In Munster’s previous home game against the Dragons on a pleasant winter’s night at the start of this month in Cork, Calvin Nash appeared to be constantly on the ball. He made 10 carries for 163 metres, and five clean breaks and beat 12 defenders, also scoring two tries in a man of the match performance.
But man of the match performances for wingers can be somewhat weather dependent.
When he pulled his curtains open last Saturday morning and saw the rain cascading downwards, Nash would not have been jumping for joy. The rain remained for the day and continued throughout much of Munster’s arm-wrestle with the Stormers, which was compounded by the swirling wind. It would be a difficult night both receiving and chasing high balls.
Such is the life of a winger.
“It is sometimes frustrating, you are like Aah, just give me the ball, like’, you know that kinda way? But at the same time you need to stay focused and try and keep other lads in the game because there could be other lads that are actually working a lot more than you and they kinda need that voice to keep them in the game as well.”
“A lot of the time I could just be standing on the wing for loads of phase play but I need to be chatting to them as well. It can be frustrating because you want to do all the flashy stuff, get the ball, try and make line-breaks and stuff, but that is the other side to the game I suppose.”
“The wind was swirling everywhere and the rain didn’t help as well. The ball was like a bar of soap but we just need to get better every week. That’s no excuse for some of the dropped balls.”
On the other side of the pitch, in just his third appearance, the 21-year-old academy winger Shay McCarthy dropped his first high ball but recovered well and had the game’s final say when shooting off his line to tackle Evan Roos and force the game’s final knock-on.
“He is class,” said Nash. “What I love about Shay is that he is just mad to learn all the time. Obviously, he is a Limerick man as well so I would back him all the way!
“It’s actually gas, myself and Shay went to the same place in Kerry, our mobile homes were from here to the end of the room away from each other, so I have known him since he was a little boy.
“It is mad seeing him come into Munster and stuff and progress. It is cool sharing the pitch with him.”
The Stormers were clearly up for the rematch of last May’s final, when Munster prevented them from retaining their URC crown in front of a 50,000-plus home crowd.
“There was definitely a bit of an edge,” admitted Nash, and next Saturday comes a rematch of last season’s semi-final against Leinster at the Aviva Stadium, where Jack Crowley’s late drop goal ended Leinster’s run of 25 wins.
“We beat them in their own park last year and I reckon they’ll be well up for it,” said Nash, who admitted Munster are in relatively new territory now. “It’s interesting being called champions. Every team wants to beat us now, so that means we have to act like champions every week. That’s our aim, to start acting like it every week.”
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Although the 26-year-old made his debut for Munster back in February 2017, last season was his breakthrough campaign. Previously, he had never played more than ten games in a season, and only once in the Champions Cup, but last season he made 17 starts in total - including five in Europe - and scored seven tries.
With Andrew Conway having sadly been forced into retirement where he joins Keith Earls, it seems entirely feasible that Nash will surpass those numbers this season, although his mindset hasn’t changed.
“Not really. Since I came into Munster my approach has always been just give it your all regardless of what happens. Look, it is absolutely terrible news about Conway. Himself and Earls were always lads that I looked up to and learned off. For years I was chasing them.
“It is obviously sad to see Conway go the way he is and fair play to Earlsie, the career he had and getting over to the World Cup and everything. I would still be on the phone to him sometimes just because he is a good lad really and he is a great person.
“It is sad to see them go, but obviously we want to kick on again and that is the way things go I suppose, isn’t it?”
Presuming he does play next Saturday, Nash revealed it will be his first time playing for Munster at the Aviva Stadium, his only previous game against Leinster in Dublin having been at an empty RDS in the Rainbow Cup.
But Nash’s form last season was rewarded with a call-up to the Irish World Cup training squad and a Test debut in the warm-up win over Italy, so he only has good memories of the place.
“Definitely, yes, it was cool. I have great memories. Hopefully make a few more next week.”
