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Munster's van Graan on the speculation that he is wanted by Bath

By Liam Heagney
(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Munster boss Johann van Graan has addressed recent speculation that he is being courted to take over at Bath, the struggling Gallagher Premiership club who kick off their latest Heineken Champions Cup campaign with a trip to Leinster this Saturday. The possibility of the ex-Springboks assistant joining the English club was something that first emerged in 2016 when Bath were moving on from Mike Ford.     

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Nothing came of the speculation on that occasion, Bath instead opting to appoint Todd Blackadder as their director of rugby and Tabai Matson as head coach. The club has now reportedly revisited that situation following their dreadful start to the current Premiership season and the knowledge that van Graan is out of contract at Munster next summer. 

The Irish province is reportedly keen on keeping their South African on beyond his current deal but the fact that no agreement has yet been reached on that two-year offer has led to speculation that his future could be elsewhere, namely at Bath.   

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Van Graan has refused to add fuel to fire ahead of this weekend’s trip to Wasps in the Champions Cup, the Munster boss stating at his midweek media briefing: “In terms of my own future, as I have stated earlier in the season, I’m never going to get into any contract discussions or speculation over the media. So until there’s a decision about my future, I’m not going to speculate anything.”

It was late 2017 when van Grann initially arrived at Munster, taking over after Rassie Erasmus decided to head home to take over the Springboks. So satisfied were the Irish with his initial work that the original deal penned by van Graan through to 2020 was extended a year early in 2019, taking him through to the end of the 2021/22 season.

Now, with assistant coach Stephen Larkham having already decided to return to Australia to take over at the Brumbies, it remains to be seen whether van Grann will stick with Munster or twist and explore options elsewhere such as Bath.   

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Jon 8 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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john 10 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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