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Johann van Graan reveals his ‘unthinkable’ number one rugby memory
Current Bath boss Johann van Graan has revealed his number one rugby memory from a career that has taken him from coaching at club and country level in his native South Africa to Ireland and on to the UK where he is now in his second season in the Gallagher Premiership at The Rec after a five-year stint with Munster in the URC.
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It was 2003 when the now 43-year-old began his coaching career, starting as a technical advisor at the Bulls before success as their forwards and attack coach resulted in him moving to the Springboks in 2012 – and he took with him a memory that has yet to be surpassed.
Asked nearing the conclusion of an interview with AM Sports Consultancy to name the standout moment in his career, van Graan chose winning the 2010 Super Rugby title with the Bulls.
Lifting the title wasn’t significant in itself – the Bulls had been crowned champions in 2007 and 2009. However what made their third title in four years so very different was that the Bulls won it in Soweto, a black community heartland where it would previously have been unthinkable for them to play.
“The number one moment is at the Bulls. We went on to do some pretty amazing stuff and I was part of an incredible group of people,” began van Graan. “In 2002, the Bulls held the record for 11 out of 11 Super Rugby losses. I joined the next year… and at that stage the Bulls to even think they could win Super Rugby was impossible.
“We won it in 2007, won it again in 2009. In 2010, the soccer World Cup came to South Africa and my dad said to the team at that stage if we were in a Super Rugby semi or final we would have to play away from Loftus because Loftus would host the football World Cup games.
“The longer the season went on, we remained in the first spot and then we had to play the Crusaders in a home semi-final but we couldn’t play in our stadium. The Bulls took the game to Soweto and to put this into perspective – to take a formally known white South African team into a black community was unthinkable a few years before that.
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“We went there for a semi-final and beat the Crusaders and then we played the Stormers, another South African team, in Soweto. That moment, to see what it meant to people in South Africa, was incredible and we went on to beat the Stormers.
“It united the country, it showed people from all over the world that South Africa was ready to host the soccer World Cup and something like a month later, Shakira came and opened the World Cup in that stadium and the World Cup happened in South Africa.
“That was such a significant moment for me. I was a young boy when South Africa won the (Rugby) World Cup in 1995 when Mr Mandela came onto the pitch and lifted the trophy together with Francois Pienaar.
“That was a day that I saw something amazing, but I wasn’t part of it but 2010, in terms of being part of something amazing and seeing what it could do to others, it was incredible.
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“The bit I want to say is there were so many people involved from commercial companies, from sponsors, that a lot of people said this couldn’t be done but everybody pulled in the same direction and because of rugby we made a difference. That is the number one memory, the two weeks in 2010 in Super Rugby in Orlando Stadium in South Africa.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Can’t wait for the article that talks about misogyny in Ireland. Somehow.
11 Go to commentsI would like to see a rule change, when the attacking team is held up over the try line, by allowing the defensive team to restart a goal line drop out releases the pressure for the defensive team, but what if the attacking team had to restart a tap 5m out from the defensive team it gives the attacking team to apply more pressure, there are endless options for the attacking side and it will keep the fans in suspence.
2 Go to commentsLess modern South African males predictably triggered.
11 Go to commentsMy heart is with Quins, but the head is convinced Toulouse have too much. Ntamack is back, his timing and wisdom has been missed.
1 Go to commentsWow, what a starting line up for the Sharks) Tasty up front,kremer vs Tshituka or venter …fiery ,,Lavannini ,,will he knobble etzebeth? Biggest game for belleau?
1 Go to commentsIt was rubbish to watch, Blues weren’t even present. Did what they had to do, nothing more. Should be better next week against canes.
1 Go to commentsI’ve just noticed that this match has an all-French refereeing team. Surely a game like this ought to have a neutral ref? Although looking at the BBC preview of the Saints game, Raynal is also down as reffing that - so there may be some confusion about who is reffing what.
1 Go to commentsIf Havili can play anywhere in the back line, why not first 5. #10.
11 Go to commentsThe dressing room had already left for their summer break before they ran out in Dublin that year, and that’s on the coach. Franco Smith has undoubtedly made progress, particularly their maul, developing squad players and increasing squad depth. And against a very tight budget too. That said they were too lightweight last year and got found out against both Toulon and Munster in consecutive games. Better this season so far but they’ve developed something of a slow start habit occasionally, most notably losing at home to Northampton who played them at their own game. Play offs will ultimately show whether there has been tangible progress on last year, or not…!
2 Go to commentsAustralian Rugby has been a disaster, by not incorporating learning from previous successful campaigns. QLD Reds 2011 - Waratahs 2014. Players, coaches and administrators appoint there representatives for scheduled meetings, organisation’s agreement’s assessments and correspondence. This why a unified Rugby Union under one entity works. Every Rugby nation has taken that path. Was most difficult in the Northern hemisphere with over 100 years of club rugby before the game become professional. Took a lot of humility for those unions to eventually work together.
7 Go to commentsThough Wilson’s sacking was pretty brutal, it wasn’t just down to that Leinster game; Glasgow had a lot of 2nd half collapses that season, in the URC and Europe, and only just scraped into the playoffs. Franco Smith has definitely been an improvement, some players are delivering far more than they did under Wilson.
2 Go to commentsjesus - that front 5!
1 Go to commentsShould be an absolute cracker of a game! Will be great to see DuPont & Ntamack in tandem once again🔥
1 Go to commentsBest team ever…. To have played? These guys are still pressure chokers. Came nowhere when it counted. What a joke
81 Go to commentsMusk defends anonymous terrorism, fascism, threats against individuals and children etc etc But a Rugby club account….lock ‘em up!!!
1 Go to commentsActually the era defining moment came a few years earlier. February 2002 to be precise, when Michael D Higgins as finance minister at the time introduced his sports persons tax relief bill to the dial. As the politicians of the day stated “It seems to be another daft K Club frolic born in Kildare amongst the well-paid professional jockeys with whom the Minister plays golf” and that the scheme represented “a savage uncaring vision of Ireland and one that should be condemned”. The irfu and Leinster would be nowhere near the position they are in today without this key component of the finances.
5 Go to commentsIt is crystal clear that people who make such threats on line should be tried and imprisoned. Those with responsibility in social media companies who don’t facilitate this should be convicted. In real life, I have free speech to approach someone like Reinach and verbally threaten him. I am risking a conviction or a slap but I could do it. In the old days, If someone anonymously threatened someone by letter the police would ask and use evidence from the postal system. Unlike the Post, social media companies have complete instant and legal access to the content in social media. They make money from the data, billions. Yet, they turn a blind eye to terrorism, Nazi-ism and industrial levels of threats against individuals including their address and childrens schools being published online all from ananoymous accounts not real people. They claim free speech. Free speech for anonymous trolls/voilent thugs threatening people under false names? The fault is with the perps but also social media companies who think anonymous personas posting death threats constitutes free speech.
2 Go to commentsSo if this ain’t the best Irish team ever then who exactly is? I don’t remember any other Irish team being this good & winning a series in the Land of the Long White Cloud. Yes I may rip them often for 8 X QF RWC exits & twice not even making it to the QF, but they’re a damn good team who many think can only improve, including me!
81 Go to commentsNot a squeek out of Leinster for weeks about this match. So quiet. The first team have been quitely building for this encounter under Nienaber’s direction. All fresh, all highly motivated. They are expecting a season’s best performance from Northhampton. They will match that. They will be fresher and apparently they will have 80,000 out of the 83,000 shouting for them. I do expect Northhampton to turn up big time. Not to be missed. On a tangent it is evident how the loss of a few Premiership teams has in some respect helped other Premiership teams and England. More quality over less teams makes the teams better, which has a knock on effect on England. Not the only factor contributing to England’s rise but one of them.
5 Go to commentsOur very own monster teddy bear Ox😍💪
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