McMillan applauds Munster CEO's 'brave statement' over Tadhg Furlong citing case

STRONG WORDS: Munster interim chief executive Avan Lee before the United Rugby Championship match between Munster and Hollywoodbets Sharks at Thomond Park in Limerick. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile

Clayton McMillan has praised Munster’s interim CEO Avan Lee for the “brave statement” released in the wake of the decision to clear Tadhg Furlong of foul play after an incident in last Saturday’s interpro.

Furlong was cited after that game between the provinces after Munster’s Gavin Coombes had made an allegation that his testicles had been grabbed at a ruck approaching half-time.

The referee and TMO found no evidence and took no action at the time.

However, Furlong was subsequently cited under Law 9.27 before an independent disciplinary committee concluded unanimously that the complaint should be dismissed on the basis that the tighthead had not committed an act of foul play.

The committee also added that Coombes had given “an honest account of his recollection of events surrounding the incident”.

The four days between the game and that decision had seen Leinster forwards coach Robin McBryde and Ireland kicking coach Johnny Sexton both speak publicly in defence of Furlong. “I don’t think that’s something he would have done,” said Sexton.

The decision in favour of Furlong was followed by a statement from Munster that stated Coombes continued to have the full backing of the club and with Lee criticising “unhelpful commentary from people with a clear influence over public opinion”.

“To be perfectly honest, I applaud Avan,” said McMillan after Munster’s URC loss to Sharks. “He's new to the job, and it was a brave statement, but an accurate one. I couldn't have been more impressed with how Gavin has conducted himself over the course of the week.

“A huge amount of pressure, but he's spoken his truth, and we back him one hundred per cent. And obviously the decision didn’t go his way, and we respect the process, but it doesn't change what he knows and what we feel about it.” 

McMillan was speaking shortly after a hugely disappointing evening for his side. The hosts lost 15-3 on a damp and ugly evening where they made a catalogue of errors and found themselves slipping to 11th in the league table.

“Look, a big, powerful side, and they defended really well. In the collision, I thought we just got a little bit outhustled and a little bit outmuscled at times, which is a tough thing to say about the side whose foundation is built on working hard for each other and just being tough in the collision.

“So yeah, look, that's something that we'll need to lick our wounds about. And once they got their nose in front, it become a contestable kicking game and won't go down in anybody's book as a classic, that's for sure. But they did what they needed to do to win and that's rugby. They did a great job of it.” 

It leaves the province with five weeks to kill before the can look to rectify things as the URC goes into a lengthy hibernation while the Test game takes precedence in November. Then again, the head coach feels this might be exactly the right time for them to get a break.

“Yeah, it's probably come at a pretty decent time for us,” McMillan agreed. “We get an opportunity to reflect now and just take stock of where we're at. You look at the table and we're certainly not happy with where we're at.

“But we have played some quality teams, and we've had an unfortunate run of injuries, so there are positives. But the reality is we sit 11th or something on the table. The other way I'll probably frame it is tonight was the first night that we never really put ourselves in a position to win the game.

“It felt like we were always second, whereas in every other game we've been right in it, and that's disappointing because we wanted to finish on a high and we weren't able to achieve that.”