Bleyendaal a real energy-giver and we are lucky to have him, says van Graan

Whether you are a Munster coach or a team-mate, Tyler Bleyendaal ticks plenty of boxes as one of the great readers of the game and those insights could well be vital against Saracens on Saturday.

We may have become conditioned to extolling the physical prowess of players in the modern game, but when it comes to fly-halves, brains are still the starting point for success. In Bleyendaal, the likely Heineken Champions Cup semi-final starter at Coventry’s Ricoh Arena in the absence of hamstring victim Joey Carbery, Munster are convinced they have one of the sharpest minds in the business.

Not only that, but after a succession of serious neck injuries, they also have a player with body and mind on the same page at last.

The former New Zealand U20 Junior World Cup-winning captain, now 28 and Irish-qualified having arrived in Munster from Canterbury and the Crusaders in 2015, proved both those things with his performance off the bench in the quarter-final victory over Edinburgh at Murrayfield on March 30:

Bleyendaal replaced Carbery after 35 minutes and, aside from doing an excellent job managing the game for his team, he also made a decisive intervention at the tail of a wayward lineout, putting his once-fragile body on the line to rescue the set-piece and set up the winning try for Keith Earls with 10 minutes to go.

Not only that, the replacement fly-half then stayed cool and calm to kick the touchline conversion to take the score to 17-13 and leave Edinburgh chasing a try rather than just a penalty or drop goal to keep their European hopes alive.

“I have never had a neck injury, but to go through what he has gone through, I don’t think everyone understands how tough it really is and it takes time,” said head coach Johann van Graan this week of what Bleyendaal has faced, and overcome.

“Guys that come back from knees and from shoulders, everything takes time, but from a neck, that’s very serious...

“He fought his way back in his own quiet way, from running on the sidelines to start making contact, I remember when he started hitting hit shields with JP (Ferreira, defence coach) and our S&C team to where now he makes a lot of huge contributions.

Look at the amount of tackles that he made in that [final] five minutes that we defended in the Edinburgh game. It’s brilliant to have him.

Van Graan makes no secret of his admiration for Bleyendaal and his influence on the rest of the Munster squad, on and off the field, and his regular deployment as a water carrier for the team during his spells sidelined by injuries speaks volumes for the trust placed in him to convey coaches’ messages and offer in-game solutions.

Signing a two-year contract extension to keep Bleyendaal at the province until at least 2021 also underlines the value Munster hope to get from a player who has managed just 52 appearances in four seasons, but whose 27 games in 2016-17 earned him the team’s player of the season award in the process.

“His composure and his calmness impressed me straight away and Tyler is a very consistent guy, whether injured or not, he gives the same amount of input every week.

“He sits in on every meeting and he is just one of those guys in the team that is a real energy giver. He doesn’t say that much, but what he says has got some real value and he is a massive influence at Munster.

“There was a lot of questions asked as to why I re-signed him and it is specifically for weeks like this. He is a great man, a very good rugby player, he understands the game of rugby and I think we are very lucky to have him.”

Team-mates feel the same, with inside-centre Rory Scannell adding further praise for the man pulling the strings on his inside shoulder.

Scannell said of Bleyendaal:

He’s incredibly intelligent. He’s one of these guys who could go straight into coaching, if you asked him today.

“He’s very calm in the way he delivers his messages, even on the pitch, when there are those tense moments.

“There might be a score in it in a big European match and he just sticks with the process, sticks to the gameplan. He helps calm the guys around him as well and, when you see that in your main playmaker, it helps keep you calm as well.

“His rugby knowledge is pretty good. Having him alongside you is always a benefit and I try and be his ears and feed him the info. The last few games he’s been incredible. It’s great to see him back firing at his best since he’s had a few injuries.”