Van Graan won’t be joined by director of rugby

Munster are confident inexperienced new head coach Johann van Graan will not need the oversight of a director of rugby when he takes the reins from Rassie Erasmus.

The Irish province yesterday completed their search for Erasmus’s successor with South African Rugby confirming they had agreed to release 37-year-old Van Graan from his contract as Springboks forwards coach to allow him to accept the offer of his first post as a head coach, with a deal running for two and a half years until the summer of 2020.

He is expected to arrive in Ireland in mid-November, subject to work permit approval, and comes highly recommended, not least by outgoing Erasmus, who earlier this month expressed his wish to retain Van Graan on the South African union’s payroll when he eventually returns home to become his country’s first director of rugby.