There was an extremely personal and yet totally public moment at the end of Munster’s 20-19 Champions Cup win over Toulon.
Amid all the celebrations and rúla búla, Munster head coach Johann van Graan slipped away from his players and coaching staff and took a moment on the halfway line.
Asked after the game about the moment of reflection, van Graan confirmed he was giving thanks to ‘My God’ at the end of a fraught, enthralling contest.
Belief in a higher, divine power is one of the South African’s man drivers in life. Belief in the young men around him to push themselves beyond bounds, known and unknown, is what pushes him on as a coach.
He arrived in Limerick, late last year, and witnessed the side he was about to inherit from Rassie Erasmus will themselves to victory over a charged Racing 92 team. He was hooked on Munster before but that game convinced him he had made the right decision.
Just over four full months into his tenure at Munster and this home victory has now surpassed the away win over Leicester Tigers as van Graan’s greatest achievement, and feeling of immense satisfaction. He hopes, of course, to bear witness to greater deeds.
The coach believes and he is starting to see that belief flow through his patched up, talented squad.
“I’ve seen in my life when people believe. It’s incredible what human beings can do.”
Around the 50-minute mark, Munster were already starting to believe that they had taken the best Toulon could throw at them and were starting to assert themselves. Van Graan then opted for an old-school coaching playbook when he replaced his entire front row and brought on James Cronin, Niall Scannell and John Ryan for a scrum in the French side’s half.
The set-piece went gloriously for Munster and their coach said, after the match, that this was the moment that truly drove home that this could be their day.
Credit: BeIN Sports“That turned the tide.”
Toulon went 13-6 behind and yet they rallied in the final quarter to score 13 unanswered points and go 19-13 ahead.
Munster’s belief was tested but they stuck to their task, convinced they would get at least one more try-scoring chance in the closing stages. Niall Scannell went very close out on the right wing but was held up. Still, Munster strove.
In the end, Francois Trinh-Duc gave Andrew Conway a sniff by not putting his clearing kick into the Thomond Park stands and the adopted Munster-man did the rest, burning past four Toulon players to score a screamer from 43 metres out.
Belief.
“I think we can improve a lot,” van Graan later reflected. “We went to the air quite a bit and to be fair to them, they handled it quite well. We really focused on our work rate and we said the impacts would need to be massive.
“The Munster way is to do it the difficult way.
“If it’s going to be better than this, it’s going to be something amazing. All the odds were stacked against us and I don’t think a lot of people gave us a chance, but if you’ve got 23 guys who believe, as well as the coaching and management that believe, a squad that believes, a club that really believes, you can do the unthinkable and make dreams come true.”
This May will be the 10th anniversary of the last time Munster had a European Cup dream come true.
Cardiff was the setting for the province’s 2006 and 2008 successes. Belief, willpower and more moments of magic are required in Bordeaux, in three weeks, and Bilbao, next month, if that dream will be realised for a third time.
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