Van Graan remains wary of a bite in the dark

Johann van Graan always felt Munster’s Heineken Champions Cup pool would go down to the wire and the weekend’s results have ensured this Saturday’s finale against Exeter Chiefs will be winner-takes-all at Thomond Park.

Munster’s bonus-point win at Gloucester on Friday allowed the province to reclaim control of Pool 2 on 17 points with one game left but head coach van Graan knew the job would still need finishing and Exeter’s bonus-point victory at home to Castres yesterday served a timely reminder that progression to the quarter-finals was not yet a done deal.

The Chiefs’ five-try, 34-12 win over the French champions at Sandy Park means Munster will go into the round-six clash in Limerick with a four-point cushion and superior points difference over the English Premiership leaders, who having failed to win their first three games in the pool have clawed their way back into contention for a place in the last eight.

To complete the comeback they need to become just the fifth side in 24 seasons to defeat Munster at Thomond Park while van Graan’s side need the minimum of a losing bonus point on Saturday evening to progress to a record 18th quarter-final.

Whatever about Munster’s momentum gained from three straight victories, at home to Leinster and on the road at Connacht and Gloucester, van Graan, who will today have a clearer idea of the severity of captain Peter O’Mahony’s popped rib injury, will be wary of the head of steam being built by Rob Baxter’s Exeter. They put Castres to the sword with a potent mix of forward power and backline flair, boosted by the return of England star Jack Nowell. from injury.

“We knew from the first weekend the draw came out that, learning from last season when we had Racing away and Castres at home, it comes down to rounds five and six.

“Rounds three and four sets you up, but you’ve got to come through five and six.

“Exeter at home, it’s a team that I respect so much. I’ve said it before, the way they play and conduct themselves it’s a fantastic club. What better way to set things up than Munster v Exeter at our home ground, already sold out… The fact we have two extra days to prepare for Exeter and look at what happens in that game (against Castres) is going to be important.

We’ve played them before (a 10-10 draw in round one), it was a gale-force wind on that day with two different halves - one of defence and one of attack. I think this will be a totally different game at Thomond.

Munster fly-half Joey Carbery put in a man of the match performance at Kingsholm, easily his most complete display since a summer move from Leinster, scoring two of his side’s five tries and kicking another 16 points on a perfect night off the tee. Head coach van Graan called the 23-year-old a “special player”, who took advantage of a strong pack and a developing attacking style.

“He is a real threat to the gainline. He is a special footballer. The fact that the forwards get momentum makes it so much easier for him, he gets the ball on the front foot and the fact you have a very good decision-maker at 12 in Rory Scannell. That’s a second receiver and you also have someone like Chris Farrell at 13, all of a sudden their defence can’t come that hard and it helps if you get wings working off the ball too.

“We want to improve our attack. We have said it many times. Sometimes we are good and sometimes we are not.

“We want to play an all-round game. If it rains and it is bad conditions, you have got to play a different game. We saw the pitch out there tonight and we knew it was going to be fast and I thought we adapted our game well from one to 80.

“There is massive room for improvement. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves. It is a very good away win in Europe, but it is only the third week of January now and there is a long way to go in this competition. We will have to play well next weekend and get a result to get to a quarter-final.”

That Munster took maximum points for a second away win in succession led CJ Stander to agree that his side’s fragility away from home was at an end but he warned: “The thing is, my Dad would say, ‘it’s like a Jack Russell in the dark, you never know when it comes’ so hopefully we can build on that and not that let bite us again deeper into the season.

“Build on momentum and these away performances, get the monkey off our back.”