Johann van Graan: ‘We’re going to embrace the Aviva’

Not only did the Munster hierarchy sacrifice the chance of hosting a Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final at Thomond Park by agreeing to two Ed Sheeran concerts taking place at the stadium on May 5th and 6th, but potentially that could also be true of the semi-finals.

Due to a pandemic-enforced change in the rules this season, and with only a week between the quarter-finals and semi-final, the teams with the higher ranking in the latter will have “home venue” advantage. This would apply if Munster overcame Toulouse and Leinster beat Leicester, as Munster have the higher pool ranking of the two Irish sides. But instead of the option of holding a Munster-Leinster semi-final at Thomond Park, that tie would also have to be moved, presumably to the Aviva Stadium as well.

The other potential semi-final match-ups in that half of the draw would see Leicester have home advantage against Munster or Toulouse, or Leinster would be at home to Toulouse, meaning that if they reach the semi-finals one way or the other it looks like Leinster will be playing at the Aviva Stadium.

Hence, if last Saturday’s Round of 16 win over Exeter is not to be a farewell to Thomond Park this season – and so prove a final game there for Johann van Graan, Stephen Larkham, JP Ferreira as well as Damian de Allende and the other players who are departing at the end of the season – then Munster most probably need to win at least two, and possibly all three, of their remaining URC games.

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Munster sit fourth, three points behind Ulster in second place, but also have four teams within five points of them down to the Bulls in eighth place, so finishing in the top four and earning a home quarter-final looks a sizeable task.

They face Ulster next Friday night at the Kingspan Stadium (kick-off 7.35pm, live on RTÉ), a venue where Dan McFarland’s side were unbeaten this season until losing to Toulouse last Saturday, and where Munster have not won win since October 2016, losing on their last four visits there.

We have staff redundancies so this decision was taken at a time where not only ourselves but a lot of people across rugby in the world had to make big decisions in terms of their future

Munster then host Cardiff in Musgrave Park on Friday week and play Leinster at the Aviva Stadium on May 21st after the two-week break for the European quarter-finals and semi-finals.

Should Munster earn a home quarter-final in the URC then as that tie would be four weeks after the Sheeran concerts, it’s reckoned the Thomond Park pitch should be playable again by then and likewise if they had a home semi-final one week later.

For the latter scenario to come to pass Munster would most likely need to finish in the top two, which would certainly make next Friday’s game a must-win for Van Graan’s side.

“I haven’t given that a lot of thought. It is such an intense part of the season,” said the Munster head coach about the need for Munster to secure a home URC quarter-final if last Saturday is not to have been a farewell.

Munster’s chief operating officer, Philip Quinn, has said that sacrificing Thomond Park as a quarter-final venue for the two Sheeran concerts “wasn’t a decision that was made lightly” and Van Graan had no option but to put a diplomatic face on it.

“We love to play at Thomond Park. Saturday evening was again an incredible European experience. Our supporters are always there. You just have to look at two weeks ago in Exeter, the way they turned up. That was magic on Saturday in Thomond Park.

“However, we as a club are all aligned. This decision was taken two years back. We had to cut some big players from Munster Rugby because of budget constraints. We have staff redundancies so this decision was taken at a time where not only ourselves but a lot of people across rugby in the world had to make big decisions in terms of their future.

“So we’re going to embrace the Aviva. We’ve played there before. In terms of our supporters, they are fantastic. The ones that can be there, will be there.

“We’ve got a fantastic support base at Munster Rugby, whether in the province, in Ireland, or all across the world. We certainly would have loved to have played at Thomond Park but as a club we’re going to embrace the Aviva and the occasion of Munster versus Toulouse in a European quarter-final.”

Van Graan admitted last Saturday’s performance “was certainly the best over the last few years” and having lost to Toulouse at home in the Round of 16 last season, he had sympathy for his counterpart Dan McFarland after their painful loss by one point on aggregate to the same opponents, which has left Ulster with only the URC to play for this season.

“I thought Ulster were really good across the two legs. Even in the first round when Toulouse got the red card, Ulster played well and they’ve played well all season. They were in that game for massive moments watching it from home.

“I feel the red card was a big turning point in that game, it was around 65 minutes, and then [Antoine] Dupont, you know one magic moment to score that try. So we certainly can sympathise with them having been in that position last season losing it at Thomond Park.

“Dan is an excellent coach, and the way they have been playing all season, it’s tough to lose, specifically over two rounds by one point. So does that make them more dangerous? I certainly believe so. They don’t lose at Kingspan very often. We’ve had some close ones up there. I’m sure Friday will be the same.”