Munster coach Van Graan reveals what he expects of his Bok imports
INTERVIEW: South African World Cup winners Damian de Allende and Rudolph Snyman bring certain championship qualities Munster would like to instil in the team.
That is the view of Munster coach Johann van Graan, who spoke to the Irish Times newspaper about what he expects from his most recent imports.
Apart from De Allende and Snyman, former Saracens fullback Matt Gallagher and former Leinster prop Roman Salanoa also signed up with Munster.
“Damian, Rudolph, Matt and Roman haven’t actually even met all of the squad, because we’ve been in smaller groups,” Van Graan said of the delayed return to training as a result of COVID-19.
“[The] guys are meeting each other over Zoom and over Microsoft teams.
“When Damian came in he was in isolation for two weeks.
“He came in from Japan, so you were bringing him food and looking after him. He’s been behind a window and a wall, so [that was] a pretty strange start.
“When Rudolph and his wife came, similarly from Japan, they went into their home and there’s a wattbike and some weights waiting for him, and a piece of grass, and they just entered a home that’s so new to them.
“Similarly with Roman [Salanoa], he came up the highway from Dublin.
“Then Matt [Gallagher] obviously made the trip across from England.
“All four have settled in well and I think we’ll only see what they’ll bring from a rugby point of view in the coming weeks.”
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Van Graan said the new recruits will play important roles at Munster.
“Everybody knows the ambition and the dreams we have as a club,” the coach told the Times.
“I think it’s important to know that if you look at the four individuals, they all come from championship-winning teams and that’s something that we want to become and in our recruitment, it’s very important for me to get those players in to add to what we have at Munster.
“We’ve got two World Cup winners coming in. They have won a Rugby Championship together with a World Cup.
“Roman has been part of a very successful Leinster team and Matt’s been part of a very successful Saracens team. So that’s giving us more Championship-winning experience.
“That will hopefully come in time, but in terms of what they can add right now is adding in small groups and hopefully being fit for that first game because the only thing we’re aiming for is that first game, to literally get back onto the pitch and play a game of rugby.”
Source: The Irish Times
