{"id":404899,"date":"2026-04-18T09:43:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T09:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/404899\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T09:43:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T09:43:09","slug":"noel-mcnamara-coaches-europes-best-attack-the-irfu-could-benefit-some-day-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/404899\/","title":{"rendered":"Noel McNamara coaches Europe\u2019s best attack \u2013 the IRFU could benefit some day \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

My last game wearing Munster<\/a> red in Europe was a year ago down in Bordeaux. After the 47-29 loss at Stade Chaban Delmas, Noel McNamara came over to commiserate. <\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t have to. You remember small gestures from the opposition. Especially after a crushing defeat.<\/p>\n

McNamara, the Bordeaux-B\u00e8gles attack coach, wondered what I was doing next season. The decision had been made to leave Munster and I\u2019d retired from international rugby, but my options were open.<\/p>\n

The body felt good. As a young family, we were contemplating a year or two in France. I let Noel know.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are only after signing the Italian scrumhalf Martin Page-Relo from Lyon. Didn\u2019t know you were on the market!\u201d<\/p>\n

Damn. What a swansong that would have been, deputising for Maxime Lucu as he deputised for Antoine Dupont in the Six Nations. Living the slow life in the port city. I guess what is for you won\u2019t pass you by. <\/p>\n

Munster made the cardinal sin that day of having to chase the game. Never a good idea in the south of France.<\/p>\n

Matthieu Jalibert prodded a grubber behind our defence for Damian Penaud to score an early try. It got worse with Louis Bielle-Biarrey running riot as they galloped in for three more tries before half-time.<\/p>\n

Last Sunday, Bordeaux beat Toulouse 30-15<\/a>. Seems like no team can cope with them.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve never been coached by McNamara but our careers ran side by side. Like so many excellent Irish coaches, he has to earn a living in another country.<\/p>\n

Hopefully, in time, all the expertise Noel is gathering in France can be utilised by the IRFU.<\/p>\n

But who knows?<\/p>\n

The same narrative has been spun around Ronan O\u2019Gara<\/a> since he was hired by Racing 92. That was 13 years ago. And Felix Jones is back in South Africa for a second stint with the Springboks after coaching England. <\/p>\n

Why would they leave these cutting edge and presumably well paid roles?<\/p>\n

They won\u2019t come cheap any more but Rog, Felix and McNamara should be top of the list whenever the provinces go to market.<\/p>\n

I see Munster are leaning into more Kiwi expertise to replace Mike Prendergast.<\/p>\n

McNamara is overseeing the best attack in rugby right now. Bar none. The Bordeaux pack took the heaviest blows an enormous Toulouse eight could land in last weekend\u2019s quarter-final yet my takeaway was Ben Tameifuna bounding off the bench to bulldoze the six-time winners. <\/p>\n

\"EvenEven Antoine Dupont struggled to contain Bordeaux’s Ben Tameifuna during their win over Toulouse in the Champions Cup. Photograph: James Crombie\/Inpho <\/p>\n

You could select an AIL three-quarter-line behind this Bordeaux scrum and McNamara would make them sing. It helps to be running off creative geniuses such as Lucu and Jalibert at halfback.<\/p>\n

Bielle-Biarrey had a relatively quiet game and still Bordeaux ripped off six tries to two against the second best team in Europe.<\/p>\n

Toulouse put up a hell of a fight. They led 15-5 early in the second-half before Dupont\u2019s sinbinning prompted the defending champions to hit stride. <\/p>\n

Can Bath lay a finger on them in the semi-final at Stade Atlantique? Can Leinster<\/a> or Toulon in the Bilbao final?<\/p>\n

Toulouse did have a choke hold on Bordeaux after a brilliant try, created by Thomas Ramos and finished by Teddy Thomas. It was not enough. Lucu and Jalibert looked a cut above the French halfbacks Dupont and Romain Ntamack.<\/p>\n

Of course, Jalibert claimed the 10 shirt during the Six Nations and it doesn\u2019t look like he\u2019ll hand it back to Ntamack this side of the 2027 World Cup.<\/p>\n

Joey Carbery, my former halfback partner and good friend, knows all about Jalibert. It sounds like Joey is returning to Leinster this summer after two seasons in Bordeaux. I would have loved to join him in claret and white.<\/p>\n

Despite being cursed by injuries, Carbery made an impact in the Top 14 at both 10 and 15. I tuned in for every game he played. He\u2019s still only 30, there are plenty of miles to run in his career.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think Leinster can begin to think about a return to Bilbao, the scene of their last European title back in 2018. We all assumed that would lead to two or three more stars on the jersey by now. <\/p>\n

It just shows how hard it is to scale the mountain. Since Munster won their second title in 2008, they battled back to six semi-finals without taking the next step. It\u2019s the lingering regret from my career. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s not getting any easier for the Irish provinces. Leinster had a great chance last season with Jordie Barrett and RG Synman in their squad, but they fell short at home to Northampton.<\/p>\n

Toulon will see the same opportunity at the Aviva.<\/p>\n

After 2018, Exeter and Saracens won the Champions Cup before the French takeover. La Rochelle and Toulouse looked equally unstoppable until Bordeaux-B\u00e8gles powered on to the scene.<\/p>\n

Coming up short against Toulouse in back-to-back Top 14 finals has only poured fuel on the fire. They look determined to go back-to-back in Europe. A good Bath side under Johann van Graan with Finn Russell pulling the strings might be the best chance of denying them.<\/p>\n

\"DanDan Sheehan’s versatility could prove a valuable asset to Leinster as they pursue another Champions Cup. Photograph: Dan Clohessy\/Inpho <\/p>\n

Leinster have had the sort of season that forces them to focus on what is directly in front of them: Ulster in Ravenhill on Friday night. <\/p>\n

Fair dues to Lansdowne prop Jerry Cahir, who has earned the respect of front-rowers everywhere after holding his own against La Rochelle and Sale last week as the number of injured Leinster looseheads rose to four. I hear Cahir is a good character. It\u2019s also a smart move to bring Ed Byrne back from Cardiff until Andrew Porter is fit. <\/p>\n

Barrett is gone and Snyman is injured, so Leinster are more reliant on home-grown leaders.<\/p>\n

Nobody can say they are not thinking outside the box. If the secret to success is getting the most influential players on the field for the last 10 minutes of a European semi at home to Toulon, R\u00f3nan Kelleher replacing James Ryan last Saturday to allow Dan Sheehan switch to backrow is a tactic we are certain to see again.<\/p>\n

Dan the flanker<\/a> was in his element. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"My last game wearing Munster red in Europe was a year ago down in Bordeaux. After the 47-29…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404900,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[42553,121813,32728,13919,61,60,120177,11287,146154,11897,3654,112,121812],"class_list":{"0":"post-404899","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-ronan-ogara","9":"tag-bordeaux-begles","10":"tag-champions-cup","11":"tag-conor-murray","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-joey-carbery","15":"tag-leinster-rugby","16":"tag-louis-bielle-biarrey","17":"tag-munster-rugby","18":"tag-rugby","19":"tag-sports","20":"tag-toulouse"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=404899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}