Johann Van Graan hopes local knowledge will pay off for Munster

By John Fallon

Munster coach Johann van Graan is hopeful his local knowledge will be enough to maintain their winning run in South Africa when they take on the Cheetahs tomorrow (2.45pm, Irish time).

Last April, van Graan and his management team got preparations spot-on to return from his native country with good wins over the Kings and the Cheetahs. They based themselves at sea level in Cape Town and travelled by road to CJ Stander’s hometown George, where they beat the Kings 39-22.

They then returned to Cape Town and only travelled up to the Highveld the day before they took on and defeated the Cheetahs 19-17 in Bloemfontein when a try from replacement Conor Murray and a booming penalty from inside his own half secured victory.

This time around, Munster have just one game in South Africa and van Graan brought his squad to Johannesburg in the Bushveld, where he hopes they will acclimatise for the demands of playing at altitude tomorrow at Toyota Stadium.

Here is your Munster team for Sunday's Guinness PRO14 clash against Cheetahs in Bloemfontein (4.45pm local time, 2.45pm Irish time).

Tyler Bleyendaal captains the side with full team details > > https://t.co/On9efIjFAJ#CHEvMUN #SUAF 🔴 #MunsterInSA🇿🇦 pic.twitter.com/5Tf6z1yyIq

— Munster Rugby (@Munsterrugby) November 2, 2018

It is very important with the Cheetahs on the Sunday to prepare at altitude and I thought last season we had the sea and the beautiful Cape and this year we decided to go to the Bushveld and then travel to Bloemfontein to take on a Cheetahs team that will be hungry,” said van Graan.

“We know it will be a big challenge, but we want to finish this segment before the break on a positive note.”

He has handed Bill Johnston his first PRO14 start at out-half, where he will partner former All Black Alby Mathewson. Tyler Bleyendaal makes his long-awaited return from injury for his first game since February, as Munster try to finish this block with five wins from eight games.

Van Graan continues to give youth its fling, with Shane Daly on the right wing and Fineen Wycherley at blindside flanker.

Two more academy players, Gavin Coombes and Sean O’Connor, are on the bench, but, as the Reds look for their first away win of the season, there is also plenty of experienced talent in reserve, with the likes of Mike Sherry, John Ryan, Ian Keatley, Duncan Williams and last week’s penalty hero Rory Scannell all poised to make an impact.

Munster followed up their narrow win over the Cheetahs in April with a 38-0 hammering of the Free State side in September, but van Graan knows this will be a much more tricky encounter.

“It was very tough for the Cheetahs at the start of the season, as they were playing in two competitions, but now they are back to one group and, as we saw last season, they rarely lose in Bloemfontein,” said van Graan.

CHEETAHS: R Smith; W Small-Smith, B Janse van Rensburg, N Lee, R Maxwane; T Schoeman, S Venter (c); O Nche, J Dweba, A Coetzee; W Steenkamp, JP du Preez; G Olivier, J Pokamela, A Davis.

Replacements: R Venter, C Marais, E de Jager, S Manjezi/JBasson, D Maartens, A Nonkontwana, T Meyer, L Fouche.

MUNSTER: M Haley; S Daly, S Arnold, T Bleyendaal (c), A Wootton; B Johnston, A Mathewson; J Cronin, K O’Byrne, S Archer; J Kleyn, D O’Shea; F Wycherley, C Cloete, A Botha.

Replacements: M Sherry, J Loughman, J Ryan, S O’Connor, G Coombes, D Williams, I Keatley, R Scannell.

Referee: M Mitrea (Italy).