Graham Rowntree: 'Two years down the line I'm more battle-hardened'

After two years of Graham Rowntree as Munster head coach, we've become accustomed to straight answers.

The Englishman speaks about the game just as he played it: to the point. No frills.

There’s no sign that delivery will change this year. After a chastening pre-season defeat to Gloucester in Cork a couple of weeks ago, he spoke of how it was "a kick up the backside".

When asked to elaborate on that performance earlier this week, his answer was similarly blunt: "A punch in the face, a kick in the b******s. Same pain."

On Tuesday, the province opened the doors at Thomond Park to the media, a rare chance to see a full training session from start to finish, followed by lengthy chat with the head coach, out-half Billy Burns, and head of rugby operations Ian Costello.

Rowntree’s two seasons in charge have had a low floor and a high ceiling, but when asked if experience has made him enjoy it more or stress about it more, he gives another honest answer.

"Both. I enjoy it, and it’s more stressful," he says, without sitting on the fence.

"It’s a valid answer, it’s true! There’s a different stress. There’s an expectancy now. Two years ago there was this 'are you up to this?’ kind of look."

The ‘are you up to this?’ look came while Munster struggled badly early in his first season in charge, losing five times in seven games, while one of those two wins was a sloppy and chaotic victory at home to Zebre.

While he concedes that those asking if he was up to it were doing so "for the right reasons", he maintains he never had to ask that question of himself, and he proved to be right when he delivered Munster’s first title for 12 years the following May.

One occupational hazard he admits he wasn’t prepared for was the level of scrutiny around