This hasn’t been the most productive campaign of Stephen Archer’s 14 seasons with Munster. “Up and down,” as he puts it. A bad ankle injury in October sidelined him for 2½ months, after which he had to bide his time as back-up, but in Munster’s time of need the 33-year-old has put his shoulder to the wheel.
A replacement in the dispiriting URC and Champions Cup round-of-16 defeats by Glasgow and the Sharks, Archer had only started two games prior to their return to South Africa for season-defining games against the Stormers and Sharks again.
Whereupon he played the 80 minutes against the Stormers and the Sharks – something he hadn’t done since March 2017 – and he also played over an hour in last Friday’s quarter-final win in Glasgow.
Not a bother to the 33-year-old who simply shrugs his shoulders, smiles and says: “It’s something I would have been used to at the start of my career when there was only one prop on the bench and playing AIL, you’d be always be playing 80 minutes. That was a long time ago but I’m happy out doing that now.”
With their qualification for next Champions Cup on the line when they headed to South Africa, Munster have shown true grit in their last three games, so also earning another tilt at Leinster in Saturday’s URC semi-final at the Aviva Stadium (5.30pm)
“Yeah we have, and we had to. We had a good, long look at ourselves after the European loss to the Sharks. We rolled our sleeves up because we knew what was ahead of us with a lot of away matches and we’re happy now with where we are.”
There is a theory that Munster might have a better chance of ending their trophy drought by competing in the Challenge Cup but it’s not a theory Archer subscribes to. “It’s nonsense. People don’t want to go watching the Challenge Cup here in this lovely stadium,” he says, nodding toward a sun-drenched Thomond Park from one of the well-appointed rooms. “Yeah, nonsense. Munster have to be in the Champions Cup. It’s non-negotiable.”
Hence, while last Friday’s titanic win in Glasgow was a further boost, Archer says: “It was funny, there were no mad celebrations after it. We felt it was kind of business done. Whereas in South Africa after the Stormers match, it was different. It was probably relief after making Europe again and maybe getting a monkey off the back there. The Glasgow one was ‘look, we’re on to the next one after that’. We knew we had the semi-final against Leinster to come the following week.”
It could be viewed that Munster are now in bonus territory.
“Well, I suppose we’re playing technically the top club team in the world, so you won’t be giving us a chance, but we have good belief in ourselves and we’ll put a good show in on Saturday.”
Munster have a poor record against Leinster, one win in the last 11 meetings, and especially at the Aviva, one win in 13 games against their rivals. Archer reasons: “Look, it’s a new group this year so you tend to put past things behind you.”
With experience Archer is more relaxed before games now. Forwards coach Andi Kyriacou likens Archer to an NFL “greybeard” in the way he acts as a mentor for Munster’s younger props and says: “I know he looks about 50 but he’s a serious professional.”
Archer has signed another one-year deal, putting him within two caps of equalling Donnacha O’Callaghan’s record of 263 appearances for the province, and has no plans beyond rugby yet. “I’ve nothing concrete in place but I’ve got a degree in food business so I might try and look into something in that.”
But he has no designs on coaching. “Never say never, but probably not, no. Not professionally, anyway. I’ve seen them and it’s tough going, like!” he says, laughing. “The fun side is playing and being out there training, but Jesus they’d be out there and they’re analysing and all that, and it’s a small pool of talent around Ireland, isn’t it? I live in Cork so I do a lot of commuting from there to Limerick and I’m away from home a lot, so I’ll leave my family off that!”
