Van Graan discusses Toulouse and Munster's 'red army'

Munster are facing a big clash at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday as defending champions Toulouse challenge the Irishmen in their Champions Cup quarter final.  

Munster boss Johann van Graan has emphasised the advantage his team will enjoy with a stadium full of their passionate fans behind them.  

“It's a massive challenge for us,” he said. “You play the reigning Champions Cup champions, the French Top 14 champions, they've got 10 guys in that Six Nations (Grand Slam-winning) team, (Antoine) Dupont has been the player of the Six Nations, and then if you look back in history Toulouse have won their last four games against Irish opposition in Ireland. 

“That tells you the task ahead. That's something we're embracing and looking forward to. It's our 10th successive game, and we worked for this one, and we're really looking forward to it on Saturday afternoon. 

“They've got a lot of power and weight and height in the forwards pack, with a proper set-piece. Nine and 10 are world class, and then their broken-field attack, you can never switch off. 

“They're a championship side, so our focus has mostly been on ourselves. They have so many threats that you do your preparation, but we want to keep improving on our side. We feel we've been playing some good rugby the last number of weeks, so the focus will be on ourselves. It's a massive challenge ahead.” 

Munster will be justifiably confident when they take the pitch on the back of a good victory over Exeter Chiefs in the previous round, as well as strong wins over Ulster and Cardiff since then. 

“We've good continuity in our team, we've been together now for a number of games after the Six Nations, so some good continuity in our team. We're another year together, and from a development point of view, a lot of guys have a lot of experience, and gained a lot of experience. 

“It's the second time in a year we'll play Toulouse, and a lot of guys have got more experience in our journey as a group. We'd like to believe we're in a better spot a year on but every game is different. It's a new challenge, a new venue, different teams, new referee (England’s Luke Pearce) and it'll certainly be a challenge on Saturday afternoon. 

“The only thing we can do is focus on ourselves and look at what we need to do. We need to make sure we have our defence spot-on, make sure that we keep the ball in hand when we have it, and then the broken field will be huge. 

“Then we have to adapt to the referee; those power battles are huge in both teams in the 22, so what you do in the middle of the pitch with your discipline will be big, big points in the game. 

“One other big difference this year is we have our 16th man, we have the red army travelling to Dublin. It's already the second highest attendance for a Munster quarter-final in our history. We are banking on our 16th man to make a massive difference on Saturday in Dublin.”