Munster: Denis Leamy backs province's emphasis on homegrown players to win over fans

Munster's loss to Leinster on Saturday was their fourth of the season

Munster defence coach Denis Leamy has backed the province's new direction to win over fans following a difficult start to the season.

Having enjoyed a glittering playing career with Munster, Leamy returned to his native province in the summer to form part of Graham Rowntree's new-look coaching set-up.

"We want to bring it back a little bit to the values of Munster," Leamy, 40, told former international team-mate Rory Best on this week's Ulster Rugby Show.

"We want to grow the young, indigenous players. We want our players to come from Munster, from the schools in Cork, Limerick and Tipperary. The clubs in Clare and Waterford.

"We want to grow that brand, we want it to be the guys who have grown up through that system and understand what Munster is."

The southern province have lost four of their opening six matches in the United Rugby Championship, and have considerable ground to make up with a third of the regular season already in the books.

Inter-provincial defeats by Connacht and Leinster compounded early season losses to Cardiff and Dragons and have Munster sitting 11th, outside the play-off places and even further from a guaranteed place in next season's European Champions Cup.

"The thing for us in Munster is that it's the start of a journey," Leamy continued.

"There's huge standards expected in Munster and you're conscious of that all the time. The expectation of the fans is huge in terms of results, in terms of being involved and trying to win silverware.

Leamy returned to Munster as defence coach after three years in the Leinster coaching set-up

"We've had to pick young players over the last few games, a lot due to injuries but opportunities have presented themselves and those young players have done very well.

"I think by and large almost all supporters see that and they get excited by that.

"Supporters will buy in when they see that little bit of change and growth, and there will be a little bit more forgiveness around results once they see progression in developing those young players."

Rowntree was elevated to head coach following the departure of Johann van Graan, and brought former Munster players Leamy, Mike Prendergast and Andi Kyriacou in to form his coaching team.

Leamy, who won 57 Ireland caps before retiring aged just 30 in 2012, was tempted back to his home province from Leinster, where he spent three years in numerous roles including contact skills coach.

"It's very special to get an opportunity to work with your home province," he said.

"It was not something that I had hung my hat on. I knew the day that I left Munster originally there was no guarantee that I would ever get back.

"When the opportunity came along I thought long and hard about it, because Leinster [was] a world class environment, the people that were there and the players that were there.

"But I suppose there are certain things that draw you back emotionally. Where I grew up, where I played, the people in the building. Ultimately I couldn't refuse that."