'We've got to leverage off that youthful enthusiasm' - Clayton McMillan explains squad strategy

While that may have resulted in a compromise to consistency of performance his use of 49 players in the first eight matches is a strategy he believes will have longer-term benefits for Munster.

STRENGTH AND DEPTH: Head coach Clayton McMillan. Pic: ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy.

The youthful enthusiasm shown by his newly adopted Munster squad has been one of the plusses for Clayton McMillan in his early months as head coach yet the eagerness to learn is shared among all levels of experience.

The former Chiefs boss was explaining the positive reaction within the playing group to his policy of broadening squad depth in the early stages of his tenure since moving from New Zealand to Limerick in pre-season.

While that may have resulted in a compromise to consistency of performance his use of 49 players in the first eight matches, including the November friendly against an Argentina XV, is a strategy he believes will have longer-term benefits for Munster.

“I just think that there's a relatively young team that are really keen to come in and learn,” McMillan said this week as he previewed Saturday’s festive URC derby with champions Leinster at a sold-out Thomond Park.

“They give everything every day they come in. The work ethic is incredible. We've just got to leverage off that youthful enthusiasm and just keep chucking them out there and accumulating experiences, good and bad, and know that's all going to set us up for the direction we're heading.”

The zest for work and improvement is not restricted to the younger players in the squad, however, and even with his 229th senior Munster appearance looming, back-rower Jack O’Donoghue’s glowing review of McMillan’s first months in charge last Monday was evidence the Kiwi’s “new coach bounce” is being sustained as the mid-point in the season approaches.

“I think he's come in and really shown us that he has connected with the area, connected with the province and going back to our roots and showing what's really special about Munster,” O’Donoghue, 31, said.

“He gave us a lot of confidence that we are good rugby players and we just had to tweak a few things to probably showcase that we are better than what we put in last season.

“I think he brought energy, he brought confidence to the group, but he has a big stature and big presence. In the heat of the battle, he's incredibly calm and I think when a leader and your head coach is calm, even when we're under pressure, we're probably behind the eight ball a bit and he can really just settle us and direct us and tell us exactly what we need to do – be it at half-time, before a game and into a game.

“I think that's really relaxing for us and it just allows us to go out on the field and express ourselves and play the way we want to play.

"We've been a bit frustrated probably because we haven't properly performed to that standard, but you see snippets of it and you see him in his post-match interviews, he's pretty honest about what he thinks of the game and that just shows where he wants us to go and where he thinks that this group can go to.”