Into the trenches go Munster without Conor Murray and Alby Mathewson. Nobody panic. Opportunity in adversity.
It means a 38-year-old head coach and 22-year-old outhalf are tasked with overcoming an Exeter team that appear almost unbeatable in Sandy Park.
These two very young men, Johann van Graan and Joey Carbery, in high pressure roles should form a special bond, regardless of the result, from this series of matches. A relationship forged by trust can support their now interlinked career trajectory, with Munster the immediate beneficiaries.
That said, this European campaign can so easily nose-dive in October if this relationship falters.The wildly swinging pendulum that was my career experienced all types of player-coach affairs.
The coach can and will affect the way players mentally approach a game
In 1999, Munster came to Donnybrook. Keith Wood was back from Harlequins and I was Leinster’s teenage fullback when the Lions hooker took a one-handed pass from Rog to burst the blue line.
Ireland legend against fresh-faced kid, I honestly had no idea how to defend front on and Woody turned me inside out. When you are beaten in the back field there tends to be no salvation.
I knew the cost of my mistake, so painfully obvious it didn’t need highlighting. A week later I was adamant I would make amends, as we ran out at Ravenhill I was the last to leave the changing room when Leinster coach Mike Ruddock – a good friend these days – ruined me by genuinely trying to motivate by uttering:
“Don’t f**k up again.”
Internal monologue
Ask any player, certainly one with my sensitive disposition at age 19, to avoid mistakes then all the mind focuses on is looming error. You don’t express yourself because the internal voice is yelling the same monologue while running towards a bobbling ball or dropping bomb or facing someone like Keith: “Don’t f**k up!”
Of course that is precisely what you end up doing. I outdid myself during that harrowing Belfast experience. A spectacularly poor display, Mike’s words proved all consuming. Now, older versions of D’Arcy and Ruddock have laughed about this in the Lansdowne clubhouse, but some kids don’t pull back from the precipice.
That’s how easy it can be for a coach to wipe a young player’s confidence.
Awareness and responsibility are crucial qualities for high performance. They manifest in attitude. I had a bullet proof mindset at some moments in my career (the 2004 Six Nations, Schmidt days in Leinster) but it was painfully obvious when I needed help to pick myself off the floor. Bad memories are easiest to recall: missing out on the 2003 World Cup squad (I still hadn’t done enough to convince others I was reliable), the 2007 World Cup in its entirety (at least I was not alone) and the end when it abruptly arrived.
The coach can and will affect the way players mentally approach a game. I fully believe that some unintentionally have negative impacts because of their autocratic methods or obsession with technique. There is a fine balance between judging where some players have limitations and providing them with instructions from that point on. The other consideration is mixing them with decision makers who have the freedom to play what they see.
There is a emotional intelligence required by coaches to understand what each individual can and cannot shoulder. This is crucial in the Van Graan/Carbery relationship because Joey seems capable of handling a serious amount of information, so the hard part this week is deciding what is relevant.
This is what can make or breaks a head coach – knowing your players. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. The best coaches I worked with never imposed their style from the outset, but involved me in the conversation so we learned together.
Joe operates this way, so did Vinnie Murray in Clongowes.
Problem solving
Matt O’Connor was different, refusing to tailor his coaching methods to fit the team, because it had worked in Leicester or wherever, and no matter how many times something was obviously malfunctioning he persisted. Coaches have made a career out of this unrelenting approach but players must buy into the idea to have any chance of reaching the winner’s podium.
Eventually a young outhalf needs to problem solve within a game. Munster under Van Graan with Carbery at 10 do not want to merely survive in Conor Murray’s and presumably Alby Mathewson’s absence, they want to thrive because both are young talented men with enormous ambition.
If Munster can take the loss of two world class scrumhalves and channel it into an opportunity, by winning, imagine what that will do for the group?
Carbery only needs a functional number nine. Put people around him so this gifted outhalf can play what he sees
If not, if the loss of scrumhalves shakes them, Munster can throw their hat at it.
With Murray keeping his medical information private, following Jamie Heaslip’s decision, people automatically start hearing sinister music in the background.
I’d prefer this column to deal in facts. I was quite transparent with my injuries but in 2008 when the surgeon told me, and me alone, that if the arm doesn’t heal in six weeks, that rugby was over, I was hardly going to post the conversation on social media. For one, it wasn’t definitive. Nor did I announce the second and third bone grafts to anyone, you just withdraw in to yourself and want to disappear (hence the smile after the try against France in 2009).
Let’s see how the Murray situation plays out. If it’s really serious he is well within his rights to keep quiet. If he makes it back most people will be so relieved they’ll forget the whole privacy debate.
We are so obsessed with a constant flow of information. Blame Steve Jobs. We want instant clarity or an update and when it isn’t forthcoming it sends people into a spin.
Multi-million dollar American sports contracts mean the organisation has control over a player’s medical information. Pay me $20 million a season and I’ll accept that my employers have ownership of how injuries are released into the public domain. Not for what I was paid.
Old bite
Twelve months ago people would hear about a Conor Murray injury and wouldn’t be travelling over to Exeter in hope because they wouldn’t be booking flights.
Now Munster have Joey and Tadhg Beirne, and a settled squad growing in confidence.
Against Leinster I saw that old bite returning. Beirne, Pete O’Mahony, CJ Stander and Tommy O’Donnell are starting to complement each other. The pity is Mathewson and Carbery had already discovered a lovely groove. It promised so much and made Murray’s loss not seem so cruel.
Now that’s probably gone but Carbery takes heavy, confidence-sapping pressure off them. There’s no nice way to put this but Duncan Williams and Ian Keatley, with JJ Hanrahan as relief pitcher, gives them little chance of winning major trophies.
Carbery only needs a functional number nine. Put people around him so this gifted outhalf can play what he sees.
I have some experience in this regard. Throughout my teens and on underage representative teams the attack was built with my strengths in mind. Dropped into the senior ranks as a fullback, I was still given licence to attack from anywhere. When the fully professional game took hold, I struggled to adjust. Let me tell you, it took a few years and I was lucky to survive.
Munster have a pack capable of replicating the great performances of old down in Exeter
If not for Garry Ella’s brainwave to make me a centre when Brian was injured, a very sharp turn would have occurred in 2004 or 2005. Sliding doors: the 83 Test matches and two Lions tours would have been replaced by a journeyman existence through England, France, the southern hemisphere and maybe even catch the Japanese bandwagon.
The odd 70 metre try (in Super Rugby or ProD2) would pop up on Irish radars and as a roaming winger I would have had a great time in whatever city I pitched up in but life would be very different to what it is today.
Self awareness, coming when it did, to become a functional player in a potentially great team meant a 17-year career finished with a quiet satisfaction and fulfilment.
Fuelling belief
Now if I entered the game five years later I would have been a more disciplined player and conditioned earlier but would they have spotted a centre masquerading as a fullback? Has Jordan Larmour been pigeon holed already? In New Zealand, they want Ben Smith, Beauden Barrett and Damian McKenzie on the pitch so they figure out the positions to suit their abilities.
I adjusted but not before some embarrassing growing pains on the tour of South Africa in 2004. By then my head was melted when turned from outside to inside centre. Defending at 12 is completely different to the 13 channel. The Tuesday before facing the Boks, Mike Ford designed a drill to help me understand the differences but I couldn’t grasp it. My shoulders and stance meant we kept getting carved up. It felt like I was wasting everyone’s time. The energy was seeping out of me but Mike spent the rest of the week constantly fuelling my belief with constant, simple repetition.
Nobody mentioned the potential for disaster. It was about patiently transforming a 24 year old winger into a 12 rather than telling me “don’t f**k up.”
I digress slightly. Munster have a pack capable of replicating the great performances of old down in Exeter on Saturday and an outhalf who can light up any defence.
Ross Byrne has the advantages of working beside Johnny Sexton, Felipe Contepomi and Stuart Lancaster on a daily basis.
Carbery, Van Graan and Felix Jones will spend every available moment this week huddling in deep conversation, plotting and planning so Joey has a clear plan. The 22-year-old outhalf was moved south to experience grade one rugby under a 38-year-old coach; to learn how to control the tempo of nail-biting contests, to understand when to keep his pack motoring in the right direction.
The challenge for Van Graan is to ensure his 10 has complete trust and ownership of the team.
