'No, I don't live my life with regret' - Munster's van Graan on missing last Saturday's Boks triumph
Johann van Graan doesn’t do regrets. Ask him – as RugbyPass did at Wednesday’s Champions Cup launch in Cardiff – if there was any tinge of sadness that he was 6,000 miles away when his beloved Springboks lifted the World Cup trophy last Saturday and he insists there was no none.
As a South Africa assistant, first to Heyneke Meyer and then Allister Coetzee, he had earned his Test level stripes, soldering through 71 matches from June 2012 through to November 2017 when he decided he wouldn’t stay on under the incoming Rassie Erasmus and would instead take over the position Erasmus had just left vacant at Munster.
It was this leap of faith that had him sat in a hotel in Cardiff last Saturday, watching events in Japan from afar as he prepared for Munster’s PRO14 game later that day versus the Blues. There was no disappointment, only elation that a team he previously invested so much into had achieved so much against the odds.
“It was brilliant,” he told RugbyPass, seated in a top floor hospitality room at the Principality Stadium just days after guiding Munster to their latest league win at the adjacent Arms Park. “Very glad firstly for South Africa for winning it and what it means to our country, a third World Cup win.
“Rassie has done a fantastic job with the team, his whole team and specifically with the players. It was an incredible performance and Siya (Kolisi) leading the team. I know a lot of guys who have put a lot of work over the last twelve, eight, and four years to get to this position, so very glad for them.”
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Van Graan’s phone has been busy in the interim. “I have spoken to most of them, just congratulating everybody. I have seen a good few videos and a few photos of people drinking out of the cup.
“Like I said, I would be very close to a lot of those players, also the coaching staff. I congratulated Rassie, Jacques (Nienaber), Felix (Jones), Mzwandile (Stick) and Matt (Proudfoot), a very good friend mine as well, Annelee Murray (PR manager), the doc (Konrad von Hagen) who has been there for over 200 Test matches. It’s just great to be South African,” he continued before outlining some lasting relationships with particular players.
“Look, first Test in 2012 was with Eben (Etzebeth) and seeing him develop as a man. When Siya (Kolisi) ran onto the field for his first test against Scotland at Nelspruit, the hug we gave each other then and the words that were spoken… seeing a lot of players develop into men, into fathers and into world champions is great to see.
In the hour of his greatest triumph, Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus remembered his late Munster colleague Anthony Foley https://t.co/TMUvPcg7zK
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 5, 2019
“Someone like Handre Pollard, came straight from the under-20 world cup in New Zealand in 2014 for his first Test against the Scots in Port Elizabeth, planning it that week and coming on the field, having a brilliant Test and the way he has developed.
“Look, the reason why I am in this game is to make a difference in peoples’ lives and to be part of that journey was special. All credit to everybody currently involved in the coaching team, from the players and the management to SA Rugby. It’s brilliant that they won a third World Cup for our country.”
An irony is that Jones, a van Grann assistant, surprisingly left Munster in June with no job lined up only to be called in by Erasmus in an emergency after ill-health forced Swys de Bruin out of the reckoning. A few months later Jones is now a World Cup winner, unlike van Graan who is busy preparing for another Champions Cup campaign.
#SUAF ??? @Munsterrugby @FelixJones15 @AledWalters pic.twitter.com/UIOuKgqlzx
— Jacques Nienaber (@jacnienaber) November 8, 2019
“No, I don’t live my life with regret,” insisted van Graan. “I had a fantastic time at the Springboks and I had this opportunity to come to Munster and it’s one I grabbed with both hands. I have loved my time here (with Munster) and you have got to be happy for other people when they achieve success and it’s incredible for South Africa to win the World Cup for the third time.
“I was privileged to be at the two previous World Cup finals, in ’95 as a 15-year-old boy and I went to the 2007 World Cup just before they won it in that final in Paris. I was fortunate enough to have been at the previous two and watched the third one in Cardiff. It was great to be involved.”
Looking back on that breakthrough triumph 24 years ago, he said: “I sat next to a Namibian and a Scottish gentleman and I remember Joel Stransky’s kick was in my line of sight it but I remember more what it meant to the country.
Could South Africa's #RWC success lead to the end of protectionism in other countries?
– @heagneyl looks at the argument for an open-door policy ?? https://t.co/o5nb0byhfI
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 3, 2019
“Previously, I was a ball boy at Loftus when South Africa made their first season back since isolation and I was standing next to Andre Joubert and met Nelson Mandela there for the first time which made a massive impression on me.
“After I met him I went off to buy his book, Long Walk to Freedom, and I tried to understand so much of what he went through. I remember him coming down the tunnel in ’95 with the No6 jersey and the sense of pride of being there.
“I also went to the inauguration in ’94, so it was great to be there in ’95 and my heroes back then won the World Cup, Joel Stransky, Joost van der Westhuizen. In ’07, I knew a lot of Bulls players who were involved and then it was great to be involved in the Springboks after.”
WATCH: RugbyPass travels to South Africa for an episode of Rugby Explorer… Jim Hamilton explores the stunning cities of Cape Town and Porth Elizabeth and meets the local rugby communities
Comments on RugbyPass
The value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
3 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
10 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
37 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
10 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
37 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
3 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
37 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
49 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
37 Go to commentsOn the title, i wonder for many of those people it is a case something like a belief in working smarter, not harder?
1 Go to commentsForget Sotutu. One of those whose top level is Super Rugby. Id take a punt on Wallace Sititi Finau ahead of Glass body Blackadder.
37 Go to commentsI’m a pensioner so I've been around a bit. My opinion of SBW is he is an elite athlete and a great New Zealander and roll model. He has been to the top and knows what he's talking about. To all the negative comments regarding SBW the typical New Zealand way, cut that tall poppy down.
17 Go to commentsI'm not listening to a guy moralise over others when this is the guy who walked out mid season on Canterbury RLFC when he had a contract with them, what a hypocrite. All the Kiwis sticking up for this unprincipled individual because they can't accept justified criticism, he has zero credibility or integrity. Those praising him are a joke.
17 Go to commentsI’d put Finau at 6 instead of Blackadder but that’s the only change I’d make. Can’t wait to see who Razor picks.
37 Go to commentsTamati Williams, Codie Taylor, and Same Cane? Not sure about Hoskins Sotutu at test level. Wasn’t that impressive last season. Need a balance between experience and talent/youth.
37 Go to commentsInteresting insight. Fantastic athlete, and a genuine human being.
17 Go to commentsThey played at night in Suva last weekend and it’s an afternoon game forecast for 19 degrees in Canberra this weekend. Heat change is a non issue.
2 Go to commentsWishing Rosie a speedy recovery
1 Go to comments