Munster captain Tadhg Beirne has praised the work of new head coach Clayton McMillan, and the good vibes in camp, after their eyebrow raising 31-14 win over Leinster on Saturday.
The Ireland forward picked up where he left off on the Lions tour, having been named player of the series, guiding Munster to their first regular season win in Dublin since 2014.
"The vibe around the place is brilliant. People are enjoying it," Beirne told RTÉ Sport.
"Clayton himself has brought that. I hate using the word culture, but I suppose it is a different type of culture than what we had over the last year, and it's been brilliant.
"He has obviously brought great people with him, with Vercs (Martyn Vercoe) and Brad (Mayo), and they've brought a lot of energy to the group.
"Everything that I've been involved with so far has been really enjoyable, and I think you can see that within the group."
Munster have now recorded four wins from four to start their BKT United Rugby Championship campaign, and have used 36 players already, with the likes of Roman Salanoa, John Hodnett and Diarmuid Kilgallen still to return.
That spread of minutes has not gone unnoticed, and Beirne knows that it adds to the uplifting morale in Limerick.
"They've used a lot of players over the last couple of games, and the lads have gotten opportunities, and we're winning as well, which helps. So, everything's positive."
The two-time Lions tourist told reporters that he had clean up surgery on an elbow injury upon returning to Ireland in August, meaning he took a step back from his usual leadership role while out of action.
"I was on an injury return to play, so I wasn't straight back in with the team, which probably helped in terms of slowly gelling, getting to know all the new plays or the new systems, all that kind of stuff, and slowly integrate back into the group.
"I sat back, let Craig (Casey) and (Diarmuid) Barron do their thing, not overstep. They were leading the team at the time, and then I slowly integrated back into it, and hopefully I did a good enough job."
That previous regular season win came under the stewardship of then head coach Anthony Foley, so it was only fitting that this triumph would come almost nine years to the day since Foley’s untimely passing.
That was sure to be one of the key motivations for Munster as they ventured to Jones’ Road, as was the much-debated Ireland squad announced by Andy Farrell this week.
Just six Munster men were selected in the full 37-man travelling party, and both Beirne and McMillan felt performances like Saturday will help buck that trend.
"It's a tough time for those who were hoping to be in there. You also have to look at these kind of games as opportunities to put in a performance to ask questions and get in the minds of the selectors of the Irish team going forward after this," Beirne said.
"This sport is full of roller coasters, and it's tough not to be selected, but it doesn't mean you're not going to be selected in the future, so you have to brush yourself off as quickly as possible, just like you do after a loss, and put in performances to make the decision unbelievably difficult for the selectors going forward.
"I don't select the side, so I've got no opinion on that. All our guys can do is just go ahead and give a good account of themselves and force the question," added McMillan.
"Like Tadhg said, the decisions have been made now. We get right in behind the whole Irish squad, particularly our guys that have been selected.
"We're right behind them, and we'll soldier on, and we'll hopefully let our performances speak for themselves, and as Tadhg said, somewhere down the road, hopefully that's rewarded in selection, but the team's been named, the disappointment's been felt, and we just celebrate tonight, really."
Regardless of selection, the Chicago rematch is destined to be another mouthwatering clash between Ireland and the All Blacks.
Beirne played an integral role in Ireland's victories in 2021 and 2022, but the Kiwis have won the last two encounters. He is confident however that the lack of minutes won't hinder Ireland's preparations.
"We have to just get on with it. That's the circumstances we'll be in and we're more than good enough to still get out there and get a win without all of us having the game minutes that would have been ideal if we weren't all on the Lions tour.
"There will be no excuses. We'll roll up the sleeves.
"We'll get the work done next week and I'm sure we'll have a pretty tough session at the end of next week that will be replicates of a game."
McMillan coached the likes of Damian McKenzie, Wallace Sititi, and Anton Lienert-Brown at the Chiefs, and is eagerly anticipating a titanic tussle.
"It will be a fascinating contest. Get out the popcorn."
