Munster coach picks his turf wars
Though he is a formidable former front-row practitioner and has a generally engaging disposition, Munster head coach Graham Rowntree was reluctant to go down into the murky topic of the scrum before Saturday’s United Rugby Championship (URC) grand final at Cape Town Stadium.
Talk of the scrum and the way the stadium’s grass yields under it are inextricably linked, but as turf wars go, this was not one for which Rowntree is assuming the crouch position.
The head on a pint of Guinness arguably boasts greater structural integrity than the playing surface of Saturday’s final. It has had an emasculating effect on the Stormers who cannot get sufficient traction to go beyond third gear with their vaunted set piece.
Munster’s scrum also packs a punch, but Rowntree is philosophical about that facet rarely reaching decisive conclusions in Cape Town.
“I’m no groundsman, but monster truck festivals are not great for pitches,” said Rowntree about the big wheel turf turner in Cape Town Stadium in April.
“You just have to deal with all the elements ... weather, pitches. Luckily, given where we play we are used to muddy pitches,” the former England prop said.
He knows the Stormers are a multifaceted team and have other ways of applying the squeeze. Munster dare not fixate on one area.
The Stormers will test his coaching wits, but Rowntree, who has done well guiding his team to the final in his first season in charge, is loath to dwell on the subject. They haven’t achieved anything yet, he points out. His team underwhelmed in the initial part of the season as they played without their Test players and the new coach attempted to bed down new systems.
“Every coach has his own way of doing things,” he said. “We haven’t tried to reinvent the wheel but changed how we train and our philosophy on the field. There is no silver bullet here. I wanted to change things in how we attacked. How we were challenging teams. How often we kicked. It took a while to get that embedded with players. Once they did and got their stars back, their season turned.”
Still, the evolution continues. “I was a simple prop forward. I knew about scrummaging. The game is more than that. You’ve got to challenge teams. We want to keep the ball as much as we can. We want to get off the ground,” Rowntree said.
The desire to keep getting off the ground helps get the crowd on their feet.
“That is certainly the way we play. Moving teams around takes a high skill level. We train our guys’ skills under high intensity in training. I want us to play a vibrant brand of rugby. I want it to be an obligation for coaches. You want to win but you want to do so putting a good product on the field.”
Munster arrived in the Cape on Tuesday and not far behind is a band of travelling support, purportedly 5,000-strong. Munster boast arguably the most enthusiastic travelling support in the competition. A few blocks inside Cape Town Stadium will be decked out in scarlet. Cape Town had better be on red alert.