RAISING THE BAR IS POLICY FOR REDS
MUNSTER coach Johann van Graan isn’t worried about his side’s injury crisis at loosehead prop as they head into European Champions Cup week.
The two-time European Cup winners look set to make do with just Dave Kilcoyne as first choice for the first of their back-to-back games against Leicester Tigers at Thomond Park next weekend.
Munster secured a bonus point victory over Ospreys in Cork on Saturday with Sam Arnold, Darren Sweetnam, Chris Cloete, Rory Scannell and Jack O’Donoghue touching down for the hosts.
But Liam O’Connor’s secondhalf knee injury put a dampener on proceedings, with James Cronin already ruled out, and Van Graan said it’s time for other players to step up now.
‘We’re down a lot of injuries,’ admitted the South African (right).
‘Obviously this is a long term injury... well, it looks like a long-term injury for Liam.
‘I don’t want to speculate but we will have to reassess on Monday do our homework on who is available and who’s not,’ added the Munster head coach. ‘I thought (replacement prop) Brian Scott actually played very very well, he carried the ball and made some good hits. ‘Depth will be a problem for us now but that’s rugby and we’ve got to adapt and make plans and take it as it goes. ‘We’ve had so many injuries in the autumn internationals over the last month but we’ll reassess on Monday and see who’s available. I suppose the positive is there will be a lot of guys coming back over the next seven to eight weeks, we’ve got big games coming up. ‘Every single one is a big one so hopefully we will get a few guys back over the coming weeks as well,’ he added. Munster’s victory over Ospreys means they head into the Champions Cup full of confidence. But Van Graan is just enjoying the experience and cannot wait to prepare his side for Leicester this week. ‘The experience I had at the Racing Metro game was fantastic. Obviously this is the big competition in the world in terms of club rugby. Leicester Tigers are one of the premier clubs in the world so Munster versus Leicester will be massive and I can’t wait to start on Monday morning,’ said Van Graan.
‘I am here to enhance things. We made one or two subtle changes against Ospreys, some things worked very well — we’ve got a lot to work on.
‘Andy Farrell (Ireland defence coach) came in and brought his ideas to the table and well done to everybody involved, all the coaches and all the players.
‘We’ll keep on improving, this is a marathon and we’ll go week for week, day by day. We’ll get back on Monday morning and plan for the week ahead.’
This will be Van Graan’s first European game in charge of Munster but he shadowed Rassie Erasmus prior to arriving in Limerick and he feels that has been a great help.
‘The whole process worked very well by the IRFU and Munster, we were under pressure for the last two weeks to get results — if we didn’t win there would have been a fair bit of criticism,’ said Van Graan.
‘But well done to all involved, the coaching staff and to Niall O’Donovan our manager and all our staff and specifically the players who were flying in the early hours on Monday morning.
‘They’ve played really well in this transition and hopefully that’s finished now and it’s a marathon like I said so we will take it day by day and step by step and reassess on Monday morning and start again from zero.’
Leicester suffered a 32-25 defeat away to Wasps at the weekend and suffered a couple of injury blows which could affect their preparation for the daunting trip to Limerick.
Prop Ellis George and inside centre Gareth Owen both left the Ricoh Arena pitch injured in the first half.
Head coach Matt O’Connor remains optimistic that both players will be available to face Munster.
‘Gareth has a back twinge which he did first carry of the game, but it’s not serious. Ellis has a bang on the shoulder. We will look at
them early in the week and see how they pull up for Munster,’ said the former Leinster boss.
Meanwhile, South African Super Rugby franchise, the Golden Lions, have confirmed Munster are talking with JP Ferreira, with a view to bringing the defence coach into the province’s management team.
Munster are seeking to replace Jacques Nienaber, who has returned to South Africa with the province’s former director of rugby Rassie Erasmus.
Lions CEO Rudolf Straeuli said although Ferreira’s contract does not expire until next October, Munster are seeking to bring him over as soon as possible.