I think... is there an anti-Munster feeling in Cork? Yes, there is.
I get it all the time. There isn't a week that goes by where someone doesn't stop me in the street saying 'I've stopped supporting Munster Rugby'.
I say 'Why?' And the reply is that the whole focus is Limerick. The stadium is Limerick, the centre is Limerick, they play in Limerick. There's four PRO12 games a year in Cork - you get Zebre, Cardiff, Dragons and we get a token (match against) Ospreys or Glasgow.
Donal Lenihan, Second Captains, 2016
There was once a historical divide within Munster rugby along the geographical lines of Cork and Limerick. Throughout the 1970s and 80s, the committee table was divided by a tribalistic loyalty. Limerick folk were frustrated by the perceived biased selection of Cork players, Corkians pointed to their successful rugby playing schools as evidence the best players came from the rebel county.
Gradually this reft faded until Munster emerged to become the unified entity that it is. However, as Lenihan eluded to last year, those divides aren't totally extinct.
Former Munster fly-half Johnny Holland was forced to retire last season at just 25. Protracted hamstring problems ensured he was unable to continue and the talented athlete walked away from rugby.
Holland appeared on the Frankly Nuts podcast recently and spoke with admirable honesty about coming to terms with his enforced retirement and his playing career. During the interview Holland, a UCC man, revealed the Limerick-Cork divide extended to the players too:
I think, when I was first in there it was a split squad, way more than it is now with the Cork and Limerick divide and you go back to the centre. Both groups were very close, so the Cork group was a good group for me anyway. There were a few older figures, Denis Hurley was a good one for answering questions for a guy, he'd a lot of knowledge on the game and would have told you everything he knew.
However, when faced with the devastation of another injury, it was a Tipperary man who came to Holland's aid:
Donnacha Ryan was a fellow I spoke to the day I decided my hamstring was injured and I had to go get it looked at. I was in bits, hiding behind a van. Donnacha Ryan came over to me because he'd been through enough injuries that he knew the feeling. They're the kind of things, you might not be very close to everyone in the squad but everyone looks out for each other.
As well as providing a fascinating insight into the inner workings of the squad, Holland revealed how tough the transition from being a professional player to a regular person was, confessing he'd difficulty booking flights as previously he just had to turn up at the airport with a passport.
It is a superb interview well worth checking out in full and you can do so here.
