Johann van Graan confident Munster have ‘flicked switch’

Munster’s acceptance they were outgunned by Saracens last weekend was an admission of the gulf in class between Johann van Graan’s side and Europe’s elite. But the province is still intent on ruling the roost closer to home.

Connacht visit Thomond Park tonight for the final round of the Guinness PRO14 league campaign with both interprovincial sides assured of a quarter-final berth in next month’s knockout stages. Yet while Connacht know they must travel to Ulster for the play-off opener next weekend, Munster need the victory this evening to give them a chance of progress straight into the semis.

As Conference A leaders, Glasgow Warriors are in pole position to stage the home semi on May 17-18, holding a three-point lead over Munster. To overtake them, Munster must beat Connacht and hope Edinburgh win at Scotstoun.

It’s not just a weekend off they are after. Having been beaten at Leinster in last season’s semis, van Graan would rather not have the prospect of a return to defending champions and Conference B winners hanging over his quarter-final preparations should Munster end up settling for second place and a home quarter-final.

Which makes this week’s preparations and his players’ ability to quickly move on from that 32-16 defeat in Coventry last Saturday of paramount importance.

The South African head coach has made just four changes to the side humbled by Saracens’ power game and astute gameplan at the Ricoh Arena, a sign that the Munster squad have turned the page and regrouped in short order to refocus on the hunt for a first trophy since 2011.

The Heineken Champions Cup may have eluded them for another season, a third in a row at the semi-final stage, but do the job in Limerick tonight and get a bounce of the ball from events in Glasgow at the same time and their path to a first final since reaching the PRO12 decider in 2017 will have become a lot less complicated, assuming Munster have flicked the switch.

“That’s why we’re in professional rugby. You just have to make the switch,” van Graan said. “I think it’s something we’ve done well all season. We’re in week 43 and we’ve had some disappointing weeks and we’ve had some brilliant weeks. We’ve had a lot more positive weeks than negative weeks.

It’s an important game because we still have a shot at a home semi-final and that’s a big carrot for us. We’ve got to make sure that we beat Connacht. They’ve done really well, they could have beaten Leinster away and they have beaten Ulster away and they’ll come here in the belief they can beat us here.

“We don’t have control over the Edinburgh and Glasgow game but if Edinburgh do end up beating Glasgow and we end up beating Connacht we’ll have a home semi-final so that in itself is a big thing for us.”

That Munster beat Connacht in Galway in the first game of 2019 bodes well for van Graan and his players but the westerners have done little wrong since that 31-24 defeat at the Sportsground, save for a heavy defeat at Glasgow during the Six Nations.

Their epic home win over play-off rivals Cardiff Blues last time out saw off that threat and guaranteed a return to Champions Cup rugby next season, a testament to Friend’s impact on a squad he took charge of only last summer in the wake of Kieran Keane’s lacklustre season at the helm.

Connacht has certainly impressed van Graan this season.

“Their plays off mauls are fascinating, they come around the blind quite a lot,” he said. “Their broken-field attack, their nine and 10, the broken-field kicking game, they’ve scored some very good tries. They had two very close encounters against Zebre and against Cardiff and it’s the sign of a good team in the PRO14, they’ve won the close ones.

Andy’s a good friend of mine and he’s done very well with them. They’ve qualified for the knockout stages of the PRO14 with one game to go so it’s another interprovincial derby and over the course of the season, everything is close. Their away games in particular against Ulster and Leinster, they’ve been very close and they’re very good.

Friend may have sprung a surprise on his old friend by handing academy out-half Conor Dean, 21, a senior debut. The rookie will be exposed to a Munster team with the bit between its teeth although Dean does have Ireland scrum-half Kieran Marmion as his half-back partner.

The team chosen by van Graan, though, is capable of packing quite a punch and galvanised rather than chastened by defeat to Saracens, Munster supporters should expect that punch to land tonight.