Clayton McMillian 'When we talk about the Red Army, I don't see it being them and us; I see us all being part of that army'

New Munster head coach McMillian believes that being at one with the community and supporters is key for Munster.

ONE ARMY: Munster Head Coach Clayton McMillan wants Munster and the Red Army to be as one. Pic: ©INPHO/Nick Elliott

New boss Clayton McMillan has made it his priority for Munster Rugby to connect with the people of the province by declaring club and supporters were all part of the Red Army.

The former Chiefs head coach became the permanent successor to Graham Rowntree this summer, the Englishman having left the Munster hotseat at the end of last October.

McMillan, 51, led the Chiefs to three successive Super Rugby finals and his building of a strong club culture within the New Zealand franchise was seen as one of his biggest achievements in turning them into serial contenders.

In his first media conference since succeeding interim head coach Ian Costello, now the Munster general manager, the New Zealander made it clear that building connectedness with the community around his organisation was one of his clear objectives.

“I think it's really important, yeah,” McMillan said ahead of Munster’s pre-season friendly against English champions Bath in Cork on Friday. “From the outside looking in, I think Munster as a club is well respected around the world, and equally the supporters are. The Red Army.

“And when we talk about the Red Army, I don't see it being them and us; I see us all being part of that army.

“To have that, we need to connect to our people, not just on game day but when we get another opportunity to do that. So, you would have seen that in our preseason, we have been very deliberate around getting to different parts of Munster to help grow that connection, especially with young boys and girls – the future of the game – because when you do that people see that you actually care about them and they might come along and support you on weekends. That’s been at the forefront of our thinking.” 

McMillan adopted an established coaching group on his arrival with attack coach Mike Prendergast elevated to senior coach in the new-look backroom team, Denis Leamy continuing as defence coach and Mossy Lawler serving as skills and assistant attack coach, while Alex Codling will leave the Ireland Women’s set-up after the World Cup to be forwards coach, a role he undertook as a consultant following the departures of Rowntree and his assistant Andi Kyriacou. There is an added Kiwi flavour to the staff with Brad Mayo joining as head of athletic performance and Martyn Vercoe becoming team manager, roles they served under McMillan during his stint as All Blacks XV head coach, which included a match against Munster at Thomond Park last November.

“When I left here after the All Black VX game, having played Munster, I left the Castletroy Hotel up the road and probably thought that would be the last time I'd ever see that place. Now I live probably 500 metres up the road,” McMillan said.

“But the world moves in mysterious ways and over the summer I got a call to see if I was interested in looking at the job and had to think deep and hard about it. I was still on contract in New Zealand Rugby; pretty happy with the team that I was at, that I was successful in. But there was an opportunity to come here to grow myself as a coach, to give an experience to my family. But also having witnessed the passion of the supporters and the talent on the side, it ultimately ended up being the reason why I decided to come.” 

McMillan, who has signed a three-year contract at Munster, did not commit to outlining the way he wanted to see his new charges play but suggested it was not as simple as merely repeating the Chiefs’ gameplan.

“That’s a process that we are still working through. I think there is an identity that all rugby teams have that determine how we like to play the game.

“And again, from the outside looking in, I have always seen Munster as a team that, especially when they have enjoyed huge success, is one that is built around a solid platform up front and a team that is tough and who will scrap for everything.

“We certainly want to be a representation of those things and the modern game dictates that you have to have balance in your game. So, what we are navigating through as a coaching group is what that actually looks like.

“It’s being ambitious when we have earned the right to do it but also being smart enough to know when we need to go to a tactical kicking game and be a little bit more conservative in the way that we approach things.

“I think we are making really good strides in that regard. We had Mike Prendergast and Denis Leamy have the very fortunate opportunity to go away and coach with Ireland on the most recent summer series. It meant that they came back into the coaching mix over the last couple of weeks.

“So naturally it is going to take us a little bit of time to get some rhythm but there is nothing to suggest that we aren’t going to be a highly functioning unit, so it has been good.” 

McMillan’s first pre-season campaign got off to a losing start last Friday night at Gloucester, when the head coach used 31 players using a different team in each half, as did the English Prem side.

On Tuesday Munster reported no injury concerns from that fixture and McMillan is expected to reintroduce his Ireland international contingent at Virgin Media Park this Friday when former boss Johann van Graan brings his Bath team to Cork.

Shane Daly, Jeremy Loughman, Ethan Coughlan, Oli Jager and Lee Barron all made successful returns from injury in the clash and with three weeks before the URC campaign gets underway at Scarlets, the province reported imminent returns to team training for Jean Kleyn (knee), Diarmuid Barron (shoulder), Edwin Edogbo (back) and Roman Salanoa (knee).