Last week, Ronan O'Gara told Balls that the sharp impact of coaching upheaval at Munster will be cushioned by the culture of the club.
A club like Munster would have planned for this, as to who is next in line and who I next in line after that. The best thing about Munster is that it is so player-driven.
It’s fantastic, and is a great place. From my 15 years, the players drove everything. That club and organisation, I wouldn’t say runs itself, but has great values and gets the best out of the players.
Culture is king at top-level sport, but how is it fostered? And perhaps more pertinently, how is it maintained? Today, Conor Murray hinted at one of the factors preserving it at Munster.
Speaking at the launch of the #WeAre16 campaign, Murray was asked how the transition from Rassie Erasmus to Johann Van Graan has been. Here's what he had to say.
Gameplan-wise not much yet, there are a few things that we'll keep to ourselves because hopefully, it'll work this weekend. Off the pitch, he's very similar to the lads [Erasmus and Nienaber] in terms of keeping a happy squad and is all about the players and wants the families involved on game day.
A really respectful man, I think he appreciates you go out on a Saturday and it's quite a tough sport. He appreciates the effort you put in and he's really genuine about that which is nice as it only motivates you to play for him. It's early days yet but we'll only get to know him better.
We tease out that line on how Van Grann "wants the families involved in gameday", and we learn about one of the rocks upon which the Church of Munster is built.
A focus on involving families was given vigour by Rob Penney, and it has been maintained since, with Rassie Erasmus particularly influential in later years.
We highlighted it as something we could improve on when Rob Penney came in. It’s not about having them involved them in a game, or in the dressing room! But it’s about having them at ease, and making it easier for them on game day. Or if we had a day off we’d have a barbecue or a family day, as a way of keeping them involved with Munster.
The [relationship with the] fans, that’s so tight, so we thought we could make it a little better with our families.
Rob probably started it, Axel kept it going by bringing the lads out for pizzas in his house in Killaloe a couple of times, and then Rassie and Johann took it up another level.
Rassie did an awful lot of work behind the scenes in looking after families with boxes in Thomond Park, and there’s a creche at Thomond Park on gameday now. So things like that, to put everyone at ease and take a little bit of stress off the players.
Because there are a lot of kids and babies in the Munster team at the moment, for some reason!
Murray doesn't venture to speculate any further on that line, although he had joked earlier about the factors are attributable to Ian Keatley's good form, another man versed in the club's unique ways:
I don't know, he's had a kid recently so the lack of sleep suits him. He's wrecked when he comes into training some days and he's napping the whole time. It's great for him, isn't it?
I'm sure you know, Keats had a tough time of it a couple of years ago when Axel was under a bit of pressure too and he seemed to be the only player everyone picked on a bit. Just seeing him come off the pitch last Saturday and get a standing ovation was really nice, you could see it in his face.
He loves Munster, he loves being there. I'm sure that time was really difficult, it was a long time ago anyway, but he's just enjoying rugby and playing really well.
Munster's 2017 is far from finished just yet, with seismic clashes with Leicester Tigers and Leinster still to come before a clash with Ulster on New Year's Day. That the second of these games infringe on Christmas is of little import to Murray. "The last couple of years I've been injured I've got to enjoy Christmas day and things like that. Playing around this time of year is really exciting, these games are class, I love these games. Like last week, the Christmas feel, the packed stadium, the late kick off, English opposition. It just builds itself into a great day and the inter-pro derbies around Christmas are brilliant. Obviously, ease off on the turkey and desserts but other than that it's fine, you'd much rather sacrifice that and get to play in front of 30,000 people on Stephen's Day".
Before Leinster arrive at Thomond, however, Munster must make the now-familiar trip to Welford Road. Munster's aim on Sunday is to avoid a repeat of history: having held the Tigers scoreless at Thomond last year, they were beaten 18-16 away within a week.
That's the focus for Munster and Murray. "All I know is we went away last year after having a really good win, and not let ourselves down, but didn't put in the performance that we should have. We want to be a consistent team and a consistently good team and if we're going to be that it has to happen this weekend".
These details have been slightly obscured in the build-up by Matt O'Connor's gripes about the refereeing of the breakdown at Thomond Park, which culminated in his sending a series of clips to the head of referees to vent his frustration. Is Murray surprised he's done so?
No, not at all. That’s the way rugby is these days. I know after international games, our coaches will always send a report to the referee, because the game and the laws are always changing.
There will always be a decision here or there there’ll be confusion over, and that’s been part and parcel of rugby probably since I was playing as a kid, I just didn’t pay any attention to it.
Coaches can approach referees after a game to discuss things, some coaches like to talk to referees before games and after games. Everyone just wants to be on a clear page, and that’s no surprise.
Whereas certain aspects of the culture at Munster have been designed and maintained, some breed naturally. The hunger to account for Leicester Tigers in Europe and Leinster in Limerick is held to be self-evident.
There’s always an edge to European weeks, there’s always a bit of bite. There was yesterday: the ‘A’ team are getting ready for a big game, we are too, so there was an edge to training. That’s what you need in big games.
You walk into training and you just know there’s a big game this weekend, so it doesn’t need to be mentioned too much. Enough lads in the squad have been there and done it.
Conor Murray was speaking at the launch of the #WeAre16 campaign with Pinergy. For more information of the #WeAre16 competition, please see Munster Supporters Club Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MRSC16/ or the Pinergy Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/PinergyIRL/
