Johann van Graan was walking a narrow line this week in Limerick. Guarded in how Munster can defeat Leinster, strident in the confidence his team has travelling to Dublin and gracious about Leinster's European win, his diplomacy won the day.
How to show respect and also convey an open hostility to an opponent in one breath. How can he convince Munster they can win in the RDS against the European champions, the South African was asked.
“I don’t need to convince them. They believe it,” shoots back van Graan. “This is a club that believes in themselves.”
If ever there was a doubt.
“We cannot control the opposition. In this case it is Leinster and while we give them all the credit that is due, the players believe it themselves.”
Both teams have played the same number of games over the year in the league and Champions Cup. Leinster went one further in the European final against Racing but Munster went into an additional quarter-final playoff in the Pro14 league against Edinburgh.
Van Graan points that out, relieving Leinster of any notions they may have been brewing that the season’s attrition has been harder on them than Munster.
Relief
Still the benefit of a week without a match, without a new raft of injuries and niggles to add to the old ones is relief at one stress point.
“Yes, without a doubt, especially at this time of year,” he says.”But the opposition, in this case Leinster, had a rest a week earlier. Bodies have had the benefit of rest for two or three days, which always helps.
"Maybe the mind also benefits from getting away from the game for two or three days, and like I said before, we wanted to be in a different country for the weekend but it wasn't to be, we were in Ireland and hopefully we will be staying in Ireland for an additional week."
Van Graan didn’t watch the European final live because of fear of being sucked into the emotion of the game. He wanted to look at Leinster and see them as a surgeon looks at an anaesthetised patient; the cuts that need to be made, the pieces that have to be taken out all of it driven by outcome and done in a cold, well, surgical manner.
That is how he sees Leinster, who have seamlessly become a team capable of grinding it out with the best in the world, of having a plan B and not wavering or dissuaded because it is not the preferred way they want to play. Leinster have become like the surgeon.
They're a team that don't seem to focus too much on emotion and that's a sign of a really good team
They have become procedural and if teams throw junk at them by lying offside or slowing play, they throw junk back and win that game. Van Graan calls it intelligence.
“I think that’s one of the main words that we used in our previews, ‘intelligent’,” he says. “They’re a team that don’t seem to focus too much on emotion and that’s a sign of a really good team.
“In games like that, the fact that there hasn’t been any tries means there was a lot of pressure, a lot of penalty goals, one or two missed as well. So your set-piece needs to function.
“I believe they’ve got a world-class 10 that organises the game pretty well,” he adds. “So you need to put their kicking game under pressure.”
Diplomacy
Johnny Sexton a target. Conor Murray a target. We have been here before. Sexton doing what Sexton does, organising, tackling, kicking and a quirky cameo; Murray box kicking, driving plays. Both shaping the game. Both teams trying to disrupt what each does and generally failing.
But Van Graan in his diplomacy has grown weary of what could be construed as negative Munster comparisons. He has already far exceeded what would be considered a fair quota of compliments to a team whose, let’s just say, competitive spirits repel each other.
“You can’t deny the fact that over the last nine years they’ve won the Champions Cup the most,” he says. “But going back to Pro14, one point separated the two sides throughout the whole season.
“They’ve had some really good games and some average games. So have we. My belief in rugby is that every week’s different. This is a whole new ball game, new referee, new teams.”
That is exactly what Leo Cullen will say later this week. Locked and loaded with frustrated players like Rhys Ruddock and Joey Carbery, who didn't get the opportunity to run out in the 52,282 seat arena. Cullen, like van Graan will also see value in his options.
“This week’s all about us,” says van Graan finally. “Like every other game. I’ll say it again, we can’t wait for the opportunity to play them on Saturday.”
