Johann van Graan: Munster emotion ‘comes from deep within’

If Exeter Chiefs boss Rob Baxter was under any illusions about the size of the task facing his side at Thomond Park this Saturday, the point was emphatically underlined for him by opposite number Johann van Graan when he emphasised just how important a part emotion plays in Munster’s big-game mindset.
With the two sides set to clash in Limerick this weekend as their Heineken Champions Cup Pool campaign goes down to the wire, Chiefs head coach Baxter spelled out the reasons why only four teams have beaten Munster at Thomond Park in the competition’s 24-season history.
“The huge thing when you play against Munster is they get a huge amount of emotional energy into these games,” Baxter told BT Sport following Exeter’s bonus-point home win over Castres on Sunday. “We’ll have to try and match that and overcome it.”
Exeter need to become the fifth Heineken Cup team to defeat Munster on home soil after Leicester Tigers (in 2007 and 2015), Ulster (2011), and Clermont Auvergne (2014) if they are to leapfrog van Graan’s side and top Pool 2.
Trailing by four points as they head to Limerick, the Chiefs will also need to deny Munster, on 17 points and with a superior points difference, a losing bonus point.
Yet when van Graan was asked yesterday where Munster’s emotional energy described by Baxter came from, his answer emphasised just what level of intensity the English Premiership leaders will face at a sold-out Thomond Park on Saturday.
“I think it comes from deep within,” the Munster head coach said.
You just have to drive around town, see boys in the street playing rugby and not football, and see the red flags. If you walk into Thomond Park, and I had said this so many times before, I don’t know what it is but you walk through that tunnel and see ‘Pride’ in front of your face and you drive on the bus and you see people and what this team means to the people. I think it comes from that.
“I think it comes from our history, and I am Irish now,” the South African said with a smile. “It comes from within and once you are a part of this club it is like you have always been here.
“Earlsy said to me in the early days, ‘once you have been here you will never want to leave’ and I think it comes from deep within. It doesn’t matter where you’re from, once you are a part of Munster you are always a part of Munster.
“Games like this is why we play this game. You might win or you might lose but one thing I can guarantee is the effort for the people of Munster is the most important thing and that is why you have to improve your game because you can’t always count on emotion. That’s why I say I would like to think we have improved our game so we are going to use the emotion but we also have to play well to beat a quality team like Exeter.”
As van Graan rightly pointed out, emotion alone will not get the job done for Munster but he has been impressed by the performances his players have delivered since losing their European round-four tie in France at French champions Castres in mid-December.
The immediate return to PRO14 action with an understrength side resulted in a loss at Ulster before Christmas but that has been followed by the defeat of Leinster in Limerick followed by away wins at Connacht and most recently last Friday’s Pool 2, 41-15 bonus-point victory at Gloucester.
“I think the response was good, I think we took it the same as every single week, we’re very disappointed when we lose, we definitely went there to get a win and we weren’t good enough on the night. I think the team that played against Ulster responded really well, they gave it all they got and we came up just short.
“I really think the last few weeks the team that was selected really played well under extensive pressure.
“Leinster, like we all know the quality they brought to Thomond Park, and Connacht, with all the threats that they pose at this stage, and then to beat a team like Gloucester away in the Champions Cup, I’m very happy but that’s all in the past now. It’s all about this weekend.”