New coaches, new hope, same old questions: Can Munster finally find consistency?

Clayton McMillan’s second season begins with injuries, new coaches and a daunting run of fixtures putting Munster under pressure

Irish Rugby Strength and Conditioning Coach Aled Walters and Munster Head Coach Clayton McMillan. Pic: INPHO/Nick Elliott

Clayton McMillan can hardly have expected his maiden season as head coach to have played out as it did last time around, with a URC quarter-final hammering at the Bulls on the pitch and a corporate meltdown off it.

It all left the New Zealander questioning whether everyone within Munster Rugby was pulling in the same direction and no wonder.

McMillan’s attempts to replace Bath-bound senior coach Mike Prendergast with his former Chiefs attack guru Roger Randle was mired in controversy, prompting an embarrassing U-turn on the appointment and resignations from Munster’s Professional Games Committee while sparking an independent governance and organisational review that is due to be completed, it is understood, by the end of this month before delivery to the Munster Rugby Board.

The only way is up, right? Well, kind of. The head coach’s new coaching ticket looks like Munster have unearthed a couple of gems in the aftermath of the Randle fiasco with Jared Payne brought in from Scarlets to share responsibility for attack with a promoted Mossy Lawler. The addition of Jimmy Duffy as forwards coach to replace the outgoing Alex Codling, now at Toulon, also looks a canny move, the Galwegian bringing plenty of experience and a sterling reputation for developing young talent to the brief.

And yet. The absence of first-choice playmaker Jack Crowley undoubtedly hurt Munster at the back end of last season as they struggled for fluency in attack and an eventual diagnosis of a lower leg vascular injury now sees the Ireland fly-half ruled out until at least the Christmas period.

That loss has been compounded by further injuries at number 10 with new signing, the former Waratahs fly-half Will Harrison, nursing a recurrent knee injury back to full fitness and exciting academy prospect Tom Wood ruled out until the new year following shoulder surgery. JJ Hanrahan starts the URC campaign against Glasgow Warriors on Saturday evening at the steering wheel with back-up provided by the untested but exciting academy rookie Charlie O’Shea, who impressed in last weekend’s pre-season tune-up against Leicester Tigers. A mere month into life at Munster, the Ireland U20 fly-half unexpectedly finds himself front and centre.

What’s the mood inside the Munster camp?

The province’s High Performance Centre at the University of Limerick seems to be oozing positivity heading into what many outside the tent view as a potentially tough 2026-27 season for Clayton McMillan’s squad. Fresh voices in the coaching set-up from the aforementioned new assistants Payne and Duffy have helped to energise the playing group, despite the injury issues which will see Edwin Edogbo, Tom Farrell and Calvin Nash miss the start of the season in addition to Crowley, Harrison and Tom Wood. An exciting new crop of first-year academy players, seven of whom featured for Ireland in this summer’s Under-20 World Championships has also provided impetus to a squad. After a disappointing 25-26 campaign there are plenty with points to prove and an apparent willingness to make them.

Who have they signed?

South Africa hooker Marnus van der Merwe has arrived from Scarlets, former England prop Kieran Brookes from Perpignan and fellow tighthead Jack Aungier from Connacht, while fly-half Will Harrison’s arrival from Japan’s Kinetsu Liners represents something of a punt given the Australian former Waratah’s injury profile.

While Brookes and Aungier boost the tighthead options following the retirements of John Ryan. Oli Jager and Roman Salanoa, there have been no direct replacements for the outgoing South Africa lock Jean Kleyn (Gloucester) and wing Thaakir Abrahams (Bulls). That indicates either a comfort with the existing playing stocks in those departments or yet another reality check that Munster are feeding off ever diminishing returns.

Biggest lesson from last season?

Head coach McMillan arrived from the Chiefs looking to shift a Munster mindset that has produced a frustrating cycle of erratic, boom then bust performances but after a promising start including a big win over Leinster at Croke Park last October, the Reds reverted to type and debilitating defeats at home to Stormers in the URC and Castres in the Champions Cup pool stages as well as heavy reverses at Ulster and Exeter Chiefs, the latter in the Challenge Cup, pockmarked the Kiwi’s first season at the helm.

The result was the failure to yet again land a home knockout URC tie, with the all too regular scramble for a top-eight finish in the regular-season standings sending them to Loftus Versfeld and a season-ending defeat to the Bulls.

McMillan has to find some week-to-week consistency this time around if Munster are to break the cycle.

How was pre-season and who stood out?

Do not read too much into Munster’s two warm-up defeats, one at La Rochelle, the other at home to Leicester Tigers. Both matches were stop-start affairs with multiple substitutions and McMillan naming two different sides for either half in each of them.

There was some very good attacking rugby played in phases as Payne and Lawler’s new attacking shapes bore fruit while after a couple of seasons of toil, Munster’s maul looks to have kicked on under incoming forwards coach Jimmy Duffy.

Reasons for optimism?

Munster’s next generation have had a season to find their feet and great things are expected of the likes of homegrown forwards Edwin Edogbo, Sean Edogbo, Brian Gleeson, and Evan O’Connell, who have all gained valuable experience under McMillan. This should be their time to shine while there is another wave of young players waiting in the wings for their opportunity.

Or plenty to worry about?

Munster’s first five games are about as challenging as they come, with McMillan’s top internationals either injured or unavailable due to IRFU player welfare rules for at least the first couple of rounds.

The 2025 URC champions and last seasons’ league toppers Glasgow Warriors are first up at Thomond Park on Saturday evening, followed a week later by the visit of the Bulls a little under four months since that 45-14 hammering at their hands ended the province’s season at altitude in Pretoria. Ulster away rounds out the first phase of the URC campaign as Munster bid to expunge the memory of 28-3 reverse in Belfast last January 2 before the first of four tough Champions Cup pool fixtures brings Racing 92 to Cork’s Pairc ui Chaoimh on October 17. Then it’s back on the road for a URC derby against the reigning champions Leinster at Aviva Stadium a week later.

With Bristol Bears away, back-to-back European champions Bordeaux-Begles away and then Jean Kleyn’s new club Gloucester the other pool opponents across December and January, reaching the knockout stages would represent a major success for Munster.

Without Jack Crowley for the first four months of the season, Munster are going to have to dig deep from the off if their season is to remain alive by the time of the fly-half’s expected return.