Carbery start is on the cards as Van Graan says he may have to rest players for final
THE relentless nature of rugby’s schedule means Munster may have to rest some of their leading players for the PRO14 final in two weeks’ time, Johann van Graan has admitted.
The head coach described the match on Saturday, March 27 as the biggest of the season, but it is sandwiched between Ireland’s last two Six Nations matches on Sunday and Saturday week and the Heineken Champions Cup last 16 and quarterfinal rounds on the weekends of April 3 and 10.
Something, Van Graan concedes, will have to give and for the Munster supremo there will be consolation in knowing that his opposite number Leo Cullen will be just as adversely affected by the schedule.
Still, Munster would be hit hard if Tadhg Beirne, CJ Stander, Dave Kilcoyne, Peter O’Mahony, Keith Earls and Conor Murray were confined to bench roles for their first final since 2017.
“I wouldn’t want to speculate on it now, but potentially yes,” Van Graan said.
“You don’t know how guys come back from the national team, they have two big Test matches coming up.
“Obviously we have a pretty good idea what our best XV and our best 23 looks like, but those answers will only be answered on the Monday after the England Test when those lads come back and then we will take stock and see where we are at.
“We as coaches did some provisional planning. I think it is important that you know that you can’t only see the final in isolation. After that weekend there is a European round of 16.
“The national players will play a Test against Scotland, a Test against England, getting to a final and then the next weekend we have European round of 16 at home.
“For them, it is going to be a massive four weeks. For the guys remaining, we are going to alternate the team over the next few weeks to give some guys opportunities to play.
“We have the Scarlets and Benetton at home, so we will rotate the squad and then do our planning. Obviously, the final is our biggest game of the season currently now to look forward to. But on the back of that Europe is obviously very important to us as well. We will look forward to the final.
“We, as coaches, will take our time in the next week to decide what is our planning for the next five-week block now.”
For both coaches and squads there is comfort from securing their final spots with two weeks to spare, meaning they can rotate the non-internationals.
Having brought the returning Joey Carbery off the bench in the last two matches, the coach indicated that the Athy native will take the next step in his recovery by starting against either Scarlets or Edinburgh in the next two weeks.
“Again, he did really well (against Connacht), a few more minutes.
We will also manage his load carefully over the next few weeks, so potentially he will start somewhere over the next few weeks.
“We might give him a rest, he might remain on the bench, he is one of our more important players, so we will manage him accordingly,” added Van Graan.
“I don’t want to speculate on that, I think what we have done really well with Joey is make the best decisions for him, so we will keep on that track.”
Carbery replaced Ben Healy at Thomond Park, days after the 21-yearold had penned a one-year deal to remain with his home province.
Many were surprised at the length of that deal, but Van Graan wouldn’t be drawn on the reasons for him signing on until 2022.
“Look, I am very happy that Ben is staying at Munster. I am very happy that he has signed a contract.
“I wouldn’t go into any contract detail. It is brilliant that Ben Healy is staying at Munster and he has a big future ahead of him,” he said.
“Friday was his first semi-final that he started for Munster, if I can use that term, so I am very happy for him and like I said that fight for the number 10 jersey is going to be very good over the next few weeks.
“You have JJ (Hanrahan) who will get some game-time again that has had a really, really good season and then you’ve got the young guns in Jack (Crowley) and Jake (Flannery).
“I’m really, really happy with the 10 stocks that we currently have.”