Wow, so Munsters "Honesty" stitched into their jersey and seared into their hearts actually means it's okay tell lies that benefit the brand/franchise?hugonaut wrote:Absolutely agree, and a very good point.sunshiner1 wrote:If they did then it was a smart move by Munster. The Connacht team mentally checked out when they heard that Lam was going so stopping the same thing happening makes perfect sense.White lies for the players. Derailment of the season, the risk of being honest.
Eamonn Dunphy used the phrase 'honesty of effort' a long time ago and it was shortened – and bastardised – to plain old 'honesty', and then 'honesty' became the coverall word for anything positive. Bravery, determination, diligence, clarity of thought under pressure, resourcefulness ... who needs any of those things when you've got 'honesty'?
Honesty isn't the only sports-applicable virtue. Maybe its pre-eminence in spoken interviews is down to something as banal as a limited vocabulary, but you need more than honesty to be successful in sport ... a lot more.
Erasmus very probably told lies about his employment situation, but people tell lies a lot more often than they'll admit. In my opinion, he had a valid reason to conceal his mid-season decision to leave Munster: exactly what Blockhead described above, the real risk of "derailment of the season".
In my opinion, it was probably a tough thing for Erasmus to do – going in front of a room full of journalists, being asked a straightforward question and responding with an answer that he absolutely knew wasn't true. I don't think he took it lightly, or that he did it on his own behalf as the easy option. I believe that he gave it a lot of consideration, and came to the conclusion that it was better for the squad [and probably for the wider Munster Rugby set-up, however wide you want to consider that constituency] that he put his own reputation – and to some degree, his integrity – in second place, and put the team and the season first.
It was always going to come out that he was leaving, so he knew that his reputation for 'honesty' would take a hit. However, to my mind he showed both thoughtfulness, a degree of selflessness and ultimately wisdom and in his decision-making in this situation.
Not sure many Munster fans will be too happy with that.
As my old English teacher used to say: "words mean what they mean, not what you want them to mean".
Lies are lies.