Spirit of old is returning for Munster
Van Graan hails travelling support as the key ahead of massive Racing clash
‘It’s something refreshing at this stage’
AT the end of a fortnight in South Africa, Johann van Graan sought out the reporter and photographer who had travelled with Munster.
He shook their hands and thanked them for their interest in travelling.
This was reflective of the importance Van Graan places in good manners, a trait his predecessor Rassie Erasmus shared.
It is also easier for a coach to be considerate when he has watched his team win two matches from two attempts having traipsed thousands of miles.
But Van Graan’s gesture was reflective of a belief that has been growing for some time now: whatever else the modern Munster might lack, they do not want for a sense of unity.
It was easy to roll the eyes at parts of the soundtrack to the glories of the old Munster, in particular the conviction among some supporters that they were as integral to the team’s success as Declan Kidney or Ronan O’Gara.
However, there was a powerful sense of identity around those years, with the team’s connection to their followers seeming as strong as the ties that bound the dressing room.
Those close to the squad say that feeling has returned.
A group of around 200 fans followed the team to South Africa for their matches against the Southern Kings and the Cheetahs.
‘In South Africa, I think the Munster support won the hearts of South Africans, the way they followed their team,’ said Van Graan this week.
‘It was fantastic to have them around. It was great to have them around the hotel. The brilliant thing is they back the team and back the players.
‘It would be great to have many of them over in Bordeaux. We know that they will be there. But we need to perform on the field as well.’
Munster have long had a faithful core support that followed them all over Europe, and thousands are expected in Bordeaux tomorrow.
However, attendances had slipped, home and away, from the start of this decade, but last season’s rejuvenation under Erasmus stirred old passions and, importantly, lured back supporters attracted by the Munster legend.
The Irish provinces and Irish rugby generally have relied on people not necessarily from rugby backgrounds but whose interest was snared by professional, successful teams. This might make traditionalists sniff, but without such support, the provinces would wither into irrelevance. Those fans are attracted by a refreshed-looking Munster; they thronged Dublin last year for the European semi-final against Saracens and then the Pro14 loss to the Scarlets. Thomond Park was en fete for the thrilling quarter-final victory over Toulon. The strength of old days is returning. Van Graan’s players were as impressed as he was by the support the team received in South Africa, but also the opportunity to train in reliably good conditions, away from the build-up to some of the biggest games of the season, should not be underestimated, either. ‘We did all the training the exact same as we would do here but it’s 25 degrees, it’s sunny, you’ve got Table Mountain in the background, it’s a nice change,’ said a smiling Billy Holland. ‘On your day off you’re up Table Mountain or having a swim in Camps Bay rather than walking down Patrick Street in the rain.
‘It’s just something refreshing at this stage of the season. People have said that potentially it could be a hindrance.
‘I think it was just a nice changeup, a nice change of scenery for the two weeks. We trained hard.
‘We just focused on the games ahead of us, and I suppose most importantly over the tour we came back with nine points which gets us a home quarter-final, which was what we needed going into that trip.’
Team spirit is a notoriously unstable element, and getting an accurate measure of it is impossible.
Winning teams are said to have it in abundance, and a lack of it is usually the first diagnosis made of a struggling side.
The great Munster forces certainly seemed suffused with the stuff, while in the struggles of recent years, that obduracy, the willingness to do what was necessary in the knowledge team-mates would do likewise, has seemed lacking.
No longer, it appears. Just as the bonds with fans are tightened anew, so this playing group look tight.
‘I think those moments when you win big games, they’re the best moments as a rugby player,’ said Andrew Conway.
‘I am not from here obviously, but I went to the 2006 and 2008 finals with my dad. A European Cup final is different. There is something magical with Munster in Europe that you can’t quite your finger on.
‘Last year going to Dublin for the semi-final for the Saracens game was the best atmosphere I ever played in in my life.
‘It is so disappointing to not perform on those days because of what’s around you: your family are in the crowd, the crowd are on a different level and you want to play in those days as much as you can.
‘They are the days you will remember in 30-40 years when you look back on your career and say those are the special ones.’
Those are the days that slip into legend and add a fresh layer to the Munster story. Beating Racing 92 under a French sun in a ground dominated by opposition supporters is a chapter begging to be written.