Younger players starting out on their professional rugby career are like sponges and eager to learn. Older, or more experienced players, are perhaps more in need of a fresh voice and new ideas.
It’s almost hard to credit that Jack O’Donoghue is now 31 and is now in the former category. But, while hardly in the veteran stakes just yet, the Waterford backrower endorses the clear feeling that the Munster squad have embraced Clayton McMillan’s messaging and ideas.
“People have been itching to get to work with him,” says O’Donoghue. “When they announced it, I think everyone started tuning into Chiefs games, seeing how they play and getting a flavour for types of players he likes to pick.
“From the preseason he set the stall out and there’s been a great mood and a great energy around the place and we’re really excited,” adds O’Donoghue, ahead of Friday’s preseason friendly at Virgin Media Park against Bath (kick-off 7pm).
RM Block
“His mission statement is about holding on to the ball, playing the opportunity that’s in front of you, but not necessarily overplaying.
“If the kick is on or if it’s on to get the ball out wide, if that’s the right play, that’s it and you back it and you go with that.”
That said, through little fault of their own, it’s a measure of the tumult at Munster that, entering O’Donoghue’s 12th season since breaking the team in 2014, McMillan is the sixth coach he’ll serve under.
Munster host Bath in a preseason friendly in Musgrave Park on Friday (kick-off 7pm) and Johann van Graan has enhanced his reputation at the Rec since inheriting a squad at the foot of the Premiership three seasons ago and leading them to their first domestic title in 29 years last May.
[ Clayton McMillan expects new leaders to emerge as he puts his stamp on MunsterOpens in new window ]
Helpfully, Mike Prendergast, Denis Leamy and Mossy Lawlor have remained in place, but another period of stability akin to van Graan’s five years at Munster would be welcome.
“Yeah, a bit of continuity, long-term, looking big picture, that’s something I presume the board, the IRFU are certainly looking at it,” says O’Donoghue. “It’s certainly above the players’ pay grade but that’s something as players you want to see.”
McMillan has also brought with him a new Head of Athletic Performance Brad Mayo from New Zealand, as well as Martyn Vercoe as the new team manager, and the new voices have also implemented some modified preseason training which O’Donoghue has described as old school, notably a preseason camp in Rockwell, “back in the dorms and back to Munster Under-20 and Under-18s days”.
After “a bit of a clean-up job on my ankle in the off-season” O’Donoghue bulked up in the gym and his enthusiasm for the new campaign was further whetted by the preseason.
“We went boxing, hill running, swimming, different varieties of training. We’re not just out on the field constantly, but that just keeps the bit of drive there and stuff like that.
“It’s not going to be like, ‘oh, let’s just come back out on the field now to run sprints’. It’s different every day. And that variety certainly was infectious throughout the group.
“Some lads hated the swimming, some lads hated the hills, but I think it just kept everyone on their toes. And while some people were really good at the swimming, other people were really good at boxing, there was always one that you found yourself that you could excel on and probably step up in terms of leadership and stuff like that.”
McMillan is big into Munster connecting with their people, and there was also a training camp in Ennis, with one in Kerry next week and O’Donoghue’s native Waterford also planned.
As someone who has regularly stepped in as captain, O’Donoghue acknowledges there is an onus on him as well as others, to fill the void left by the retirement/departures of Peter O’Mahony, Conor Murray and Stephen Archer.
Munster were playing catch-up after losing four of their first six URC matches before the November break last season, only securing a place in the play-offs and this season’s Champions Cup with a last-day win over Benetton.
Mindful of this, O’Donoghue says they are looking no further than targeting their initial five-game block before the autumn series this season, namely Scarlets (away), Cardiff (home), Edinburgh (home), Leinster (away) and Connacht (home).
However, while he maintains “Europe” has not been discussed, this Friday’s game is a foretaste of Munster’s opening Champions Cup game away to Bath while the ensuing round two game against Gloucester will be at Pairc Ui Chaoimh.
“I only went on to purchase a few extra tickets myself and I saw the Blackrock end was sold out and only the two terraces were available. So that’s unbelievable. I think that certainly adds to the excitement that’s going to be building around this season.
“And I think the launch of the jersey alone, the talk around that, going back to the ‘06 kind of bit of a twang on it, it’s really nice,” O’Donoghue adds of this season’s new jersey.
“The white away jersey, there’s a lot of chat around us at the moment and that’s great, but we have to deliver on the field and that’s all that we’re kind of focusing on.”
