CARRYING A CITY’S HOPES
Munster fans can help us see off Saracens, says Dave Kilcoyne
DAVE Kilcoyne won’t lack motivation in Dublin today judging by his sudden off-field eloquence. But the threeyear wait for Munster to feature in a European semifinal saw him ditching the reticence when shooting the Champions Cup breeze this week with Sportsmail.
This time last year he insisted Munster would not fail to qualify for the glamour tournament, even though the province was struggling to nail down the necessary top six finish in the Pro12.
He was right, and now the semifinal pressure to deliver has him again in the zone, confidently ready to play his heart out.
‘Munster supporters are the best in the world,’ he claimed about the anticipated sea of red that will flood Lansdowne Road today. ‘I’m probably biased. I’m from Limerick, grew up here, went to school in Ardscoil Rís, I’m from Ballinacurra, all my friends, family are from here.
‘I grew up going to every game in the old Thomond Park, travelled over (to Cardiff) when they were winning Heineken Cups. I was one of them supporters. I still am one of those supporters and I know how much it means to those people.
‘Limerick’s a working-class city. People save their hardearned money to pay and come out and support. I can only speak for Limerick but it has given the city an incredible boost. People keep coming up, saying: “Spirits are lifted. Geez, you’re doing great, keep it going”. That does bear a massive responsibility when you go on the pitch.
‘I know I feel it. You carry the hopes of everyone in your city and there is massive pressure on to deliver but it works both ways. I don’t think Munster fans want to see big flash plays. Once they see effort and that you are willing to die on that pitch, that’s the most important thing the fans see in the players. Munster have this year been delivering those physical performances and the attendances we’re getting is because of that.’
This enriching pride of place is something Saracens come to Dublin without; born-and-bred Londoners are few and far between in their title-winning squad.
Munster hope their parish pump passion can be a leveller in a match-up where the odds favour the visitors. In 2014/15 Kilcoyne stepped off the bench in Limerick to sneak a game-winning try but a heavy defeat followed in the reverse fixture. Saracens were mere contenders at that time. Now they are champions, hot on the scent of becoming double champions. Double trouble for Kilcoyne and co? We’ll see.
‘Saracens are world class,’ he admitted, knowing that getting Munster through to a first final in nine years is a colossal challenge.
‘They have won the European competition, have won Premierships. They have got that winning mindset. They are the outfit everyone is chasing in Europe. Teams are trying to replicate them. If you talk to anyone on what they think about Saracens, they will say they are one of the top teams, if not the top team, in the world.
‘I certainly don’t think they play dull-boring. You can disguise dullboring as clever-smart. That is another way of looking at it. They play very clever rugby. They play a percentage game. They kick an awful lot. They don’t try and play rugby in their own half, which is a clever way to play the game.’ Intelligent, though, is an equally apt description for the revamped approach Munster have taken under Rassie Erasmus this season. Assistant Jerry Flannery even took himself to South Africa in June at the request of Erasmus. And it was interesting that Pieter de Villiers, who took the scrum coach under his wing last summer, was present in Limerick last Monday as the forwards worked through their repertoire.
‘Our scrum has been a massive weapon for us all year,’ enthused Kilcoyne, who was optimistic that improvements would happen after Erasmus took him for coffee pre-season.
‘We’d a good chat about things. I tried to give him an insight into myself and the vision I wanted the club to go in.
‘He immediately shared the exact same vision, had a very clear way about how the game should be played. I remember leaving that chat thinking, “This is the man for the job”.’
The success of the Erasmus programme is evident in how good work by the forwards is constantly lauded by onlooking backs.
‘I remember sitting in a car on a journey home with Keith Earls and he just passed a remark that our forwards “are f***ing animals”. That is the kind of belief our backs have in our forwards,’ enthused Kilcoyne, who regularly rooms before games with Jaco Taute. He claims the South African back will be a life-long friend even though he only arrived in late September.
‘You win scrum penalties and Simon Zebo is coming up to you saying, “Awesome, keep it going”. Same with Tyler (Bleyendaal)… we’re quite a set-piece dominant team, try and hurt teams with our scrum and our maul. We’re a very disciplined scrum and have brilliant players in key positions at the moment.’
Kilcoyne is one, dominating his positional battle with James Cronin this term after several seasons where the No1 shirt was rotated between the two. It means the world to him that he’s just one of four repeat starters from Munster’s last semi-final defeat, to Toulon in 2014.
‘We’re in the top four in Europe now. Three years ago we were in two semi-finals consecutively. We’re one of the top clubs in Europe and to make it through to the starting team you have to be best of the best. It’s not easy to play for Munster. Every chance you get you have to take.
‘You have a player of the quality of Ronan O’Mahony, the top try scorer in Pro12: he’s struggling to get game time. That shows the depth to the squad. Your heart bleeds for those fellas. It means as much to him [O’Mahony] as it does to everyone else.
‘I have played in semi-finals before and to get back is a credit to the coaches and what they have done here. We haven’t anything won yet but at the same time we’re one of the top four clubs in Europe. There is definitely a positive feeling.’