SLEEPING GIANT HAS BEEN REINVIGORATED BY BOSS

From the moment McMillan stepped off the plane from New Zealand in July, he made one thing clear: he wasn't here to rewrite Munster’s history, but to challenge it.

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“I ask the players for feedback at the end of every training session,” he explained. “The session may have gone really well, but the Irish way seems to be focusing on the three or four things which didn't go well. I'm here to make Munster’s glass half-full. Hopefully, all the way full.”

That half-full attitude has become infectious — a tonic for a squad that had been weighed down by expectation and the ghosts of past glories.

That philosophy was put to the ultimate test at Croke Park against arch-rivals Leinster earlier this season.

McMillan had warned his players: be the hunter, not the hunted. And they were exactly that. Nine turnovers, multiple ruck steals, and a fearless tempo that left even a Lions-laden Leinster squad scrambling — Munster were superb.