McMillan wants side to 'throw the kitchen sink' at Toulon following Ulster loss

McMillan had made 10 changes to the side which was defeated six days previously by Leinster, four of them enforced by IRFU player welfare guidelines which say Ireland internationals Tadhg Beirne, Craig Casey, Jack Crowley, and Tom Farrell rested.

IMPROVED PERFORMANCE: Munster head coach Clayton McMillan wants his side to 'throw the kitchen sink' at Toulon next weekend. Picture: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne

Clayton McMillan promised his Munster side would throw the kitchen sink at Toulon in France next weekend but only once players and coaches had performed a hard reset following a dreadful defeat to Ulster in Belfast on Friday night.

The Munster head coach had pulled no punches about the poor quality of his side’s performance in a 28-3 URC derby defeat at Affidea Stadium as Ulster leapfrogged their interprovincial rivals into second place with this victory having played one game less.

The loss ramps up the pressure ahead of Munster’s return to their Champions Cup pool campaign when they must travel to the south of France and the bearpit of Stade Felix Mayol on Sunday week to keep their hopes of a home knockout draw alive in a tightly fought Pool 2 from which all six teams can still qualify for the Round of 16 with two games remaining.

Yet the New Zealander was in no mood to look ahead when there so much to digest from Munster’s showing against their northern rivals.

“To be perfectly honest, that's way off on the horizon,” McMillan said. “There's an eight or nine-day turnaround until we play the game. We probably need that just to get away and reflect on this performance.

“I think we come in on Tuesday, so it's a little bit of a three-day break to get away, get a bit of time with family, push the reset button and come in on Tuesday with a few solutions to the issues that we're facing at the moment.

“And then go to Toulon and throw the kitchen sink at a team that's got a pretty good record at home and stuff.” 

Munster had trailed just 6-3 to Ulster at half-time on a snowy night in Belfast but badly lost their way in the second half, conceding a penalty and tries to Tom Stewart and former Munster academy fly-half Jake Flannery in the third quarter before man of the match, 21-year-old No.8 Bryn Ward scored the home side’s third with eight minutes to go.

“I thought we trained well during the week and we expected a much, much better performance across the board, but we didn't get it and we weren't allowed to get it through a quality, physical Ulster side, so full credit to them,” McMillan said.

He had made 10 changes to the side which was defeated six days previously by Leinster, four of them enforced by IRFU player welfare guidelines which say Ireland internationals Tadhg Beirne, Craig Casey, Jack Crowley, and Tom Farrell rested. Yet while admitting the resulting performance offered more questions than answers ahead of selection for the Toulon tie, he added: “The performance out there wasn't just about the guys that got given an opportunity and didn't step up to the mark. It was a collective.

“We just really fed off scraps in the first half. I think we got one 22-metre entry, unlucky not to score, but really we were just hanging on at half time, 6-3.

“But there was plenty of confidence in the shed at half time that we'd be able to claw our way back into the game, but it didn't happen. They got an early score and once it got out to, you know, double score, we're chasing the game and in those sorts of conditions. To be frank, the way that we were playing and not a lot going right, it was a long way back from that.” 

McMillan also lost back-rowers John Hodnett and Alex Kendellen, and centre Alex Nankivell to injuries on a dismal night for Munster.

“Alex (Nankivell), I’m not sure the extent of it but he’s in a moon boot. It would be an ankle injury and that’s a little concerning because that was the injury that put him out for an extended period of time prior to coming back.

“John Hodnett, it looks like a dislocation to a thumb and again, not entirely sure of the extent of that. Alex Nankivell came off with just an elbow injury, that doesn’t seem serious.

“I think we’ve done a good job, the medical team have done a great job. We’ve had upwards of 50 people available for selection, if we include everybody in the squad, which is not a place that the team’s been for a while.

“So everyone’s working hard to get people available and we hop at some stage it’s going to pay dividends for us but there’s just a better ability to be able to deal with the inevitable dings when they come.”