McMillan wants snubbed Munster stars to channel Ireland hurt against Leinster

McMillan has also been dealing with the confirmation of what he described as a gulf between Leinster and their Irish rivals, underlined by the URC champions’ 21 players named in Andy Farrell’s squad for November.
McMillan wants snubbed Munster stars to channel Ireland hurt against Leinster

Head coach Clayton McMillan at Munster training, in UL Pic: Morgan Treacy, Inpho

Clayton McMillan has urged his Munster players to feel their disappointment at being overlooked by Ireland as they prepare to face URC derby rivals Leinster at Croke Park on Saturday.

As if the coming of a first meeting with Munster’s star-studded arch rivals wasn’t enough for a new head coach to wrap his head around, McMillan has also been dealing with the confirmation of what he described as a gulf between Leinster and their Irish rivals, underlined by the URC champions’ 21 players named in Andy Farrell’s squad for November.

At Munster, there was more disappointment than elation when the Ireland boss showed his hand on Wednesday, calling up only Tom Ahern, Tadhg Beirne, Craig Casey and Jack Crowley to his 34-man panel for the Tests against New Zealand, Japan, Australia and South Africa.

For the first match, a round trip to Chicago starting next Tuesday ahead of the November 1 Soldier Field reunion with the All Blacks, there was the encouraging inclusion of uncapped forward duo Edwin Edogbo and Brian Gleeson, both of whom McMillan has handed starts to at Croke Park this Saturday.

Yet for the most part, the Munstermen who grabbed their chance with Ireland in their summer tour matches against Georgia and Portugal have been overlooked and will have a point to prove against the URC champions in Dublin this weekend, not least summer debutant and in-form loosehead prop Michael Milne.

“I thought he was one of our better performers last week,” McMillan said of Milne on Thursday as he announced 10 changes from the team which squeaked home 20-19 against Edinburgh last Friday.

“The challenge for him is, there'll be disappointment as there will be for other people across the whole of Ireland that weren't named. But that’s the selector's prerogative and we get a royal opportunity against virtually an international side this week to go out and say, ‘Hey, look, I'm capable of operating at this level,’ so no better fixture.” 

McMillan is happy for his players to embrace their feelings over Ireland omissions.

“I think it's important to let just let them feel that disappointment, to digest it. And then just at the appropriate time, sit down with them and have a conversation around how they feel.

“A lot of our guys, I think, are quite realistic around where they sit at the moment in the pecking order and, ultimately, if you push opinions to the side, selections to the side, the only thing that they can do is turn up each week and give the best of themselves.

“Non-selection is clearly an indication that the coaches aren't seeing what they need to see at the moment, so keep turning up and striving to be better. Let your performance speak for itself.” 

Handing starts to both Edogbo, at lock, and Gleeson at No.8 against a Leinster side featuring nine of this year’s British & Irish Lions and returning Springbok RG Snyman is a show of confidence in two young players, aged 22 and 21 respectively, whose talents match their considerable frames.

“Brian had a really good outing in our first game against the Scarlets. Then we gave Gavin Coombes an opportunity, given he was the senior figure and a really good performer for Munster in the past, and he's come off the bench and added value each time he's come on.

“And I think he's really forced our hand in terms of his selection. A slightly different type of athlete to Gav. He certainly hasn't got the experience, but he's a little bit bigger and he's got some dynamic features to his game that we think will be important this week.

“And then Ed… Jean Kleyn’s played big minutes for us in the first three rounds and Ed came off the bench last week and he gave us the same sort of thing, really, just a big body, a little bit of go-forward in the collision space. He was good off the ground, he had a good work rate for the short time that he was on there, so I feel like it's a good opportunity to get him out there and just see what he can do from the start.

“He probably hasn't got the runs on the board to be able to go deep into the game, but to know that we can bring somebody of Jean Kleyn’s experience off the bench at some stage is probably a good mix for us, I think, this week.” 

MUNSTER (v Leinster): S Daly; A Smith, T Farrell, D Kelly, T Abrahams; J Crowley, E Coughlan; M Milne, D Barron, J Ryan; E Edogbo, F Wycherley; T Beirne - captain, J O’Donoghue, B Gleeson.

Replacements: Lee Barron, J Loughman, R Foxe, J Kleyn, G Coombes, P Patterson, JJ Hanrahan, A Nankivell.

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