Words of self-help guru helped Munster to glory

WHILE he was predisposed to The Lion King, Kidney also had a choice of inspirational material aimed at his players. This included stronger stuff, such as Marianne Williamson’s ‘Return to Love, Reflections on the Principles of “A Course in Miracles”’ (Harper Paperbacks, 1996).

One passage reads: ‘Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.

‘We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world.

‘There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.

‘We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.’

Williamson’s lines – which appear in a famous speech in the movie Coach Carter – were kept by Kidney until the hours before Munster faced Biarritz in 1994 – and duly claimed their first European title.