Old failings bring Johann van Graan's Munster era to a painful end

Some people, certainly if social media channels are to believed, will point the finger of blame for Munster’s abject performance against Ulster which ended in a 36-17 United Rugby Championship quarter-final defeat and the end of the road for 2021-22, solely at van Graan.

Munster head coach Johann van Graan following Friday's season ending defeat to Ulster at Kingspan Stadium

There are still three weeks left on Johann van Graan’s contract as head coach at Munster Rugby and he will likely spend most of his time at the High Performance Centre in Limerick wondering what should have been.

Instead of plotting the next step of a march to a glorious denouement to his five seasons at the helm of a once-great province, the South African will go through the motions of keeping Munster’s Ireland international contingent ticking over ready for the summer tour to New Zealand and pondering why many of them played themselves out of contention in front of Andy Farrell and Paul O’Connell at Kingspan Stadium on Friday night.