Stephen Larkham: 'Knowing how he operates, I think Clayton will be a great fit for Munster'

Irish Examiner

20 hours ago

Stephen Larkham is backing rival Super Rugby head coach Clayton McMillan to be a great fit when he takes the reins at Munster this summer.
Australia's 1999 World Cup-winning fly-half knows all about dealing with high expectations at Munster having served as Johann van Graan's senior coach at the province between 2019 and 2022.
He has fond memories of life in Limerick and there is the sense that the foundations he and van Graan laid at Munster's High Performance Centre during their tenures led to the URC title success under his fellow assistant Graham Rowntree in the season following their departures.
Larkham returned home to Canberra to return to the Brumbies as head coach and will on Wednesday plot the downfall of an Irish-heavy British & Irish Lions side in their latest tour match on this 2025 tour Down Under.
That the Brumbies' home, GIO Stadium has a Gregan-Larkham grandstand named in honour of the franchise's legendary half-back partnership, a pairing with scrum-half George Gregan which helped secure the Wallabies' World Cup success 26 years ago, tells you all you need to know about the current head coach's standing in his hometown.
His tenure at the top of the organisation he also served as both a player and an assistant to Jake White when the Brumbies beat the Lions here in 2013 has also been enhanced by guiding the Canberra side to the Super Rugby Pacifica semi-finals this season, Australia's only representatives in the last four.
That they lost to McMillan's Chiefs in that semi last month was not lost on Larkham as he applauded Munster's decision to appoint the New Zealander as Rowntree's permanent successor having negotiated the final seven months of last season under an interim head coach, Ian Costello.
'I had a chat to him (McMillan) after our first-round game, actually,' Larkham said. 'I didn't talk to him after they beat us in the semi. I did, but not about that.
Clayton McMillan is Munster's 11th head coach since 2014. File picture: Michael Bradley/Getty
'He's done an amazing job. When you look at that Chiefs team, not necessarily the best players, but it fits well. We've kind of had it here with the Brumbies and the Waratahs and the big brother up the road.
'They've got the Chiefs and the Blues, who are the big brother up the road. He's done an amazing job with the Chiefs over the last couple of years. He's a great coach and got huge respect within the Super Rugby community.
'And I think he's a great appointment.
'No disrespect to the coaches that are over there (at Munster) at the moment. I just think, obviously, they've made a decision that they want to find someone external.
'Just talking to Clayton, knowing how he operates, and speaking to some of the players and the staff that have worked with him, I think he's going to be a great fit."
Larkham is two years removed from his stint with Munster but he looks back on that period of his coaching career with fondness.
'We loved it. We had the opportunity to stay over there. We came back because Brumbies is my home. It's my hometown.
'I always had the plan to go overseas somewhere to bring the experience back to the Brumbies. And I certainly got a lot of experience out of Munster.
'It was hard to leave. Great environment, good group of players, good staff, great set-up.
'Loved the town of Limerick, where we lived. Everyone's passionate about rugby over here.
'You get really good crowds at the British and Irish Lions games, but you see through Super we don't get the crowds that we get over there. From a development point of view as a coach, I couldn't talk higher of the environment that was created over there for the coaches. An amazing experience.'
Working within the Irish system has also given Larkham a better appreciation of the Lions, which was already at a high level given he faced them as a player in the 2001 Test Series.
'Knowing some of the players, like Tadhg Beirne is here with the team, but then we had Mack Hansen and Finlay Bealham, and we've been following those guys, obviously, because they're from Canberra.
'And just to see the Irish system, and be in the Irish system, and see how it sort of flows through.
'All the talent from Munster, how that flows through into the Irish team. And then kind of seeing how the Irish team do it, and where they've come from. What Joe (Schmidt) did, sort of bring them through, and Andy (Farrell) sort of continued that on.
'And now the bulk of the Irish, the British and Irish Lions team is Irish. Yeah, it gives me more appreciation of the talent that was over there.
'I think being over there has certainly given me more appreciation of the talent that is in those competitions up there."
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