Clayton McMillan: 'It’s just my job to try and smooth out a few of the edges'

McMillan will take charge of Munster for the first time at home. 

FIRST HOME GAME: Munster supporters will get their first glimpse of what their team’s future may hold when new head coach Clayton McMillan takes charge of his first home game in Friday’s pre-season fixture with Bath at Cork’s Virgin Media Park. Pic: ©INPHO/Nick Elliott

Munster supporters will get their first glimpse of what their team’s future may hold when new head coach Clayton McMillan takes charge of his first home game in Friday’s pre-season fixture with Bath at Cork’s Virgin Media Park.

The assumption has been that the coach who steered New Zealand’s Chiefs to three consecutive Super Rugby finals before leaving his homeland for Ireland this summer would bring an all-singing, all-dancing brand of running rugby with him to impose on his newly inherited squad but McMillan, 51, outlined his belief that the general perception of his gameplan was erroneous and that there will be some pragmatism applied to Munster’s playing style, just as there was in Waikato.

Furthermore there is an established backroom staff of assistant coaches, with the qualities of both Mike Prendergast, elevated to senior coach but still overseeing the attack, and Denis Leamy, still implementing his defensive strategies, recognised by the IRFU this summer on secondment to an Ireland touring party led by interim head coach Paul O’Connell.

So you can see why they new boss will not be attempting to reinvent the wheel. Rather, it appears he will be looking to make that wheel run a little truer.

“I think if you watch New Zealand rugby the teams that I’ve played in traditionally had a willingness to keep the ball in hand and play, but sometimes that can be an illusion,” McMillan said this week.

“I think the Chiefs, for example, would be a team that if you asked a lot of people in New Zealand or around the world, are a team that throws the ball around. But we also kicked the ball more than any other team in Super Rugby.

“So, the illusion is that you play but it’s around decision-making, picking the right opportunities to do that and do it with a bit of confidence and accelerate into those moments. But also understand when you haven’t got momentum or you need to go to a tactical kicking, or when someone says just play without the ball and defend, then be happy to do that for a period of time.

“I back those guys (Leamy and Prendergast) fully. They’ve been recognised at the international level for the skills that they bring to the table as coaches and as I’ve said it’s just my job to try and smooth out a few of the edges.” 

The progress made in that regard over six weeks of pre-season will be gauged in Cork tonight as the English and Challenge Cup champions coach by Johann Van Graan pitch up on Leeside.

McMillan has a quintet of Ireland’s summer tourists available to him as part of a 38-player squad named for duty at Virgin Media Park that will be spread across two teams to face Bath n Cork on Friday night, with Craig Casey set to captain one of the sides.

Scrum-half Casey captained Ireland for those Tests wins at Georgia and Portugal, and he returns to provincial duty alongside Gavin Coombes and a trio who made their Irish debuts on tour, Tom Ahern, Alex Kendellen and Michael Milne.

Summer signings JJ Hanrahan, Dan Kelly and Conor Ryan are set for their first home outings in the final pre-season fixture before the URC campaign gets underway at Scarlets on Saturday, September 27.

The clubs have agreed on an extended playing time of 90 minutes for the game with 10-minute breaks after 30 and 60 minutes rather than a half-time interval with new head coach McMillan giving each of his two teams 45 minutes each on the field.

Niall Scannell captains the first-half team as he did at Gloucester last Friday and the hooker starts alongside props Jeremy Loughman, fit again for the first time since the Champions Cup win at La Rochelle last April, and tighthead Oli Jager, whose last appearance was a fortnight after that against the Bulls.

Bath’s travelling squad had not been announced on Thursday evening.

MUNSTER (Team 1): S Daly; A Smith, S O’Brien, D Kelly, D Kilgallen; JJ Hanrahan, E Coughlan; J Loughman, N Scannell (c), O Jager; E O’Connell, T Ahern; R Quinn, A Kendellen, G Coombes.

MUNSTER (Team 2): M Haley; B O’Connor, F Gibbons, G Wood, T Abrahams; T Butler, C Casey (c); M Milne, L Barron, J Ryan; C Ryan, F Wycherley; J O’Donoghue, J Hodnett, B Gleeson.

Replacements: M Clein, M Donnelly, C Bartley, R Foxe, M Foy, S Edogbo, P Patterson, S McCarthy.