New faces impressing Munster boss Johaan van Graan

By Charlie Mulqueen

Munster acknowledge they are underdogs going into Saturday’s Guinness PRO14 game against Leinster at the Aviva Stadium — but that doesn’t mean they are going to accept the tag.

It’s a fixture they have won only once — in 2014 — in ten years but there is clearly a steely determination in the camp to redress that imbalance and prove the bookmakers wrong. Coach Johann van Graan is quietly confident that he has two new players in his ranks, the 32-year-old, five times capped All Black scrum-half Alby Mathewson and the former Wales’ Scarlets second-row Tadgh Beirne.

“Alby really enjoyed the Ulster game even though he was pretty tired afterward”, said van Graan. “He hadn’t played in a long time and he showed why he has been an All Black and why he is such a highly-regarded player. With that quick throw-in, some of the guys said, ‘slow down!’

“But he threw it and the brilliant thing for me was the reaction of the other 14 players. You’re going to get that with him and we welcome that, to do the unexpected thing at the right time, and I thought his decision-making was pretty good.

Of course it is difficult for him coming into a completely new scene. And that’s why we got him. He’s an experienced player. I wanted somebody coming into the team who will be comfortable with the uncomfortable. He has immediately fit in and hopefully, he goes well over the weekend”

Van Graan also spoke in glowing terms of another Munster newcomer, Beirne, a man who is already very much in Joe Schmidt’s plans for the November internationals since his return to Ireland.

“To get that type of player into your team is very nice,” he enthused. “He’s a quiet guy behind the scenes but once he gets on the field, he’s all class. His poaching ability, his decision-making, his versatility, he’ll be a huge player for us going forward. I don’t think we have seen his best yet.”

Apart from the remarkable scoreline of 64-7, the other satisfactory outcome of Saturday’s clash with Ulster was that there no further injury complications with John Ryan’s ongoing leg injury that has sidelined him for the past couple of matches the main subject of concern.

He is very important as one of our top two tight heads and as soon as he’s fit again, he’ll go straight in,” said van Graan.

“Tyler Bleyendaal is going really well in training, he should be back for selection within a week or two. He’s doing limited contact, is feeling better and more confident every single day but not engaging in tackling guys and hitting rucks at this stage. James Hart is struggling with a knee injury and should be out for quite a while. Chris Farrell is running and doing very well and hitting his markers but not close to getting on the field in terms of playing.”