Clayton McMillan: I welcome any review that’s going to ultimately help Munster be better
WELCOME REVIEW: Munster head coach Clayton McMillan during a training session. Pic: ©INPHO/Tom O’Hanlon.
Clayton McMillan has welcomed Munster Rugby’s decision to commission an Independent Governance and Organisational Review following the abandoned bid to hire Roger Randle as his next attack coach but said he will not be distracted from his efforts to secure his team’s place in the end of season URC play-offs.
Munster go into the 18th and final round of the URC regular season needing a victory at home to South Africa’s Lions at Thomond Park on Saturday to be certain of the top-eight finish that will ensure knockout rugby from the end of this month and Champions Cup rugby for 2025-26.
Head coach McMillan on Tuesday described the prospect of missing out on both objectives as “huge” for the province but gave supporters a boost with a positive update on fly-half Jack Crowley’s prospects of returning from a neural leg injury that has kept him out of Munster’s last two matches.
The push for a top-eight finish has been played out against a background of off-field controversy following Munster’s signing of Chiefs attack coach Randle to succeed departing coach Mike Prednergast this summer after historic rape allegations against the former New Zealand international wing resurfaced on social media.
Randle, who has consistently denied the allegations made while touring as a player in South Africa in 1997, was reportedly signed without consulting Munster Rugby’s Professional Games Committee, who were presented with the deal as a fait accompli, prompting the resignations of independent PGC members and former players Billy Holland, Killian Keane and Mick O’Driscoll while there were also departures by volunteers on Munster’s informal Commercial Advisory Group of stakeholders.
Munster and Randle mutually agreed to cancel his contract on April 30, 15 days after initially announcing the deal, with McMillan expressing his disappointment at the abandoned coaching appointment and suggested organisational changes were needed within the province to give him the support to continue in his role just one year into a three-year agreement which had begun in the summer of 2025.
Facing the media on Tuesday following confirmation of the independent review’s commission, McMillan said: “I think I articulated that last week, that there’s a lot that we need to digest as an organisation and I welcome any review that’s going to ultimately help us be better.”
No indications have been given of the timeline for the review to be conducted and delivered by independent consultancy The Governance Company, though Munster said: “The purpose of the review is to assess the organisation’s governance, leadership, culture and communications structures and to provide recommendations back to the Board.”
The review will be overseen by an external independent Chair, who will be appointed “in the coming days.”
Asked to outline the specific changes he wanted to see made to give him the confidence he had the support from the powers that be to continue in his job, the former Chiefs boss said: “Not at this stage. I hope that that’s what the independent review will give us direction around, what independent people think we need do to get better.”
Returning to his more immediate objective of beating the Lions in Limerick this Saturday night. McMillan confirmed Ireland number 10 Crowley was on course to return to the Munster starting line-up having sustained his leg injury in the warm-up of the home win over Ulster on April 25.
Captain Tadhg Beirne (knee), fellow lock Jean Kleyn, props Oli Jager (head) and Michael Milne (calf), centre Tom Farrell (shoulder) and wing Calvin Nash (hamstring) remain sidelined.
“Jack Crowley’s trained fully the last couple of days so he’s looking positive. Given the nature of his injury, it’s sort of been intermittent, we never count our chickens before they’re hatched but it’s all looking very positive.
“He’s about the only I think that’s been on the long-term injury list that would be a realistic option for this weekend.”
Munster are also awaiting a day this week for Diarmuid Barron’s disciplinary hearing following the hooker’s dismissal on a 20-minute red card in the first half of last Saturday’s 26-7 defeat at Connacht. Diarmuid Barron had been penalised for a croc roll on Connacht’s Dylan Tierney-Martin, while Munster’s replacement hooker Lee Barron was on Tuesday declared unavailable for selection due to a neck injury sustained in the derby loss, leaving soon to retire Niall Scannell as potentially the only available senior hooker at McMillan’s disposal for this Saturday.
“We don’t know when (Barron’s hearing’s) going to be yet so we’re hoping for the best but preparing for the worst in terms of his availability but he’s fit and ready to go if he gets the green light, which we intend to contest the decision.”
As for the prospect of Munster missing out on the URC play-offs and Champions Cup rugby for next season, the head coach said: “That would be huge. It’s not where we want it to be, but we’ve put ourselves in this position and we’re the only ones that can fight it our way through it through to a solution. But we can’t put our attention on what might be. We just have to focus on the performance that’s directly in front of us.
“Last weekend wasn’t a great performance and we need to be significantly better against a Lions team who are equally desperate to put in a performance. So, I know it sounds cliched but if we get distracted by anything outside of what we need to do to get that performance to fruition then we’ll get caught with our pants down.”
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