Johann van Graan rejects criticism of Munster tactical approach

Craig Casey of Munster dives over to score his side's seventh try against Zebre earlier this week. Casey is one of a number of young players who graduated to the senior team this season. Picture: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

Johann van Graan refuses to accept Munster cannot compete with Leinster and refutes the criticism he got his tactical approach wrong in last season’s PR014 semi-final defeat to their arch-rivals.

Munster’s gameplan in the 13-3 loss on September 4 came in for plenty of stick from pundits as Conor Murray launched box kick after box kick into the Dublin sky with little effect, while JJ Hanrahan missed two crucial second-half penalties when trailing 10-3. Yet the Munster boss believes there was more than one team going to the air that night and the only difference was Leinster’s better execution in wet weather.

“I wasn’t satisfied with the result. We went to Dublin to win that semi-final,” van Graan told the Irish Examiner. 

“Secondly, if you look at the PRO14 currently and the scores Leinster are putting up against sides, we’re talking 50s and 35s.

“You’ve got to look at your enemy and how you are going to beat them. If you go back to the last pool game (lost 27-25, August 22) we played there, we were down 14 points and we actually came back, so from a plan perspective... we learned a lot out of that game.

“(But) the conditions in the (semi-final) warm-up did not help any team and we actually kicked the exact same amount.

“So from a criticism point of view, everybody’s got an opinion but in that game specifically, Leinster kicked more from nine than we did.

We as a team win together and lose together.

"We missed two kicks at goal when the score was 10-3 - what I would suggest was if the score was 10-9 with 15 minutes to go we were in that game.

“From a tactical point of view, once Leinster get a two-score lead nobody in the world is catching them. For a long time in that game the score was 10-3 and if they scored one more try and it goes to 17-3 in a semi-final, which in my view happened in the final (against Ulster), nobody could have caught them. So the tighter we kept it, if we were in that game with 15 minutes to go, I believe we could have won.

“Can we improve? Most certainly we can but if you looked at what happened over Christmas, I think we lost that game 13-6 and we lost the semi 13-3. We are, except for Saracens beating them (in Europe), the only team that are getting close to beating them. We believe we can beat them and sometimes you’ve got to play ugly to win.”

Van Graan is currently reaping the rewards of blooding an excellent crop of academy players and recent graduates to senior contracts, No 8 Gavin Coombes, loosehead prop Josh Wycherley and half-backs Craig Casey and Ben Healy among them, all advancing their claims as viable starters.

Is it the start of a Munster talent conveyor belt to rival Leinster’s much-envied academy and pre-academy system, or a golden generation to cherish while it lasts?

“There’s no doubt Leinster have got a very good academy system and it’s not only the envy of some provinces in Ireland but possibly in European rugby if you look at the talent they are getting through.

“But we are not Leinster, we are Munster and we’ve got to look after our own players. When I came to Munster I said that we shouldn’t get players into the academy that only want to play for Munster, we want players that can play Test rugby.

“We’ve looked at who we bring into the academy very closely and if you look at the guys that are playing for us now, Gavin Coombes, Shane Daly, Craig Casey, Ben Healy, John Hodnett, Thomas Ahern, Josh Wycherley, Keynan Knox, I believe all of those players can play Test rugby.

The more players in your team that have got a high ceiling, they will play Test rugby and that will improve your whole system.

"So I think there’s been some good work done in our academy. The fact they’ve been training with the senior group for the last two years … they’re all aligned and I believe that raises the standard and that’s why you’re seeing them picked. It’s because I’ve got full confidence in them that they can do the job and they are driving this team forward.

“From a senior player point of view that’s brilliant because we want competition in all positions and we’ve got very good competition now. If you look at our top national players, CJ has got good competition now from the likes of Gavin Coombes and Jack O’Sullivan. Conor Murray has got really good competition with Craig Casey. You’ve got JJ Hanrahan who’s got good competition now from Ben Healy.

"All of a sudden you’ve got young wingers like Liam Coombes, who has got a very high ceiling; you’ve got the two old bulls at tighthead, Stephen Archer and John Ryan, who’ve been so good for Munster, all of a sudden you’ve got Keynan Knox and Roman Salanoa.

“So I really believe there’s been some really good work done the last three years. Can we improve? Most certainly we can but that’s why we’re on this journey, hopefully to get back to, in the world’s view, success - winning a trophy and hopefully we will get to that.”