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 everything off the field; the transfer stories and the rumours and the contract negotiations that would be played out across a Tuesday afternoon press conference.

“I didn’t expect it and you only see it when you’re in it, when you’re at the end of the gun. I didn’t see it.

“I’d deign to suggest we’re quite well followed and there’s a few clicks around us as a province but you only experience that when you’re in it and two years down the line I’m more battle-hardened to that.

“When I talk like this, I’m comfortable talking like this with rugby nerds, with all due respect, we all love the game and I’m comfortable with it, but it is consuming.

“I don’t come in here with a plan, a script. I have learned to live in the moment. You get comfortable having been through a few scenarios, how you can answer questions, innuendos, suggestions.”

Entering his third season, he’s quick to point out that he’s still learning.

“Now there’s an expectancy,” he adds.

“There’s a lot to manage and I’m very lucky I’ve got some good people around me, Cossie [head of rugby operations Costello] being one of them. Great coaches, a great coaching team that’s going to keep us pointing the right way.

“We’re managing different things every day, player availability to injuries, media – which you get comfortable with as you get older.

“That’s what I have realised about this job, people who do this job in their early 40s, you know, I couldn’t have done this job four years ago, you’ve just got to have been through a few things, to keep everything in the right.

“It’s all context how you think about things. You’ve just got to keep a level of stability when things are being thrown at you.

“I sound like some ‘Ted Talk’ now. But what can you do? Control what you can and keep everyone around you steady. Just keep them thinking calmly.”

Each of Munster’s two seasons under this coaching ticket have followed a similar pattern: a slow start, a winter injury crisis, a Champions Cup campaign that never really got off the runway, followed by a late season rally, one of which ended with a trophy, and another which should have.

While they have lost RG Snyman, Antoine Frisch, Joey Carbery and Simon Zebo amongst others in the summer, there’s a belief that if they can avoid a repeat of their seismic winter injury list, there’s a squad in there more than capable of challenging for silverware.

And while Rowntree maintains his goals for the season don’t extend beyond “Beat Connacht” this evening at Thomond Park, he adds that starting the season well would be nice, for a change.

“An early burst would do! Honestly, I don’t look that far ahead. There’s expectation of us,” he says.

“I get asked this, ‘are you going to target Europe?’ You’re going to target every game. The club’s got a prestigious affinity with Europe, we want to go deep into Europe.

“Beat Connacht first, keep the squad healthy, train well, bring young men through, have young men coming in to train with us as much as we can.

“What could we do? Manage your squad, bring through people, make sure you’ve got depth in key areas, get lads better every day and win the next game. I can’t think of a cleverer answer than that.

“I’d prefer it [a good start] to a late surge. I’d prefer not doing what we did two years ago, nipping into Europe in the last round.

“We’ll drive it on, there’s a way of training we’ve discovered, a way of playing. You’ve just got to get on and do it, keep everyone fit and healthy and do it.

“Cope with injuries, cope with guys going away on Emerging Ireland tour. Just keep driving it on.”

There was a confident and relaxed mood at Tuesday’s training, even if their pre-season form hasn’t backed it up.

A narrow defeat to Bath was followed by their “kick up the backside” defeat to Gloucester on home soil. All the while, this weekend’s opponents Connacht have looked sharp in their friendlies, with wins over Sale Sharks and URC champions Glasgow, before a narrow – yet high scoring – defeat to Bristol last weekend.

“An Interpro! That’s unusual, isn’t it, to start the season with an interpro?” Rowntree says.

“There’s always something that goes on in these games with our neighbours from up the road, and they’ve upped their game as well. They’ve upped their physicality. Some of the work they’re doing around the ruck is very physical.

“They’ve had some good outings. They beat the URC champions [Glasgow] a couple of weeks ago, they lost against Bristol at the weekend and they beat the Sale Sharks, the Premiership semi-finalists. They’re always a handful and they always lift their game for us.

“We’ve had some ding-dongs with them. I think back to New Year’s Day. Crikey.. The day after that, we were 11th in the table.

“So, what a start, and the spice of signing a couple of their lads [Tom Farrell and Diarmuid Kilgallen].”