Johann van Graan urges Munster to embrace knife-edge moment

Munster put the “Sold Out” signs up at Thomond Park yesterday as supporters snapped up the last of the tickets for the Heineken Champions Cup pool finale with Exeter Chiefs but it is the penultimate game this Friday night that is occupying Johann van Graan.

With just four points separating Munster in first place and Gloucester in fourth, Pool 2 is, in the words of the head coach “on a knife-edge” with two games to go. So while the bean-counters at the Irish province rub their hands at a 26,267 sell-out on January 19, team management and players must travel to Gloucester this weekend with their focus firmly fixed on round five and making sure there is something to play for in front of the home crowds eight days later.