LISTEN | Johann van Graan reflects on hard fought win over Ulster as they travel to France for Castres test

Johann van Graan discussed success in Europe, character against Ulster his departure at the end of season for the English Premiership.

“Character is something we have in spades,” say Johann van Graan as Munster prepare for Castres this Friday in the Champions Cup.

In Munster’s previous outing they produced a daring comeback with 14-men as they beat Ulster 18-13. Commenting on the positives to arise from the game, van Graan said,

 “I thought we preformed a lot better last weekend then against Connacht, massive improvement. The red card happened in the 15^th minute of the game we conceded a few penalties at the start and couldn’t get field position.

“Once we got field position, I thought we were pretty good, we built some good phases. Our preparation was the same, a win against a very good Ulster side and it was a battle to the end. So really happy with the result.

“Character is something that we have in spades inside this group. We have a group with belief, and we take it week on week. Some games we were in the position where we were 15 and the opposition were 14.

“This week we got tested with losing the winger for 65 minutes of the game, which is very challenging, after the game we said we felt that we reacted to it pretty well. It was very pleasing to us as a group was the way everybody stood up, 1-23 and was counted.

“We took a risk with putting Neil Cronin on with 10 minutes to go. With 14 men if you get an injury there you are down to thirteen men specifically the front row, but very happy with the group and very happy with the character they have shown all season.”

Van Graan continued by discussing Munster’s previous game against Castres and how they will cope with the French outfit this weekend.

“The Castre game we had opportunities. If I think back to Damien De Allende just being there, we thought he scored the try and the try wasn’t awarded that might have taken us thirteen points up. So big moments in games we are looking to improve on week by week. I’ve said before some of our performances weren’t good enough, but we are pretty happy where we sit in both competitions.” 

“Hopefully we can deliver a performance good enough against Castre to get a win. Not a lot of teams have gone there recently and won, it will be a massive challenge on Friday evening.”

Munster’s Head Coach was asked about how key will it for his side to remain disciplined as previously their clashes with Castres have tended to be a spiky affair with a couple digs thrown from either side.

Discussing this, van Graan said,

“That’s something we pride ourselves on, I thought our discipline throughout the season has been good. In terms of Friday evening adapting to the referee, Luke Pierce is one of the best referees around. We will be looking to how he is going to approach the breakdown, what he is going to allow and not allow in the maul and looking at what’s going to happen in the scrum.”

And with the South African set to leave the province at the season’s end, he was quick to commit his complete focus to Munster until his departure.

“Everybody at the club knows my heart, I started here on the 19th of November in 2017 and I’ve loved every minute of it, and I’ve put my heart and soul together with everybody at Munster and at this club we are a united group”.

Listen to the interview below!