VAN GRAAN GOES ‘BACK TO ZERO’ IN CAPE TOWN
JOHANN van Graan says that Saturday’s dramatic Champions Cup win over Toulon has been put to bed and that Munster’s focus is now on what lies ahead. The squad had its first session since the 20-19 win over Toulon in warm sunshine in Cape Town yesterday in preparation for two Pro 14 games in South Africa. First up is a clash with the Southern Kings in George — CJ Stander’s hometown — on Saturday evening with the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein in a key Conference A clash six days later, a match which could go a long way towards deciding the home quarter-finalists in the Pro14. ‘We start at zero every week,’ he said at training in City Park in a southern Cape Town suburb. ‘Obviously, we enjoyed the win over Toulon, a massive win for the team and the club. But it’s in the past now, it’s back to Pro14 now, a new challenge in South Africa and we have got some important games coming up.’ He has brought a squad of 30 to South Africa and has all bar Simon Zebo and Darren Sweetnam available this weekend. Both players went through a light training session at City Park — one of Western Province’s pitches — yesterday as the squad trained in 23degree heat. ‘Darren has got a small twitch in his hamstring and Zeebs has got a lot of bruising on his hip, he has got a hip-pointer, so we will monitor through the next week and see how they go,’ he added. Van Graan is likely to rest some frontline players this weekend for the clash against Conference B basement side Southern Kings, and also confirmed he had already decided to bring the full squad to South Africa for this tour regardless of how the Toulon game went. ‘We were obviously hoping for a positive result in the quarterfinal and these are a very important two weeks for us in terms of the Pro14. We want to get that home quarter-final spot and for that to happen we need to put in two good performances over here,’ he added. The Munster squad will make the 430km journey to George by road later today, with the scenic drive through the Western Cape taking about five hours. They will hold their Captain’s Run at Outeniqua Park in George tomorrow as they wrap up their preparations for Saturday’s game. The squad will return to Cape Town by road on Sunday and will be based there until they fly to Bloemfontein next Thursday, the day before they take on the Cheetahs.