped he would have done the full term so this probably just a year earlier than probably what we were planning for.”