Played-led environment. It’s a phrase we often hear from coaches, and players themselves, but what does it mean?
In the aftermath of Leinster and Munster’s Champions Cup exits, The Hard Yards had Ronan O’Gara and Kevin McLaughlin in to discuss what happens next for the Irish provinces.
While both sides have recruited well for next season, O’Gara believes Saracens are still 30% better than the next best European side. McLaughlin talked up Leinster’s chances over the next couple of seasons and insists their young players will have learned a lot from their run to the final four.
The former Ireland flanker believes some harsh words would have been shared at Leinster’s training ground this week as they seek to kick on. McLaughlin also revealed [from 16:40 below] what usually happens during one of these raw team meetings that are often called ‘Honesty Sessions’.
https://soundcloud.com/thehardyardssportsjoe/episode-13-the-future-for-munster-and-leinster-dealing-with-the-media-and-mike-ross-stories
McLaughlin recalls a particularly intense get-together in 2008, Michael Cheika’s first season as Leinster coach, after the province had lost to Castres in the Champions Cup.
“I’ll never, ever forget it,” he said. “It was a very powerful moment in my career.
“Cheika came in to address us, about the game, in the Monday meeting and a couple of senior players asked him to step out of the room. They said, ‘Cheiks, we’ve got this.’
“We sat around in a circle and didn’t look at the videos or anything like that. We basically had an honesty session. Some of the players that I thought were flawless – I was new in the team at the time – some of the superstars put their hands up and were saying ‘I was absolutely rubbish’, ‘I didn’t prepare properly during the week’ or ‘My head wasn’t in it’.
“When I saw these guys that I thought were flawless putting their hands up and admitting they weren’t at the races and had made mistakes, I was immediately re-evaluating everything I was doing in terms of my rugby career. I could see everyone else was the same. You could see how powerful that was.”
McLaughlin confirms that some of the players that stepped up that day were Brian O’Driscoll, Shane Jennings, Leo Cullen and Shane Horgan. Just over 12 months later, McLaughlin and Leinster claimed their first ever Heineken Cup.
O’Gara was not surprised to hear it was Jennings and Cullen that were driving the Leinster honesty session back in 2008.
“In our case it was always the guys that were not featuring in the national set-up [that drove matters at Munster],” he said. “You feel and get a taste of how successful things were going to be by the interest levels or the drive of these fellas.”
As O’Gara has noted before, the likes of Denis Leamy may not have spoken much but 20 seconds from him and the words would resonate for the next 20 months.
