WATCH: van Graan wants “to learn from the best” in preparation for new season

Munster open their Pro 14 account on September 1 against the Cheetahs in Thomond Park hoping to improve on last year where they lost to eventual champions Leinster in the semi final. Exepctations are high in Munster after the acquisitions of Irish internationals Joey Carberry and Tadgh Beirne.

In his first full pre-season as Munster Head Coach, Johann van Graan is looking to improve each player individually before implementing this improved skillset as part of a team. Speaking ahead of the new season, van Graan spoke about his mindset in relation to pre-season aims.

“Improving our processes, starting with the big Munster DNA, your set-piece, your kicking game and then improving the skill level of the player. We work really hard to improve the individual and then putting it back into a team context.”

Van Graan explained how he and his coaching staff took the opportunity during the off season to explore different training methods for different sports across the globe. Van Graan explained the importance of learning from the best, irregardless of the sport.

“We covered different areas. Like I said we didn’t only focus on on-field, we focused a lot on off-field, diet, sleep recovery. As you know the small margins are pretty important in this game, like we saw, we won a quarter final by a point and lost the semi final by a point.”

“We’re really looking for those one percenters and we try to go learn from the best all over the world, not only in rugby but in different sporting codes.”

Watch the full interview and much more with van Graan on our official YouTube channel.