Van Graan: ‘I’m only interested in the 12 guys coming back into Munster’

Munster coach Johann van Graan vows the province will ‘look after’ their shattered Irish players when they return from their World Cup heartbreak. Van Graan admits that the 12 who were part of Joe Schmidt’s squad in Japan will face demanding mental and physical challenges following the national side’s quarter-final collapse against New Zealand on Saturday.

And the former South African assistant coach admitted that the psychological scars of such a crushing loss are often more painful than any cuts, bruises, or knocks sustained in the course of a game.

“I think the mental side is going to demand a whole lot more,” he declared. “I was involved in a team that lost by two points against the All Blacks in the World Cup semi-finals at Twickenham four years ago.

“That was incredibly disappointing after putting in four years of such hard work so certainly that mental side is massive. I wouldn’t want to speculate how difficult it must be if you lose by more ... you have still lost in the quarter-final of the World Cup when you were one step from getting into a semi-final for the first time.”

So how great is the challenge for van Graan and his cohorts to re-inject the necessary self-belief and spirit back into his World Cup contingent?

“Knowing so many of the people involved and the amount of work they have put in, obviously they came up short and will be very disappointed.

“I’m only interested in the 12 guys who are going to come back into Munster in two weeks’ time — we will look after them and make sure they are alright. It will be a massive challenge. That’s just the way sport goes and in rugby, you know your next game is the most important one.

“You’re not going to win every single one. I look forward to seeing them, I haven’t seen them for a very long time. They are 12 quality guys who are coming back into Munster and I think the most important thing for them is to get reintegrated back into the squad.”

Van Graan showed little relish for commenting on the criticsm of so many Irish players and coaches after the crushing defeat by the All Blacks, simply observing that he didn’t take too much notice of that kind of thing and adding: “I simply watched it all from the couch with my family and supported the teams. I understand that people will be disappointed given that Ireland were going to the World Cup as the number one team.

“Obviously they fell short in the quarter-finals. I know there are a lot of possible reasons but that’s not for me to say. Like we do after a season, there will be a review and you move forward. I think the extra week’s break (brought on by games being cancelled due to weather conditions) played a big part in this World Cup. The French were really fresh against the Welsh, the English and All Blacks had a break. I’m sure that made a big difference”.

Now that Munster have two new coaches set to play major roles, can we expect to see the men in red evolve into a new style of game that many believe Ireland palpably failed to do over a disappointing season?

I don’t want to comment on what the national team does or doesn’t do and they did play some brilliant rugby in 2018. From a Munster point of view, we need to move on from year to year, that you don’t follow, rather that you need to lead.

“Ireland have some fantastic coaches and Joe Schmidt was arguably the most successful in the country’s history.”

The dozen World Cuppers will meet with two senior coaches for the first time, Australian Stephen Larkham who has taken over the backs role from Felix Jones and former England prop Graham Rowntree, the new forwards supremo who replaced Jerry Flannery, on their return from Japan.

“It will be a challenge to get everybody on the same page as quickly as possible,” said van Graan. “In four weeks, we start Europe so there are a lot of exciting times ahead.”

All the time, of course, Johann van Graan is rejoicing in his native South Africa’s place in the World Cup semi-finals, quietly pointing out as well that they are just two games away from becoming the first two team to capture the title having lost a pool game.

“I watched the game on Sunday and I thought it was very impressive,” he observed. “It was a tight game up to half-time, obviously once or twice when we might have had a few more scores. But it was a good second-half display by South Africa and I thought that our defence was again excellent.”

Van Graan admitted that he is “excited” at the prospect of Graham Rowntree arriving to work with the Munster forwards.

“We will give him some time with his family before approaching this block of 13 games and we are really looking forward to getting him next Monday,” Van Graan said.

“He has been in constant contact with Colm McMahon (acting forwards coach), he has given his insights. To be fair to Graham, he has been giving all his thoughts to Georgia at the World Cup.”