Some reviews are fair and some are perceptions

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Munster head coach Johann van Graan said his team are playing rugby better than they think, saying some of the criticisms are based on perception.

The province picked up a vital United Rugby Championship victory last Saturday, seven points clear to beat Ulster while playing for over an hour with 14 men.

The victory eased the pressure on Van Graan after the disappointing loss to Connacht the week before, as attention turned to Friday’s Heineken Champions Cup clash with Castres in France.

However, there have always been criticisms of their style of play, with Munster starting slowly against Ulster, needing 30 minutes to score a score.

Van Graan admits they’ve endured tough spots in the last three games, but says they’re playing better than you think.

“Some are right and I think some are perceptions,” he said of the review.

“I’ve said a couple of times that this is a rugby game, every game is different. The ebb and flow of a match is different. We started the match against Ulster with a few penalties, but I think we have progressed very well in the game.

“The Connacht game, we were leading 8-3 at halftime, so it was the reverse of last weekend. The Castres game, we had opportunities. If I think back to Damian de Allende right there , we thought he scored the try but it was not awarded, I think that could have given us 13 points.

“So great moments in games, we are looking to improve week after week. Like I said before, some of our performances were not good enough, but we are quite happy with our position in both competitions. Hopefully we can deliver a pretty good performance this week against Castres to get a win.

“Not a lot of teams have been there recently and won so it will be a huge challenge on Friday night.”

There was good news for Munster on the injury front with Jean Kleyn and Peter O’Mahony (below) returning to training, and will be in contention to play against Castres.

O’Mahony withdrew late from the squad that beat Ulster on Saturday after injuring his leg in the warm-up, and Van Graan has said his potential availability will create a selection headache in a very competitive back line.

“Look, I hope Pete trains during the week,” added the South African.

“He trained yesterday afternoon, glad to find him. We had no contact yesterday, he still has to go through this but he looked really strong yesterday afternoon.

“In terms of depth Alex Kendellen really came out on top, John Hodnett before he tore his Achilles last season and I said I thought he would be close to our 23 Europeans in the years to come. .

“Jack O’Donoghue, I thought he played really well against Castres at eight, Gavin Coombes was back to his best. Coombes was unhappy in terms of a thing or two off the pitch in terms of Covid, he’s been away for so long but he played really well.

“Different guys in the background, Jack O’Sullivan, the Bulls game he was going to start, he’s one of our best players. He had a few minutes against Castres but he didn’t have a lot of game time.

“Jack Daly came in. Chris Cloete hasn’t played in a while, we have Jason Jenkins and Daniel Okeke had a chance against the Wasps. We’re lucky to have a really good group of loose forwards. C ‘is such a balance number, you want to get in, one minute in the squad, two, you want to improve your performance and three, you want to prepare for Europe.

Elsewhere, Kleyn has managed to recover quickly from the knee injury he suffered on New Years Day against Connacht, and is also back in full training.

Damian de Allende is still uncertain whether he will appear at the Pierre Fabre stadium, with the province saying his availability will be determined in the coming days, with Munster due to name his team on Thursday afternoon.

The South African World Cup winner suffers from an abdominal injury he contracted in training last week.

Simon Zebo should be suspended for the trip to France. The winger, who signed a new two-year contract yesterday, will face a disciplinary hearing this week following his red card in the win over Ulster.

Follow Castres v Munster (Friday, 8 p.m.), Connacht v Leicester (Saturday, 3.15 p.m.), Leinster v Montpellier (Sunday, 1 p.m.) and Northampton v Ulster (Sunday, 3.15 p.m.) via our live blogs at rte.ie/sport or on the RTÉ News app, or listen to live radio coverage of Castres vs. Munster and Connacht vs. Leicester on RTÉ Radio 1 Extra and RTÉ Radio 1.

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