Munster boss McMillan: Let's keep a lid on Charlie O’Shea chat for a while

Head coach Clayton McMillan has called on Munster supporters to keep a lid on expectations after Charlie O’Shea’s superb showing at out-half for the province in their win over the Bulls in Thomond Park.

The 20-year old academy prospect was making his competitive debut for the club in the wake of an injury crisis that had deprived McMillan of the services of first-choice Jack Crowley, new signing Will Harrison and Tom Wood.

He grabbed that chance with both hands. Coming off with ten minutes to go after scoring two tries, providing a kick assist for another from Diarmuid Kilgallen, and popping three of four conversion attempts through the posts.

O’Shea wasn’t the only tyro to impress on the night but the hand-wringing over the No.10 jersey and the position’s naked visibility in any given game ensured that his name was front and centre on the headlines and in every match report.

McMillan was more than happy to give the youngster his dues but he was clearly mindful of the fact that such a commanding start to his URC career could bring with it its own issues if the spotlight wasn’t handled correctly.

“What gives people confidence, what gives him confidence, what gives coaches confidence, what gives the players around him confidence, is what you do on a daily basis, your ability to prepare, and he is a real student of the game for a young guy.

“In all pre-season he has probably made an impression in the way that he has presented. 

"He is just an impressive young man and we saw evidence of that on Saturday.

“But, like everyone, teams and individuals, you are going to have good days and not so good ones and it’s important that we temper our excitement around him and allow him to continue to be Charlie O’Shea.” 

That’s nothing more than good man management but it is, at the same time, interesting to see the Munster head coach preaching caution over optimism levels when the club has operated under so many black clouds in recent times.

Crowds of just 11,031 and 10,318 have taken in the first two home games of the campaign, against Glasgow and the Bulls, and Munster’s next engagement on their own soil is Saturday week’s Champions Cup hosting of Racing 92 in Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

A crowd north of 36,000 turned up for their game against Gloucester at the Cork venue last year. 

McMillan spoke after the Glasgow defeat about the work needed to get fans back onside so last weekend’s win and performance is one step towards that.

“It’s not for me to determine what will bring the fans back. 

"They’ll make their own choices and all we can do is keep going out and putting our best foot forward, but there was an incredible atmosphere at the [Bulls] game, I thought, regardless of the size of the crowd.

“As we were walking out to training I had a couple of old guys come up to me. Some of them had been going to the rugby for 20 years and had never missed a game and thought that the game at the weekend was one of the best atmospheres they had encountered.

“That’s not my words, that’s people that actually turned up to the game, so that is encouraging.”

Clayton McMillan will tell you he has the memory of an elephant, but Munster’s URC loss to Ulster in Belfast last year must be burned into the mind of the most forgetful of the province’s players, staff and supporters. This week of all weeks.

The opportunity to atone for January’s embarrassing 28-3 defeat at the Affidea Stadium swings around this weekend when the teams meet at the venue and McMillan has given notice of a journey he intends taking with a strong travelling party.

This being an interpro, it would be easy to depict it as a revenge mission. The fact is that the focus here is almost all internal for a visiting side that, in its own coach’s words from last term, need to ‘raise its’ floor’ and avoid similar lows going forward.

"I don't know if we owe them one. You have to take each game on its merits, but it's certainly etched in the memory,” McMillan explained. “It's one of those games that you remember in detail, but not for the right reasons.”

Both provinces lost their opening URC games at home, Ulster to Edinburgh and Munster to Glasgow, before earning a draw and win respectively in their round two fixtures. Munster have impressed in both Thomond ties.

It’s a small sample size, though. They shot out of the blocks this time last year but fell away alarmingly from December on, suffering indignities in both tournaments before rescuing their season from oblivion by qualifying for Europe at the death.