Ex-Munster player Alan Quinlan spoke on OTB AM on Friday about the culture of his Munster side, and what the current side might be lacking.

In his most recent column for the Irish Examiner on Friday, former Munster man Ronan O’Gara said that the current team must be “sh*t sick” with the constant comparisons to teams of 10-20 years ago.

“I’d love to hear what the current Munster lads say privately about tradition and carrying the mantle of previous teams,” O’Gara wrote.

“You can be certain they are sh*t sick of having the previous generation stirred into every debate and conversation. And they’re right.

“I’m almost surprised someone hasn’t snapped and said ‘would those old geezers go and take a flying jump’ but because of the values of Munster rugby people, they won’t say what they’re thinking.

“Which is: please shut up and let us get on with being the best we can be.’ They have every right to think that.”

But Quinlan thinks that it is only natural to compare the past with the present.

“I’ve often said this over the years, it is a little bit unfair that they probably have to carry that burden and weight of previous success,” he said.

“But it is what it is. It’s the same in any sport.

“If you look at the success that Manchester United had for such a long period, obviously we didn’t win the same amount of trophies, the previous Munster side that I played on.

“But we were knocking on the door year after year, and each year before Europe we were put down as probably potential winners, for probably eight or 10 years.

“And we were there or thereabouts for a long, long time.

“That’s the nature of the business, that’s the pressure.”

Joe van Niekerk, Toulon, is tackled by Alan Quinlan, Munster. Heineken Cup Pool 2, Round 2, Munster v Toulon, Thomond Park, Limerick. Picture credit: Diarmuid Greene / SPORTSFILE

Quinlan acknowledged that the players will likely be frustrated with the constant comparisons, but said that they were getting closer to the old team.

“I’m sure the players are sick of listening to it and they want to try and win themselves,” he said.

“They’re certainly trying to close that gap, and they come up against a Leinster side who have been through a very successful period.”

He also suggested that it is not just the comparisons with previous Munster sides that are getting to the players.

With Leinster and Munster squaring off for their third consecutive PRO 14 semi-final tonight, the comparisons between the two rivals are always there.

“[Leinster] have gone on to have fantastic success and it looks like, on paper, that they’ll win PRO 14 and Europe again this year,” Quinlan said.

“So that’s probably frustrating as well, because your biggest rivals have massive success and you’re not winning.

“So there is pressure and they’ve got to live and deal with that.

“The previous Munster sides’ success, and their biggest rival’s success at the moment.

“And nobody can do anything about that aside from themselves in the organisation. That’s not going to change until they win a trophy.”

Munster captain Billy Holland speaks to his team-mates as they huddle together after the Guinness PRO14 Round 13 match between Munster and Scarlets at Thomond Park in Limerick. Photo by Diarmuid Greene/Sportsfile

What is the culture in Munster?

Being a good, winning team is not only down to the talent and quality of the players, according to Quinlan.

He suggested that often a winning culture comes from a combination of talent, quality, facilities, support and an attitude within the team.

“Sometimes it is frustrating and mind-boggling at times when you talk about: ‘what’s the culture?’,” Quinlan said.

“I think every modern sports team at any level or any sport want to try and create a winning culture, create a high standard in performance and in training.

“The stuff that happens off the field that there’s an excellence there around nutrition, fitness, facilities, all that kind of stuff.

“When you have good training facilities, when you’ve good support and good coaches, you need talent as well, and then you start winning.”

Quinlan looked back at his says in the red jersey and thought about the atmosphere and team around him, when Munster were winning trophies regularly.

“I think we certainly had, in my time, we had certainly time to build a winning mentally and had the right characters in the team,” Quinlan said.

“You want characters in the team, you hear all coaches talk about that.

“You know, toughness, hardness, guys who are willing to not take a backwards step, who are confrontational, who have good leadership qualities.

“I think the fundamentals of any sports person or any kid or at any age grade, you want that bit of fight in them.”

This is echoed in what was said to be Munster’s team culture in Quinlan’s era: “Stand up and fight!”

While Quinlan does not doubt the desire and fight in the current Munster side, when asked what the current team culture was, he simply said, “Different”.

18 May 2019; Peter O'Mahony of Munster during the Guinness PRO14 semi-final match between Leinster and Munster at the RDS Arena in Dublin. Photo by Diarmuid Greene/Sportsfile

“When you’re trying to create a culture of winning, you need quality players to do that,” he said.

“Sometimes you have loads of talent and you lack the desire, and the passion and the commitment and the real fight that you need, and you fall down on that.

“There’s a lot of that in these Munster players, there’s no doubt about that, I wouldn’t question their character.

“You talk about why teams don’t win and why other teams win all the time, and sometimes it’s down to resources and quality and the availability of that quality.

“And sometimes teams just get a good group of quality players who are winners, are leaders and you can mix and match and get a bit of time to develop characters.

“Munster have been trying to do that.”

Quinlan believes that it may still take time for Munster to develop that winning culture and close the gap with Leinster and “Old” Munster.

“People are probably running out of patients in Munster, but I wouldn’t criticise the current group because they do have a lot of character and a drive and desire,” he said.

“But at times they’ve lacked that quality, that finishing product.

“You have that drive, desire and all that stuff but you need that little bit of extra quality.”

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