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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Michael Scully

Denis Leamy back for The Dance with Munster while predicting a season when The Thunder Rolls for the Reds

Denis Leamy predicts this could be a season when The Thunder Rolls for Munster under new management.

The 40-year-old admits he couldn't miss The Dance when his province came calling again, a decade on from his retirement as a player.

For, having made his debut for his province at 19, this isn't Leamy's first Rodeo with the Reds - and he has two Heineken Cup winner's medals to show for it.

READ MORE: Munster's United Rugby Championship opener put back a day due to King Charles' visit to Cardiff

He returned as Graham Rowntree's defence coach this summer after a successful transition to coaching with Leinster.

The former Ireland star describes coming home as a "whirlwind" experience so far.

And the surprise visit of Garth Brooks to UL during Munster training yesterday added to that feeling as the country and western singer had some downtime before his final two Croke Park gigs next weekend.

"I didn’t actually shake hands with him but I was within about 10 metres of him," grinned Leamy.

"Garth just showed up out of the blue. We were doing an indoor prep session. We were doing a little bit of mauling.

"So, he arrived with his camera crew and a few of his people and he arrived into the middle of it. It was quite bizarre, really.

Garth Brooks with the Munster Rugby team (@munsterrugby/twitter)

"No, it was great. It was really good. He had a bit of a chat with a few of the boys and we stopped the session, had a couple of photos and away we went. Yes, he was very engaging.

"I think he’d a lot of fans, a lot of fans. I think Chris Farrell was swooning over him a little bit."

Munster die-hards might believe that Leamy made Friends In Low Places when he made Leinster his home for two years - first as an elite player development officer, then as contact skills coach when he was promoted last October.

He himself believes that he learned a huge amount as part of the Blues' set-up.

"There's no doubt about it, even the hardest Munster supporters (know that) Leinster are high class and the people are high class, and in the building there's expertise in every corner and it was an amazing experience," he said.

"There's just a huge amount of rugby knowledge in that group and how they go about their business. It's just hugely impressive.

"Look, there's no doubt I have learned a huge amount in Leinster. An awful lot of my beliefs in rugby are probably shaped by the people I met up there."

However he is also aware that one size does not fit all in rugby - and Leinster's game cannot be transported root and branch to Limerick.

"There's no doubt about it, we have a unique DNA and unique mindset and that comes out in Munster people all the time," the Cashel man remarked.

Denis Leamy after Leinster's 2022 Champions Cup final defeat to La Rochelle, with the French club's head coach Ronan O’Gara and Donncha Ryan, who were Leamy's former Munster team-mates (©INPHO/James Crombie)

"Just being back here straightaway you know it's different, you know the people are different and what works in Leinster doesn't necessarily work in Munster.

"I think that's what being a coach is, is understanding what can work here and what doesn't work and dissecting.

"So taking one game plan from Leinster and trying to put it into Munster, that's never going to work. That's fools gold."

What he does expect is that Munster's new way will take time under Graham Rowntree, who has been promoted from forwards coach to head coach.

Already the players have noted a zippier tempo to training from the Johann van Graan era.

"Talk of silverware, talk of anything like that; we need to be careful," stated Leamy.

"It's not a lack of ambition, anything like that, it's a young group with a good group of coaches, all still finding each other and without asking for too much time to be bought the important thing is that we're growing, we're developing as a group and we're getting to a place where we can win in tough places.

"And it's going to take time.

"I don't believe that this is a quick fix or a silver bullet, it's a work in progress, day to day we're on the pitch, we're trying to train an awful lot differently to what I'm hearing we did before. We're trying to change habits and stuff like that.

"Listen, that doesn't happen in a week or two or a month - it takes five, six, seven months and there'll be ups and downs along the way, and that's going to be part of the ride, I believe.

"So being patient is a big, big thing and look, we'll know a lot by January, February in terms of where we are at but it's definitely a work in progress."

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