'Consistently inconsistent' Munster switching into 'finals mode' for league push, says McMillan
SPRINT FINISH: Tom Farrell, Diarmuid Kilgallen and Eoghan Smyth. Pic: INPHO/Morgan Treacy
For all the unwanted noise swirling around Munster Rugby, Clayton McMillan and his players have to keep the on-field show on the road and recent results suggest they have not been making a good fist of it.
Stringing decent results, never mind performances, together has been an issue underlined by the fact that since getting the new head coach’s tenure off to flyer with five straight victories, they have not won back-to-back league games.
Munster head to Italy to play Benetton in Treviso on Saturday in what McMillan on Thursday described as “finals mode”. With four games left of the regular season, they sit seventh in the table, needing to finish in the top eight to secure a play-off berth at the end of next month and Champions Cup rugby for next season.
On top of an economic plight that has required Munster Rugby to seek voluntary redundancies from its non-professional playing and coaching staff, the controversy that greeted the appointment of Roger Randle as attack coach for next season, and the confirmation that McMillan now also needs to find a forwards coach after all but confirming Alex Codling’s departure for Toulon, hardly smooths troubled waters.
His weekly online media conference on Thursday was dominated by his reaction to concerns surrounding a historic rape allegation against the former New Zealand wing Randle dating back to 1997, a complaint against the current Chiefs assistant which was dropped; and Codling’s potential exit for France’s Top 14.
Travelling to Stadio Monigo on the back of three away defeats in succession would be difficult in calm seas, let alone the current storms but it is the on-field problems occupying McMillan’s head space right now, for all his firefighting off it.
Game-to-game inconsistency was a problem he had identified on his own arrival from the Chiefs last summer and it continues to hamper his efforts to build a team capable of challenging for silverware. Those last three games were a microcosm of the issues, a 45-0 shellacking by the Sharks in Durban, then a rousing rebound, albeit in narrow defeat to the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld, before the concession of 31 unanswered points during an abject first half at Exeter Chiefs which led to a 31-21 Challenge Cup Round of 16 loss last time out.
“Yeah, we're consistently inconsistent,” McMillan conceded. “That's the challenge, isn't it? I'm sure everybody on this call has seen games where we look like we could be anything and then we have games where we don't amount to much at all. And that's a huge frustration within the group and ultimately as a head coach I take responsibility for that.
“It's my job to provide direction and for us to collectively find solutions to help us get better. And this week is another opportunity to try and achieve that.
“There's still a hell of a lot to play for. We could be sitting here, just imagine, if we're sitting here in four weeks and we've won four games or three games? It's a congested table and we could finish anywhere from the top couple to the bottom few.
“We know where we want to be but we've got to go and earn that.”
Which underlines the stakes at play this weekend in north-eastern Italy, with derbies against Connacht, in Galway, and Ulster at Thomond Park to follow before a Round 18 finale to the regular season back in Limerick against the Lions on May 16.
“It's pretty critical,” the Munster boss said of this Saturday’s Benetton clash. “Every game now is ‘finals’ mode. I think we've really been shooting ourselves in the foot a lot when you really go through the games in minute detail.
“With no disrespect to the quality opposition that we've been playing, we've let ourselves down often, you know, for small chunks, a five-minute period here, a five-minute period there. And against good teams they'll score 10, 15, 20 points on you and then you're chasing the game.
“In amongst it we've shown patches of what we're capable of, but we don't have the luxury of being just okay over the next four weeks.
“Benetton missed out on the Challenge Cup semi-finals and are probably in a real scrap to try and make the (top) eight, like a lot of other teams and a team that's actually hugely talented and full with Italian internationals.
“They’re hard to beat at home, so we'll get nothing for free and we'll have to earn everything we get but the guys understand the challenge at hand and are up for it.” McMillan has made sweeping changes from that side which started against Exeter.
Full-back Shane Daly, and wings Calvin Nash and Andrew Smith form an all-new back three while hooker Diarmuid Barron, tighthead prop Michael Ala’alatoa, lock Jean Kleyn, and back-rowers Tom Ahern and John Hodnett all come into a side captained once again from the second row by Tadhg Beirne.
Nash (concussion), Barron (concussion) and Kleyn (ankle) each return from injury absences as do forward replacements Oli Jager (foot) and Brian Gleeson (concussion).
The centre and half-back partnerships are unchanged with Alex Nankivell and Tom Farrell retained in midfield and Craig Casey and Jack Crowley starting at nine and 10.
Loosehead Jeremy Loughman, Barron and Ala’alatoa form the front row with Kleyn and Beirne the named locks, while Ahern joins the back row at blindside flanker alongside openside Hodnett and No.8 Gavin Coombes.
Shane Daly; Calvin Nash, Tom Farrell, Alex Nankivell, Andrew Smith; Jack Crowley, Craig Casey; Jeremy Loughman, Diarmuid Barron, Michael Ala’alatoa; Jean Kleyn, Tadhg Beirne - captain; Tom Ahern, John Hodnett, Gavin Coombes.
Replacements: Lee Barron, Michael Milne, Oli Jager, Edwin Edogbo, Brian Gleeson, Ben O’Donovan, Dan Kelly, Alex Kendellen.
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