The stats would suggest that Mike Haley made more of an impact in his first season with Munster. There were more appearances, more tries and a first, fleeting cap for Ireland off the bench and on the wing in the World Cup warm-up game. But after missing the cut for Japan, in truth Haley looked an altogether more confident player last season.
With Stephen Larkham’s arrival, the 26-year-old appeared to be given more licence to counterattack and step in as first receiver, both of which used to come naturally to him in his time at Sale and which he clearly relished.
“I don’t know why I went away from it in my first year. But definitely coming into my second year I was like, ‘this is something I need to do, something that can help the team.’ I enjoy doing that, I enjoy getting my hands on the ball and it’s something I want to do even more if possible. Not pushing JJ [Hanrahan] or whoever’s ‘10’ out the way, obviously, as long as it’s within the system but when it’s there and available, do what I used to do and enjoy it.”
Haley believes that his time at Munster has added “a bit more maturity” to his game. “I think when I was back in Sale I probably had some aspects of my game which were good but I needed to round myself off a little bit.
“I think definitely the game management and understanding how Munster want to play the game and how they want to implement the gameplans and not just going off my own bat and looking, running up holes that aren’t there and being detrimental to the team.
“I think that was a massive learning curve in my first year and then second year I really enjoyed it. I thought some of my rugby was really good and I’m just looking to back that up into my third year now.”
Haley had been Munster’s first-choice fullback for two years, starting all but one of their 14 Champions Cup games in that time, until the lockdown, following which he suffered a calf injury which means Saturday’s game in Parc Y Scarlets is his first since February.
Nonetheless, his partner Lucy having given birth to their first child, Frank, earlier this year, lockdown had its pluses
“We’ve got a lovely place over here and loving life with my little one, he’s just a menace at the moment flying around the house, especially during lockdown.
“It’s been great, got a lot of good friends here and settled in massively now. I think the lockdown period actually makes you appreciate where you are in Ireland and when there’s a lot of staycations and stuff like that you get to travel around a little bit more and experience the country.
“So that’s been great and then on the rugby field, just finding I’m very comfortable, well not comfortable but I’m comfortable in the system and which is making me feel like I’m flourishing. I love working with Steve, I think he’s a fantastic coach and he really helps me push to be better each week and yeah, coming into this third season just really confident.”
It’s made Haley appreciative of other things as well.
“You appreciate creches a lot more,” he admits. “They should be paid a lot more, the jobs they do is unbelievable. No, do you know what, it’s actually quite a cherished time, six months that I probably would have never had, being permanently with my little lad and partner. You actually start doing other things around the house and exploring other avenues outside of rugby.
“Then at the same time, you know, you’re wanting to get back and wanting to get going again. So it’s very mixed but it has been enjoyable, especially personally in that time my little lad has started walking and started babbling away now and I’m actually seeing that being at home, which is really nice.”
The importance of this game against opponents who are liable to be rival contenders in Conference B again is not lost on him.
“I think Scarlets are a classy side, full of internationals from their frontrow all the way down to their 15. It’s a tough old place to go and it’s going to be two full-strength sides going against each other in the first round of the Pro 14 and both sides in the same conference so it speaks for itself.”
