It was a year ago this week that Munster’s incoming head coach Clayton McMillan flew to Limerick to press the flesh ahead of his summer arrival at the province.
Having been confirmed as the future head coach a few weeks previous, McMillan used the Super Rugby bye-week in March of last year to travel to the University of Limerick ahead of Munster’s URC Interpro against Connacht for a few days of “meet-and-greet”, before taking over from interim boss Ian Costello later in the summer.
At the time, the province were heading into the meaty end of the season with their backs to the wall. One year later, not much has changed.
Munster won that weekend in Castlebar, and followed it up with a stunning Champions Cup last-16 win against La Rochelle in France, but still had to win their final two games of the URC season to make the play-offs after two poor defeats to the Bulls and Cardiff left them in danger of missing out on the top eight.
From day one, the New Zealander spoke about wanting to avoid that all-or-nothing form, where a late-season surge would cancel out poor early season results.
“It’s about not necessarily judging ourselves on the days when we’re at our best. It’s about judging ourselves when we’re at our worst,” McMillan said back in September, ahead of his first season in charge.
“I just look at each week and if we perform here then potentially we avoid situations where we get into must-win games.”
For a couple of months it looked like McMillan’s Munster were playing to that plan, winning five games in a row to start the season, and while some of those performances were more functional than phenomenal, the manner of their 31-14 win against Leinster in October (below) presented a team who had raised both their floor and their ceiling.
That night in Croke Park feels like a long time ago now, and the province have won just four of 12 competitive games in all competitions since, including elimination from the pool stage of the Champions Cup for the first time in six years.
Among those eight defeats, there have been some real lowlights; they were 28-0 down after 19 minutes against Bath in their Champions Cup opener, a game they lost 40-14.
Their 28-3 defeat to Ulster in January saw them outscored 22-0 in the second half, while last Saturday’s 45-0 defeat to the Sharks included the concession of three tries in the final three minutes, and the first time they’ve been held scoreless in a game since 2009.
It’s no coincidence that all three of those results came without Jack Crowley, while the province were also without captain Tadhg Beirne and Craig Casey for the Ulster and Sharks defeats, emphasising just how important that Irish international trio are for McMillan’s side.
That lack of squad depth is a particular concern at half-back where they look like a different team with Casey and Crowley running the backline, while their scrum is still struggling despite the addition of props Michael Milne and Michael Ala’alatoa.
McMillan (above), who brought the Chiefs to three Super Rugby finals in four seasons, is also still putting together his coaching team, with an attack coach spot to fill this summer when Mike Prendergast leaves for Bath.
Until he’s able to fully put his stamp on the side, it would be unfair to lay the blame squarely at his door.
It’s also worth pointing out that the former Chiefs boss is having to fill a leadership vacuum during his first season in charge.
The retirements of Peter O’Mahony and Conor Murray in particular, but also Dave Kilcoyne, Stephen Archer and the departure of Rory Scannell took more than 1,200 Munster appearances, and 300 Ireland caps out of the changing room in the space of one summer.
Taking ownership on the pitch when things aren’t going to plan, such as in Bath or Belfast or Durban, has to fall back on the players.
But as poor as their current run has been, their league position is by no means terminal.
Sixth in the table, the province are exactly where they were in the URC ladder this time last year, although McMillan’s side are five points better off than they were in 2025, and eight points closer to the top four than they were a year ago.
“We’re not in any bigger a hole than we’ve been in before,” defence coach Denis Leamy said this week, as the province prepared for this Saturday’s crucial meeting with the Bulls in Pretoria.
“We’ve been in tough places, we’ve won in tough places.
“We enjoy these sort of challenges.”
Munster rallied late in the 2022/23 season to become URC champions
Leamy isn’t wrong. In his first season as part of the senior coaching team, Munster just about secured Champions Cup rugby off the back of an unbeaten tour of South Africa, before going on an epic title run.
A year later, they won 11 straight games to finish top of the table in the regular season before a semi-final elimination, while a late run of form also salvaged the 2024/25 season.
If the province are to salvage this season, they’ll need to find their form, and fast, with a brutal run of fixtures in their final five URC games.
It starts this weekend away to the Bulls in Pretoria, with Johan Ackermann’s side starting to hit form, winning five of their last six games, while Munster could fall out of the play-off spots with another defeat. Thankfully, the province will have Crowley and Casey, as well as Jeremy Loughman, back on deck.
Attention then turns to the Challenge Cup, where Munster face Exeter Chiefs on Saturday, 4 April before a potential quarter-final either away to Benetton or home to Cardiff.
Either way, the province will be travelling face Benetton in the URC a week later, which would be their fourth – or possibly fifth – away game on the trot.
When the Challenge Cup break is over, it’s back-to-back Interpros, home to Ulster and away to Connacht, before finishing the season off at home to the Lions, who – as things stand – are right in the hunt for the play-offs.
Avoiding that late-season scramble was top of McMillan’s checklist when he arrived, but now that it’s here there’s no choice but to accept it.