Johann van Graan hails a 'class victory' for Munster

22 April 2022; Munster head coach Johann van Graan before the United Rugby Championship match between Ulster and Munster at Kingspan Stadium in Belfast. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

Johann van Graan didn’t use the word momentum after Munster’s crucial 24-17 URC defeat of Ulster in Belfast on Friday night but you knew what he was getting at.

The southern province has found a rhythm at precisely the right time. The season is funnelling towards a close in both league and European Cup and the South African’s side now finds itself nicely poised for a shot at both trophies.

Toulouse await in Dublin in a Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final and this narrow but deserved defeat of Ulster at the Kingspan Stadium leaves them third in the URC standings and with an excellent shot at claiming home advantage for the last eight and maybe even the semi-finals.

All told then, it’s been a satisfying three weekends for Munster who survived a difficult trip to Sandy Park and then followed up by eliminating Exeter from the continental competition with a superb victory in Thomond Park last week.

This latest win was a first in Belfast since October of 2016.

“A class victory from our side, I believe,” said van Graan before the long journey home. “It was important for us as a group to back up last week’s performance and I believe we did. This is such a difficult place to come and win. We haven’t won here for a number of seasons.

“We knew that it was going to be close and both sides were playing for a potential home advantage in a quarter-final. They are a team that we respect a lot. We had a big battle with them in January in a pretty tense game and they are extremely good with their kicking game.

“They suffocate you and they have got a brilliant maul and they have powerful runners and I thought all great to JP, our defensive coach, and all the players. They really dug deep, specifically with 14 men, and really proud of the group to come way from here with a win. Very satisfying.” 

Munster had to survive a late surge from Ulster thanks to Sean Reidy’s 75th-minute try which reduced the margin to just four points but a Joey Carbery penalty sealed the deal after a first-half when they claimed two excellent tries from Stephen Archer and Keith Earls.

Van Graan saw the beauty in both halves, not least maybe the defensive display after the break.

“Certain elements we got some momentum in the first-half. We got two good tries and we started the second-half pretty well going 18-3 up. Then they applied the pressure. We conceded one or two penalties on our own ten-yard line with some inaccuracies.

“They kicked to the corner and, like I said before, they are an extremely good mauling side. Unfortunate to concede that maul try but we defended our line really well and we came back to the 22 with a few minutes to go and we got penalised, got back to halfway line and got the penalty to put us seven up.” 

It was all the more impressive for the absence of so many front-line players but those on duty stepped up to the plate and none more so than young Alex Kendellen who was superb in the back row in such a difficult venue.

“Our theme the whole season has been ‘all in’, whether from management, coaches or players and everybody at the club,” said van Graan. “We have used close to 60 players now across the whole URC and EPCR and just the next man in.

“Kendo, if you look at where he was around a year ago, the Irish U20s captain, he goes about his business quietly and he is putting in extremely good performances going back to South Africa against the Bulls and the Lions and that was an excellent performance by him.” 

Dan McFarland accepted that Munster were better than his side in most aspects of the game. The only exceptions he could offer were the maul and scrum. Munster, he said, defended and attacked well, his own lads less so.

“We were looking for ways to score and that was mainly through winning penalties, getting into the corner and driving them over. We were pretty effective in hurting them in those areas but you cannot rely on that in a game.

“We lost one lineout. They defended that very well. These things happen. Defensively they stopped us. We have not been scoring tries in the opposition 22 at a high enough rate for a number of weeks now.” 

Ulster are now facing a battle to seal a top-four finish and, with it, a home quarter-final. A top-two spot and home semi-final tie is now out of their hands. They have two games now to inject some life into a season that is in danger of spluttering to a close.