There are many twists to come, says Van Graan
MUNSTER head coach Johann van Graan conceded that qualification for the European Champions Cup knockout stages will go right down to the wire after last night’s gritty 10-3 win over Saracens.
This hard-fought win leaves Munster on 11 points in Pool 4, one point behind leaders Racing 92 after three rounds.
The province’s place in the quarter-finals is by no means guaranteed, however, with a rematch against Saracens at Allianz Park looming next weekend followed by a trip to Paris to face Racing in January.
Despite resting a host of their top stars, Saracens proved more than a match for the hosts, and left Limerick with a losing bonus point – which could be vital in a pool as tight as this.
‘It could be (crucial),’ said the Munster head coach.
‘I thought we were unlucky it hit the post and bounced back and they charged Chris (Farrell) down. We defended quite well, so small margins.
‘We’ll take a win against Saracens any day of the week. Right from the start, we knew this pool was going to be tight.
‘From our point of view, we are still unbeaten in this group. An away win with a bonus-point (against Ospreys), a home win against Saracens, and a draw against Racing. So it’s going to go right down to the wire and the only thing we can control is next week against Saracens in London.’
The Premiership giants will be a completely different proposition next weekend with a clutch of their Test stars set to be come back into the reckoning for selection.
‘We can’t control whatever selection any team that ever plays against us do,’ said Van Graan.
‘They’ve got to make their calls. If certain teams rest players then certain people just assume that it’s their B team. They’re the European and the Premiership champions and you’ve got to look at the players who played in that team tonight. What people don’t see is our guys fighting for every single inch.
‘If you look at some of the injuries that we’ve got in our positions, we are thin in certain areas but we’ve just got to go out there and play. All the respect to the 23 guys that went out there to battle tonight. I thought they battled for virtually what was 81/82 minutes against the European champions at home and we got a win against Saracens at home.’
Munster could be without the services of Arno Botha for that trip. The South African No8 – a second-half replacement for CJ Stander – is facing disciplinary action after he was sent off in the dying minutes for leading with his forearm into Saracens replacement Nick Tompkins.
‘I’ll have to go have a look at it again,’ said Van Graan.
‘Initial thoughts, he definitely didn’t have any choice. Look, it happened so quickly, it was literally instinct. It was actually such a great carry but, unfortunately, if he’s made contact with the head, the referee doesn’t have any decision to award a red card. Obviously, he feels bad about it. It happens in a split second. We’ll have a look at it and it was, unfortunately, the last play of the game, then it went to a lineout and I thought we handled that quite well.’
Mark McCall is set to field his strongest side next Saturday with Jamie George, George Kruis, the Vunipola brothers, Owen Farrell and Elliot Daly all set to come into the mix for that Pool 4 showdown.
The Premiership giants will fancy their chances against Munster at Allianz Park before games against the abject Ospreys and a home meeting with Racing.
And McCall confirmed that some of Saracens’ big hitters would be back in action next weekend.
‘Yeah, we’ll rotate,’ the head coach confirmed.
‘Some of the people who haven’t played today will play. Some of our non-internationals who have had a really busy eight weeks or so, they’ll get some rest.
‘We’ve just got to try and manage our group as well as we can. We believe we’ve got a really competitive group of players and our young players are getting some great experience, especially in a great place like Thomond Park.’
‘WE CAN’T CONTROL THE TEAM THEY PICK NEXT WEEK’