Munster told to show more fight if they want to be contenders

Clayton McMillan took over at the province last summer and among his priorities starting out was an intention to raise the side’s floor rather than the bar. 

Munster's Craig Casey leaves the field. Pic: Dan Sheridan

‘Stand Up And Fight’ is the tune played before every Munster home game and Clayton McMillan is expecting his players to live by that this season more than last.

The Kiwi took over at the province last summer and among his priorities starting out was an intention to raise the side’s floor rather than the bar. 

As it happened, there were too many occasions when they found themselves way off the levels needed.

A second-half collapse at home to the Stormers fed into a pummelling in Bath. 

There was the no-show against Ulster in Belfast, a 45-0 defeat away to the Sharks and a disastrous first-half against Exeter Chiefs in the Challenge Cup.

Those, and a home loss to Castres, were the lowlights, but will a new season bring a clean slate?

“I just think it's an opportunity to learn from the things that we encountered last year and just be better,” said McMillan before Friday’s Cork friendly against Leicester Tigers. “There was lots of times last year when we felt like we weren't that far away, and then there were times that it felt like we were a long way from where we needed to be.

“Not one to go back and pull up old skeletons, but there were probably three or four games where we got an absolute towelling, and those are the ones that we remember most because we're a much better team than those occasions. That's what we'll need to show: a lot better fight in us this year at certain times to be genuine contenders.” 

McMillan is working with some new coaches and some new players as he steps into his second season, and there has been a focus on improving the “alignment” of the team and on how they want to play in the months to come.

There are, he said, things that will be done differently this season.

“So my feeling is that we need to be a more multi-dimensional team. We have to have the ability to play the game in multiple ways that suits our profile and the different conditions, the different style of teams that we play.

“We won't be the finished product in round one but I think we have a really clear identity and we'll work really hard in the off-season around making sure that our players understand what that actually looks like and what we want to see.” 

Jared Payne has arrived as one of two attack coaches with a ‘strike to score’ mentality inside the first three phases; Mossy Lawler is working on a two-sided attack with transition another topic high on a list that boasts all the usual fundamentals.

“So, yeah, transition, setpiece, ‘strike to score’, multi-layered phase.” 

The interim target is a home quarter-final, something he feels is achievable if they can eradicate the habit of gifting soft points late on. As for the overall goal?

“You’ve always got to be careful when you have these sorts of conversations, that you say something that you're going to get quoted, on or judged against, later on.

“But there's no shame in saying that we enter every year with an expectation that we want to win the title, and if we play anywhere near our potential consistently we'll put ourselves in the picture to at least contest finals.”