Johann van Graan says he understands people get carried away by criticism of Munster

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Johann van Graan responded to recent criticism of Munster’s performance, saying the team paid little attention to outside noise.

Munster came under heavy criticism last week for their disappointing loss to Connacht, as their previous performance against Castres was not much better, even though they did beat the French club.

Van Graan of course leaves at the end of the season to join Bath, which has led some experts to ask Munster to immediately relieve the South African coach of his duties, based on Munster’s disappointing performance.

Munster beat Ulster despite Simon Zebo’s expulsion after 15 minutes, and van Graan told RTE he believed some people may have gotten ‘carried away’ in their criticism of the province.

Johann Van Graan on the recent criticism of Munster.

“It’s professional sport. There will always be some noise, but luckily we have a very good management group and a very good coaching team, ”said van Graan.

“I can understand when people get carried away or when people make statements and that is an integral part of professional rugby.

“All we can do is focus on our process and inside the HPC [High Performance Centre] we are all quite calm and quite calm. It was a normal week for us.

“I think we were better tonight compared to last week. It was about using the opportunities, and I think we did better tonight. We took our points. We stayed in the game in a pretty tight Irish derby.

A big thank you to the 5,000 Munster supporters who pushed us to a vital victory tonight, your support is greatly appreciated as always #URC #MUNvULS #SUAF pic.twitter.com/6GxkFuQ82T

Munster Rugby (@Munsterrugby) January 8, 2022

Critics are unlikely to stop despite Ulster’s victory.

Although Munster beat Ulster very well in a match in which they played with 14 men for 65 minutes, it was not much of a smooth and entertaining encounter.

Much of the criticism leveled at Munster was about the style of their play rather than their results, and although conditions were less than ideal at Thomond Park, they still showed a distinct lack of variety on offense.

Munster’s best offensive performance in recent times has been his win over Wasps, in which 12 players made their senior debuts and academy coach Ian Costello took charge of the squad, as van Graan and much of the team were in quarantine.

The win over Ulster is likely to keep some critics at bay, although many will still want to see more offensive ambition from Munster.

Find out more about: Johann van Graan, munster rugby

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