McMillan reiterates disappointment but praises players' for fielding questions on Randle matter

Clayton McMillan, head coach of Munster, looks on during squad training. Pic: Matt Browne/Sportsfile

Clayton McMillan has restated his disappointment that Roger Randle will not be Munster’s next attack coach but has praised his players for having to field media questions about the controversies surrounding the New Zealander’s aborted appointment.

The head coach was speaking on Thursday, a week on from Munster’s announcement that their contract with the Chiefs attack coach to replace departing senior coach Mike Prendergast had been cancelled. 

That followed an outcry from both inside and outside the Munster organisation at the decision to hire a man who was at the centre of historic rape allegations following claims made against him in 1997 when he was a player. 

The case did not go to court in South Africa, where the alleged incident took place while Randle was playing in Durban for the Hurricanes. 

He has consistently denied any wrongdoing and indeed reiterated his stance when making a statement about the decision not to take up his post in Ireland from next season.

Having since forged a successful coaching career, the former New Zealand international wing was set to leave the Chiefs and reprise his role as an assistant to McMillan with Munster before the claims against him resurfaced on social media. 

Three former players, Billy Holland, Killian Keane and Mick O’Driscoll, resigned their positions from Munster’s Professional Games Committee having not been consulted, as was the PGC’s remit, on the appointment by the province’s decision makers led by chief executive Ian Flanagan. 

Munster also lost the services of voluntary members of its Commercial Advisory Board once the decision to hire Randle was announced.

Despite the reputational damage to Munster from the affair, there has been no public explanation from those decision makers of the process to make the appointment, leaving players and coaches to face questioning during their weekly media sessions to preview upcoming games.

Back-rowers Alex Kendellen and Gavin Coombes were up before the cameras on Tuesday alongside assistant coach Mossy Lawler and it was a session McMillan felt the need to review given the position the trio was put in, Lawler forced to issue a string of “no comment” responses during a tense online call.

"I'd heard through the grapevine that press conference had been a little bit chaotic, so I took the liberty of having a bit of a watch,” the head coach said on Thursday. “And I was extremely proud of the way that they conducted themselves along the interview.

"Yeah, there's some tough questions, but I think they acquitted themselves well.

"You know, probably as a reflection on how we're operating in our environment at the moment, I know it's probably hard for other people outside the building to believe, but these guys actually are just coming in each week with a smile on their face.

"It helps after you've won a couple of games in succession.

"They know the challenges ahead of us. They've been working hard for 10 months to put themselves in a position to get to the contest finals and know the only way of doing that is to focus on what's directly in front of us.

"So, for those blokes, there's no hidden agendas.

"They're just speaking honestly and transparently around how things are operating within our building."

As for the decision to cancel Randle’s move by mutual consent, McMillan added:

"Look, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed around, you know, the decision around Roger. He's somebody I have a lot of respect and time for and I think it's disappointing that we've collectively come to a decision that he won't be coming, but my relationship with him is sound, if anything, has grown through this experience.

"And, you know, we've just got to kick on and focus on what's important for the team right now."

Former policeman McMillan had asked Munster supporters to trust him, in that he trusted Randle when the attack coach’s appointment was met with hostility but he denied he was disappointed that that had not materialised.

“Oh, no, I'm just disappointed that Roger isn't coming. I fully understand that people will have an opinion, and in a lot of instances, they've voiced that opinion. And to me, I think the majority of those people just actually care about the club.

“You never want to lose people's care for this club because it's a big club and people want to see it do well. But all I can do is continue to look in the mirror and ask myself, what are the decisions that I'm making in the best interests of the team? And when we appointed Roger, I honestly believed he was the person who could come here and add value to our environment and help us get better.” 

Munster face Connacht in Galway on Saturday night in their penultimate game of the URC regular season with a play-off qualification still within their destiny over the final two games. 

McMillan, who named a team showing five injury-enforced changes from the line-up which defeated Ulster last time out on April 25, said his players’ fighting performance in front of the media at the weekend.

"Look, it's an admirable trait of these Munster men.

"I think I've spoken about it numerous times. I love that there's fighters within the environment, but there's opportunity for growth within the environment to ensure that we are more consistent in our performance so we don't have to bring the jeopardy into the back end of the season.

"We're going to need that fight over the next couple of weeks where we can finish anywhere from the top four to out of the eight.”