'Reasonably happy' Clayton McMillan encouraged by Munster performance 

Munster looked rusty in comparison to La Rochelle, still a month out from their URC opener against Glasgow Warriors at Thomond Park on September 26.

Munster head coach Clayton McMillan. Pic: Emilian Baldow/Sportsfile

Clayton McMillan looked to the positives of Munster’s first outing in their pre-season preparations, despite a 47-26 friendly defeat to Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle at Stade Marcel-Deflandre on Friday.

Munster conceded six first-half tries to trail 40-12 at the break, with La Rochelle much the sharper team, a month further along in their pre-season schedule and with a home league opener against Toulouse on Sunday week. 

Munster looked rusty by comparison, still a month out from their URC opener against Glasgow Warriors at Thomond Park on September 26.

Which explains why the head coach was upbeat on the whole following this opening engagement for a new coaching set-up with Jared Payne and Jimmy Duffy coming in as attack and forwards coaches respectively.

“Mostly encouraging, I think,” McMillan said. “Obviously, the first half, our first-up game, a little bit slow particularly on turnover transition, where they were a lot quicker to react than us, and they got on the front foot, got their offloading game going, and we looked like we were at sixes and sevens a little bit, so that was disappointing.

“We were a bit slow in that regard, but I actually thought our attack in the first half looked slick, some nice strikes, some really good phase play, some intelligent kicking. We’ve lots of new blokes in the building and you want them to come with new ideas, and it was good to see some of that stuff come off that we'd been working on.

“Second half, we didn't get as many opportunities attack-wise, probably unlucky on a couple. We busted through and maybe could have scored but got pulled back, but such is life. But defensively, a lot more steel about the defensive effort, so I think to keep them to seven in the second half, and 13 men at one stage, I thought they showed a bit of gut.

“There's lots to work on, but we said before the game, as much as you want to win these games, what we need to see is some evidence of the work that we've put in over the summer, and I have to say that we would be reasonably happy.” 

After a week in which Ireland fly-half Jack Crowley was ruled out until January with a lower limb vascular injury, McMillan was relieved to have got through this game with only minor fitness issues. 

Wing Shay McCarthy was removed just before half-time while centre Alex Nankivell was withdrawn from the starting team as a precaution due to a tight calf.