WHEN MUNSTER WENT 19-13 down with 68 minutes played yesterday, Johann van Graan had a flashback.
It’s 2007 and the Bulls, for whom van Graan is an assistant coach under Heyneke Meyer, are playing the Sharks in the Super Rugby final.
The Bulls go 19-13 down too, before a piece of individual magic from Bryan Habana – after the Sharks had failed to kick to touch – with the clock in red, followed by Derick Hougaard conversion gives them a stunning 20-19 victory.
Almost 11 years later, something incredibly similar occurred in Thomond Park as van Graan’s flashback proved to be a prediction of what was to come.
Andrew Conway didn’t quite wait until the clock was in the red – scoring in the 75th minute – but he kept a Toulon kick to touch in play before setting off on a mazy solo run for a stunning try that allowed Ian Keatley to convert for a 20-19 win.
While yesterday’s success didn’t bring a title for van Graan’s team, it did send them into a Champions Cup semi-final in France against the winner of today’s clash between Racing 92 and Clermont.
Van Graan, in his first season with Munster, has already equalled the achievement of his predecessor Rassie Erasmus in reaching the last four of Europe, but he was keen to heap the praise on his players after the emotional rollercoaster.
“Gratitude is the main word,” said van Graan when asked for his feelings. “It’s a fantastic honour to coach a group of players like that.”
This is clearly the high point for Munster under van Graan so far, although he believes there is more to come from this team.
“I think we can improve a lot. 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.
“I thought there was one moment with the scrum when our front row came on that turned the tide.
“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.”
Van Graan took pleasure from the fact that Munster were able to close out the game in defence, his impression being that they showed great discipline not to give Toulon a final chance to grab victory.
While the head coach continued to push the praise onto others, he did say this was close to a new peak in his career emotionally.
“In terms of emotion, this is close to the best for me personally,” said the former Springboks forwards coach. “Beating the All Blacks is a big part of rugby but in terms of Munster, this is incredible.
“I said from day one: it’s not about me. I want to be part of something special and I’m proud to be the coach for a performance like that. All credit to all the management and players.
“One of my personal sayings is that one point is the biggest and smallest margin in the world. We’ll take one point.”
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