Clayton McMillan committed to Munster long game as Champions Cup exit sinks in

Munster's Head Coach Clayton McMillan arrives. Pic: ©INPHO/Nick Elliott

Munster head coach Clayton McMillan has reaffirmed his three-year commitment to the province in the wake of last Saturday’s home defeat to Castres and the shock pool exit it prompted from the Investec Champions Cup.

It’s the second time the Kiwi has nailed his colours to the red mast in the wake of news from back home that the All Blacks are in the market for a new boss after Scott Robertson’s time in charge came to a premature end.

So, Munster’s costly exit from a competition they have won twice in the increasingly distant past hasn’t changed anything in terms of focus for a man who, it’s worth pointing out, doesn’t normally do his media this early in the week.

“I made a commitment to come here and I fully intend to see that out. One of the reasons why I came here is to grow my exposure to the game up in this part of the world. There are some differences and we're learning that.

“I'm living through it and really enjoying that experience will make me a better coach in the long-term. So I reiterate again, I really haven't given it much thought because it's on the other side of the world, and I'm here.” 

It’s been a rocky road so far for the 51-year-old who guided the province to six wins from his first six games, including one against an Argentina XV, but since half-time at home to the Stormers in late November has lost its compass.

Munster have now come up short in six of their last eight games across URC and Champions Cup competitions and they will have to make do with a shot at the Challenge Cup now when ‘Europe’ resumes post-Six Nations.

McMillan was pointed in declaring that Munster’s rich heritage doesn’t earn them a “rite of passage” to any higher ground than that, but equally firm in rejecting the notion that the job at hand here is somehow bigger than he might have anticipated.

Due diligence was done before he reached for the passport, and he has “inherited” teams in a state of transition before. That’s not how he planned things, just how it has been, and he likes to think that his skillset is suited to making the changes required.

Talk of a ‘journey’ is followed with an insistence that there is no search here for a “free pass”, but he has seen signs of encouragement sprinkled through the recent defeats, even as they fall off for other long periods and finish the wrong sides of too many close scorelines.

“It absolutely sucks to lose rugby games, but we don't feel like we're that far away and when it clicks we're going to be a good rugby team. But … I'm getting everything that I anticipated. It's not any bigger or smaller than what I imagined it would be.” 

The approaching Six Nations, when Munster will play one game between the end of January and March 21st, will provide the breathing space to take stock and draw plans for the further evolution of the team and the wider project.

The immediate need is to recalibrate for the bread and butter of URC games, this Friday at home to Dragons in Cork, and then away to Glasgow, after the high-octane pace and stratospheric stakes of the weeks just passed against French opposition.

The usual Monday review takes one hour. The latest needed twice that as answers were sought and suggested and individuals held themselves accountable. A deep dive, said McMillan who had never seen a changing-room as down as theirs at the weekend.

It’s not an exact science. Do you go hard on the squad, or put an arm around them. McMillan was looking for a touch of vulnerability from his players this time and came away feeling he got that at least.

Whatever comes next it will have to be without the input of Tadhg Beirne, Jack Crowley and Craig Casey, all of whom turn their attention now to an Ireland squad that is being named on Wednesday for the 2026 Six Nations.

Tom Farrell may or may not be available this week.

McMillan used familiar phrases. Rest button. Line in the sand. The meeting itself was a state-of-the-nation affair. The mantra of consistency continues, the idea being that the Dragons in the URC this week is every bit as big as Castres in Europe.

It’s a message he’ll be delivering again come the start of April when they go to Exeter for that Challenge Cup round of 16 game and it’s a mindset that he is looking to drill down in to to every man jack in the building.

Inaccuracies are a bugbear with 55% of the points they conceded in the Champions Cup coming when they had less than 15 players on the field. And, for all their good attacking play and tries, they’re not being ruthless enough either.

“We’re doing enough in games to win. When the opposition are gifting us opportunities to really put the foot on the throat, we're not taking that. We're turning it into more of an arm wrestle than perhaps it needs to be.

“It’s not any one thing in particular. Lots of little things that I think we can solve."