Van Graan the catalyst for Bath's domestic and European resurgence, insists Spencer

Munster head coach Clayton McMillan with Bath head of rugby Johann van Graan. Pic: Dan Sheridan

Anyone who has spent any time in the company of Johann van Graan will know just how much the South African coach reveres the Champions Cup and it is a major reason why England scrum-half Ben Spencer believes their Bath side can be genuine European title contenders this season.

That is bad news for van Graan’s former club Munster, who must travel to the English West Country for Saturday night’s pool opener against the reigning Premiership and Challenge Cup double winners. 

For those players in Clayton McMillan’s travelling party set to arrive in Bath on Friday afternoon who played under the former Springbok assistant after he replaced Rassie Erasmus in December 2017, Spencer’s praise may resonate. 

After all, van Graan guided Munster to two Champions Cup semi-finals and came within a goal-kicking shootout against Toulouse of reaching a third before departing the province for Bath in the summer of 2022.

The move elevated van Graan, who had been a first-time head coach at Munster, into a bigger-budget club and he harnessed the resources wisely, transforming a fallen giant that had finished bottom of the Premiership in the previous season to runners-up after a narrow play-off final loss to Northampton Saints at the end of season two. 

They had achieved their highest finish of second in nine years and it proved to be the launchpad for last season’s run to both the title and the Challenge Cup, having dropped down to the second-tier competition after a poor start to their top-flight pool campaign.

Talking to the Irish Examiner at this season’s Champions Cup launch in London last week, England scrum-half Spencer credited van Graan with changing the club’s approach to European competition and cited an early exchange between the new head coach and veteran Bath hooker Tom Dunn, who had been through the bad times on his hometown turf at The Rec.

“I think Johann, whenever Europe comes around, he always comes back to a quote from Tom Dunn, actually. When Johann came in, he explained what Europe meant to him, and Dunny just sat there and said, ‘Johann, if we can win one game in Europe, I'll be a happy man’.

“Fast forward to where we are now, challenging for trophies, it says a lot about how far we've come as a group and what Johann has brought to the club.

Bath's Ben Spencer. Pic: Billy Stickland/Inpho

“At the start of every year, whether it's the Premiership or whether it's Europe, Johann is adamant that he wants the challenge on both fronts, and he understands the history of the competition.

“Look, we're under no illusions how big of a test it will be to go all the way, but yes, we'll take one game at a time and see where we get to.” 

Spencer, 33, was in the Saracens side which broke Munster and van Graan’s hearts in Coventry six years ago when the English powerhouse delivered a 32-16 semi-final beating in what was the province’s most recent trip to the Champions Cup last four in 2019. 

Having moved to Bath in 2020, he described the environment created by the head coach as “unbelievable”, adding: “I think what Johann has brought in and created at the club is really special. He speaks a lot about family first, and I just think that brings everyone closer and brings everyone together.” 

He also knows his boss will be relishing the opportunity to lock horns with his former charges in Bath on Saturday night with both sides set to reveal their teams at noon on Friday.

“I've been fortunate enough to play Munster in the competition before, and I know what the competition means to them and the history they have in the competition. How far Johann took them in the competition as well, I think that adds a little bit of extra spice to the game, and I'm sure the marketing team would have been able to sell The Rec out a few times for that game.

“But yes, look, it'll be a massive occasion, 8pm, Saturday night at the Rec, it doesn't really get much bigger.

“We learned (last season) that it's an unbelievably difficult competition to win and to go far in. It is the best teams, the best players in the world, and we know you can't afford to have a week off in the competition.

“We'll take it one game at a time, but the belief I have in the squad, the belief that Johann has in the squad, I think we can do something special this year.”