LISTEN: Supersport Rugby Editor Brenden Nel talks Johann van Graan & Munster.

For most Munster fans their newest head coach Johann van Graan is very much an unknown quantity. That may be true for the majority of rugby fans on this side of the world so we decided to take a closer look at a man that Munster fans are hoping can bring a period of continuity and success to the province.

Sporting Limerick got to speak with the rugby editor of Supersport.com in South Africa, Brenden Nel, a man who knows van Graan and thinks Munster have made a shrewd acquisition. As a youngster van Graan was a ball boy at Loftus Versfeld and would have seen first hand the likes of Nass Botha, Deon Oosthuysen and Johan Heunis.

Nel says that van Graan is a man steeped in South African Rugby tradition:

“He is the son of the Bull’s chief executive Barend Van Graan. He came through the schooling system at Affies which is an Afrikaans boys high school here in Pretoria and basically went to school with a number of top rugby players. He was a rugby player himself but didn’t quite make it. He was in school with Fourie Du Preez. Rich rugby culture in his veins, he was a ballboy at loftus as a child so has grown up in a rugby environment his whole life.”

Having not made the cut as a player a meeting with then Blue Bulls coach Heyneke Meyer  would set in motion a path the that would eventually lead to van Graan making the move to Munster. Meyer had asked van Graan to do some video analysis for him on both his own team and the opposition.

In an interview with Nel with Supersport back in 2014, Meyer would describe van Graan as his best appointment.

“When I appointed him, nobody knew who he was. He never had a name and there were questions about him, and it was a risk I took. But to be honest it was probably the best appointment I’ve ever made. For one, because he came with no baggage, no background and secondly the way he grew in the position.

“Everywhere that he goes now, he has immense respect from coaches all over the world. That shows me it was the right appointment to make. He has been asked by all our Super Rugby franchises to pitch in and help.”

It amounted to a hugely successful time with the Bulls as they went on to win three Super Rugby titles between 2007 and 2010 and remain the only South African side to take the top prize in Southern Hemisphere club rugby. Van Graan was involved in all three title wins.

Following his success with the Bulls a move with Meyer to the Springbok setup was inevitable. Nel says that van Graan was a big part of the Springbok attacking evolution and his influence was seen in some of their best attacking performances.

“When Heyneke Meyer went to the springboks he immediately took him with him as part of his team and he trusted him so much he made him in charge of the attack as Springboks coach as well.”

“When Heyneke left it was quite a surprise because we have this thing in South Africa when coaches leave their backroom staff tend to leave with them and when Johan Van Graan signed a contract with SA rugby to stay on it showed how he was valued by SA Rugby.”

Former Munster player Jean De Villiers played under Van Graan at the Springboks.