Johann van Graan says new signing Mike Haley has ‘found his feet’

Johann van Graan is hoping new signing Mike Haley gives Munster supporters a glimpse of what he has shown in pre-season training after handing the Irish-qualified full-back his first start for the province tonight against Champions Cup pool rivals Exeter Chiefs (Musgrave Park, 7.30pm).

A former England A international, Haley, 24, joined Munster during the summer from Sale Sharks and made his debut off the bench for the second half of last week’s friendly victory over London Irish.

He is one of six changes to the starting XV at Musgrave Park from last Friday as head coach van Graan introduces more squad members ahead of next weekend’s Guinness PRO14 season opener at home to Cheetahs in Thomond Park.

Billy Holland moves off the bench to captain the side from the second row while Bill Johnston gets the nod at fly-half as JJ Hanrahan drops to the bench. Haley’s fellow new signing South African back row Arno Botha could make his Munster debut off an extended replacements panel with van Graan likely to make wholesale changes for the second half as he did in last weekend’s 32-28 victory on the new Musgrave Park modified 3G pitch.

Haley, a positional replacement for Irish star Simon Zebo, has big boots to fill but van Graan has been delighted with the way he has settled in.

He only had 40 minutes last week against London Irish, he’s also found his feet,” the Munster boss said. “The more he plays I believe the better he’ll become.

“What he has done in training so far has been really impressive. I hope people see that in the weeks to come.”

Haley playing for the Sale Sharks in 2016

Munster supporters will have to wait a little longer to get a glimpse of its Irish Test contingent, including new signings lock Tadhg Beirne and fly-half Joey Carbery with van Graan adding: “We’ll reintroduce a few more guys against the Cheetahs and I think most of the internationals in the squad will join us in week two, three, four and five.

I’d love to play my best team over the weekend and just go from there.

“But there’s a much bigger picture in mind and you need to be at your best when the European games come around and the Irish derbies.

“The nice thing about the pre-season is that you worked with a lot of your squad members that don’t necessarily play in those big games. So there will be one or two more guys coming from the bench over the weekend, not massive changes, as we just don’t have the numbers available at this stage. Against the Cheetahs, two or three might join again and once we’re into weeks five, six and seven of the competition, we’ll be at full strength.”

MUNSTER: M Haley; D Sweetnam, D Goggin, R Scannell, C Nash; B Johnston, J Hart; D Kilcoyne, M Sherry, B Scott; J Kleyn, B Holland - captain; D O’Callaghan, T O’Donnell, G Coombes.

Replacements from: K O’Byrne, J Loughman, C Gleeson, C Parker, F Wycherley, D O’Shea, S O’Connor, J Daly, A Botha, N Cronin, JJ Hanrahan, I Keatley, S Daly, S Arnold, L Coombes, S Fitzgerald.