In July 2012 a wise man journeyed to Cork, and Limerick, with the gift of Canterbury Crusaders rugby. This, the most successful blueprint for success in New Zealand and mirrored in so many wonderful wide channel All Black attacks during this year's World Cup, was utterly rejected by the local, mainly Limerick, cognoscenti.
The men of Munster reacted in typically stubborn fashion and the coup wasn't long coming. By February 2014 Rob Penney signalled his intent to move on. He's banking Yen now. His assistant coach Simon Mannix was held in high enough regard to lure three backrowers – James Coughlan, Paddy Butler and Sean Dougall – off to Pau in southern France.
More may yet follow.
Point is, Munster got what they wanted; indigenous coaches. Anthony Foley, whose passion for the jersey is unmistakable, grabbed the reins. A year extension to continue his post-O'Connell rebuilding period is already agreed.
The Canterbury ways and means have been all but discarded. What’s now in place is tough to decipher simply because Munster are unable to go through enough phases, when under severe pressure, to reveal a distinct pattern of play, be it old or new.
This is in stark contrast to tomorrow's opposition. The Leicester Tigers have fully embraced an alien style which, without any coincidence, was also born on Canterbury plains.
When Matt O’Connor left Leicester for Leinster two seasons ago, the board and director of rugby Richard Cockerill knew they had reached a critical juncture in the club’s history. The Tigers, once undisputed heavyweight champions of England, and for a time Europe, are not one of the Premiership giants in possession of a billionaire backer. They remain reliant on older values, eternally married to grassroots and to their city.
“Munster are very similar to ourselves,” Cockerill mused late last Saturday night following Leicester’s 31-19 victory at Thomond Park.
“They have been incredibly successful, but once-in-a-generation players have come and gone. Same for ourselves. It takes a little bit of time to find your feet again. We are starting to do that. I understand the pressure that Anthony feels. Munster are a good club, I think they will rebuild but it all goes round in cycles.”
Problem is Munster is not a club so to speak.
“Leicester will be here in 100 years time and Munster will be here in 100 years time,” Cockerill assured us all. “We are [both] built around the city and the fans. We are very traditional. It’s important to keep that.”
Keeping that is an enormous challenge for a private limited company like Leicester, who are being priced out of the player recruitment market, never mind a province mired in massive debt due to reneged stadium repayments and who can’t make the most important decisions about their own future.
In fact, Cockerill was unaware of some crucial fine print when attempting to bridge squad values as enough reason to compare Munster with Leicester. For one, Leicester is a city onto itself.
Pretty special
“What clubs like ourselves and Munster have is pretty special and you want to keep that,” he continued. “Now, there is going to be a bump in the road at times. I nearly lost my job last season because the results weren’t good enough. You have to ride that storm and try to build for the next two or three years.”
To commence that rebuilding process Leicester realised a gem they once had in their changing room could be the answer. Aaron Mauger was duly tempted from a fledgling career in the Crusaders backroom to become O'Connor's successor last summer.
Mauger kept the All Black 12 jersey off Ma’a Nonu’s back between 2002 and 2007 before his eye-opening three-year stint at Welford Road.
The Canterbury way, when not employed correctly, looks awfully like catching and passing while using the full width of the field. When embraced and used efficiently, it is about the identification of space by the use of rugby’s fundamentals, which just so happen to be passing and catching at high speed in order to move the ball quickly into said space.
No outsider will bid for my field; Munster media and supporters bemoaned the Penney ways from day one. And soon he was gone. They got their field back but at what cost?
Not unlike Foley, Cockerill unashamedly hails from the hard-nosed school of forward play: the Leicester way. Anyone who has witnessed wincing collisions between these surly rivals stretching back to the 2002 European Cup final can see the Munster philosophy in Leicester actions. That’s what Cockerill sees too.
That’s how rugby matches are won. It’s how Canterbury win. But to break the Toulon or the Saracens pack by blunt force is not currently so readily achieved. Just ask the Leinster or Ulster forwards.
Cockerill, much to the delight of his fleet-footed backs coach Geordan Murphy, embraced the change Munster would not.
“It was a switch alright,” said Murphy. “It’s more heads-up rugby and reacting to situations as they present themselves. I think that’s been great. The fans have reacted well to it. Certainly from my point of view, as a coach for two years now, I have had no problem falling into the Canterbury model. I’d be a fan of having a crack from anywhere.
“I think it was tough on Cockers, coming from the Leicester school of forward play, but he realised we needed to play a bit. He actually bought into it from minute one.
“We found it tough last season to play nine-, 10-man rugby so we have opened it up a little. It’s about constant improvement and about everyone knowing their role. Continual learning.
“We did do well to get Aaron but he played here for three seasons. His family liked it here, he knew what we were about. When I spoke to him he said he had thought about sitting in the stand in Welford Road and coaching.
“What we lose out in financial clout we make up for in environment and culture.”
Leicester put their faith in Mauger’s coaching abilities, knowing he would bring a very distinct and successful way of playing rugby. They swallowed their pride. Some feat considering what we witnessed during Cockerill’s days, when Martin Johnson’s mere presence cowed other packs into submission.
Maybe that’s it. Cockerill saw there was no Johnson around anymore.
“Leicester is still a PLC,” explained Murphy, Naas-born but an adopted Leicester son since 1997. “That’s always made life difficult for us. It means we must bring players through. Even look at this season when we lost Geoff Parling and Julian Salvi.
“It wasn’t that we couldn’t afford them but we looked at saving money by bringing in guys like Mike Fitzgerald and Brendon O’Connor, who have just been unbelievable for us, two of our best players.”
Ignore the surnames, neither Kiwi is Irish. In fact both can qualify for England under residency.
Fighting the battle
“We are constantly fighting the battle to strike the right balance.”
It’s a battle the Irish provinces, particularly Munster, find themselves deeply embroiled in.
“We don’t have a financial backer so those who come through the ranks here have to love the club, and by proving that they stay for less money,” Murphy continued. “Manu Tuilagi is a case in point of that recently. We got guys like Ben and Tom Youngs whose father played for the club. They are willing to take pay cuts to play for us.
“We do still get big names to Leicester still but we can’t afford Ma’a Nonu so we have to aim for the next guy in that line.”
Clubs like Leicester know they must evolve or die. The Irish provinces don’t have the luxury of making that decision for themselves.
The IRFU high performance director David Nucifora is due before the media next week. Better late than never. There will be questions.
