What might Clayton McMillan make of this Munster set-up?

THE CHIEFS HAVE a bye in Super Rugby, so incoming Munster head coach Clayton McMillan is taking the chance to visit Limerick this week.

As first reported by the Irish Examiner, the New Zealander is meeting some of the staff and players he’ll be working with full-time from this summer, when he moves to Munster on a three-year contract.

McMillan is determined to go out on a high with the Chiefs by leading them to their first Super Rugby title in his tenure. Defeats in the last two finals haven’t sat well. They’ve made a good start in that quest, currently leading the table after five wins in six games.

As ever, the Chiefs have been playing thrilling rugby even if McMillan branded their second-half struggles against Moana Pasifika last weekend as “borderline embarrassing.” They had been sublime in the first half before dropping off. McMillan is a tough task master with high standards.

But clearly, the Munster project is already chief among McMillan’s thoughts. It would be intriguing to hear his unfiltered thoughts on how the southern province is shaping up for the new chapter under him.

He will surely be pleased about the new signings Munster have confirmed, with 26-year-old loosehead prop Michael Milne and 24-year-old hooker Lee Barron to join from Leinster this summer.

Munster have been intent on investing in their front row for years – several possible non-Irish-qualified [NIQ] signings were rebuffed by the IRFU – and while they’d love to have landed proven world-class performers, Milne and Barron are strong additions. Throw in the fact that tighthead Oli Jager only joined in November 2023 and Munster could have a very new-looking front row next season.

Milne and Barron will have to earn their places, of course, but they’re dynamic players with lots of upside. Milne has trained with the Ireland squad and is an explosive carrier when fit and firing, while Barron is a tall, powerful hooker with a similar frame to Dan Sheehan. New competition will be good for existing senior front rows like Jeremy Loughman and Diarmuid Barron.

23-year-old Irish-qualified centre Dan Kelly is another player McMillan will be watching, given that he will join from Leicester this summer. A standout for the Ireland U20s back in 2020, Kelly subsequently won a senior England cap but had fallen out of that picture.

He hasn’t always grabbed headlines for Leicester in recent seasons but Kelly is a tidy centre and a fine athlete who Munster believe has the best ahead of him.

Incoming Munster boss Clayton McMillan. Photosport / Aaron Gillions/INPHO Photosport / Aaron Gillions/INPHO / Aaron Gillions/INPHO

JJ Hanrahan is the fourth confirmed addition for Munster and will bring lots of experience back for his third stint with his native province. With Billy Burns set to leave after a single season, Hanrahan’s nous will be welcome. 

Of course, McMillan will be hoping that he can build his team around current first-choice out-half Jack Crowley, who has attracted an offer from Leicester. The Ireland international must consider his options but Munster and the IRFU have seemed quietly confident they can convince Crowley to stay at home.

Meeting McMillan in person and hearing about his plans for the next few years in Munster would surely be another nudge for Crowley if it’s required.

And Munster supporters will be hoping McMillan might have another signing up his sleeve given his connections in New Zealand. The southern province already have three NIQ players in their squad in Alex Nankivell, Jean Kleyn, and Thaakir Abrahams, but IRFU performance director David Humphreys has said there are no set-in-stone rules when it comes to NIQs any longer.

If McMillan manages to interest a top-class Kiwi player in joining Munster next season or next year, the union should listen. The IRFU needs Munster to be competing at the top table again as soon as possible.

McMillan knows influential centre Nankivell well from their time working together with the Chiefs, so he’s sure to be a key sounding board, while he also coached prop John Ryan during the tighthead’s short-term stint with the Hamilton-based side.

The injection of dynamism in the front row is something McMillan is sure to have welcomed given the sight of Munster struggling to make dents on the gainline in many games over the last couple of seasons. It happened again last weekend in Glasgow.

Size and power in the tight five are crucial in rugby. McMillan’s Chiefs play eye-catching rugby, but their physicality should not be overlooked. They’re vicious in contact on their best days. McMillan will want that from Munster too.

Tighthead prop Jager staying fit and getting to his best will be key and Munster will hope the explosive Roman Salanoa can recover from his long-term knee troubles.

It would also help having Springboks lock Kleyn and 22-year-old second row Edwin Edogbo free of injury following their travails in the last couple of years. Evan O’Connell is a different kind of lock to that pair but has clear potential to kick on.

McMillan will be keen to see Oli Jager hit his best form. Ben Brady / INPHO Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO

Tadhg Beirne will be a central figure in McMillan’s plans. He is Munster’s lineout leader and the Kiwi boss will be keen to ensure his tactical plans allow Beirne’s classy handling, strong decision-making, and defensive breakdown quality to shine.

McMillan is sure to be intent on helping promising young back rows like Brian Gleeson and Ruadhán Quinn establish themselves as first-team players, challenging established pros like Gavin Coombes, John Hodnett, and Alex Kendellen.

The athletically unique Tom Ahern might be someone McMillan has earmarked to succeed the retiring Peter O’Mahony as Munster’s blindside flanker. Ahern is a fine second row, but the sense remains that he is at his most effective as a wide-ranging, lineout-destroying number six. Having now turned 25, Ahern will be challenged to find greater consistency in impacting games.

McMillan would be wise to pick the brains of O’Mahony and Conor Murray before they step away at the end of the season, asking for their honest appraisal of this Munster squad’s strengths and weaknesses. Both of them have given their all for the red jersey.

Craig Casey is clearly ready to assume full control of Munster’s number nine jersey in the post-Murray era. Casey has been part of Munster’s leadership group for years now and his performances for province and country have been on a real upward trajectory. With Murray leaving, McMillan will need Paddy Patterson and Ethan Coughlan to step up the depth chart.

Nankivell will make up the crop of frontline centres with Tom Farrell and the incoming Kelly, while there is talent to work with in the back three too.

Having the fleet-footed Abrahams consistently fit and firing would help Munster hugely given his quality with ball in hand. The same applies to Diarmuid Kilgallen, who is a different winger but equally exciting. Whereas Abrahams is diminutive and darting, Kilgallen is tall and commanding. 

They will have to compete aggressively for minutes given how well established and important Ireland international right wing Calvin Nash is, while the injured Shane Daly has also been hugely consistent for Munster.

Mike Haley has been the key man at fullback in recent years and is currently sidelined, but Munster will hope to see 20-year-old Ben O’Connor continue his emergence in that position.

Calvin Nash is a key man in the back three. Dan Sheridan / INPHO Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO

Competition for places is exactly what Munster need and the reality is that their depth hasn’t been strong enough in recent seasons, even accounting for a couple of extensive injury crises.

There are other young guns the southern province have earmarked for rises in the coming seasons – outstanding Ireland U20s flanker Michael Foy among them – and McMillan has a good reputation for developing promising talent.

McMillan can justifiably feel that he has the raw materials to work with, all the more so given that he will have strong assistant coaches alongside him in Mike Prendergast and Denis Leamy, who know this squad very well.

One of the key aspects of McMillan’s project with the Chiefs has been getting strong alignment and clarity on their style of play but also their off-pitch culture and standards.

While McMillan is said to be a strong personality and authoritative figure, he clearly has good people skills too. What seems to have driven consistency from the Chiefs is everyone in the organisation understanding what is expected from them at all times.

They have been far less of an up-and-down team than before, which is probably why last weekend’s second-half malaise against Moana Pasifika pissed McMillan off so much. 

There are similarities in that Munster seem to swing from excellence to nightmare evenings like their home defeat to Edinburgh at the end of last month too often. That night in Cork wasn’t a true picture of the quality in Munster’s squad but they allowed their standards to slip.

McMillan will be keen for that habit to disappear, while you can bet he will be keen to restore the fear factor at Thomond Park. He won there with the All Blacks XV last November.

Munster’s once outstanding home record has faded somewhat in the last couple of seasons and some of their best wins have come on the road. Thomond can still be a special place on the big nights, but it’s another point of pride that needs to be restored.

McMillan’s visit to Munster this week will have been useful in getting a sense of the mission that awaits. It also underlines his appetite for the task.