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Van Graan reflects on 'missed opportunities' following Heineken Champions Cup exit

Munster head coach Johann van Graan was naturally disappointed at full-time in Thomond Park toda...



Munster head coach Johann van Graan was naturally disappointed at full-time in Thomond Park today as his side exited the Heineken Champions Cup.

The southern province knew going into the game against Ospreys that they wouldn't progress to the quarter-finals with any sort of a win after results didn't go their way yesterday.

They still put in an impressive performance in front of their home fans today and two tries from CJ Stander as well as Stephen Archer, Conor Murray and Craig Casey saw them win 33-6.

van Graan said it was important to them to go out on a positive note:

"We wanted to finish strong, especially in front of our home crowd. Of all the fixtures we had the best crowd and that's what the Munster team means to the people.

"I thought we came out and specifically in the second half we kept hammering against the wall and scored some really nice tries.

"We've got 11 guys out injured at this stage and we always back our squad. It was great to give the young guys game time."

van Graan on exit

Munster fans would have been watching other fixtures in their pool nervously yesterday and then saw their European dream slip from their grasp as Glasgow hammered Sale 45-7 .

van Graan was keen to point out today though that their only concern was their own display and that it's easy to look back on what might have been after a campaign has finished.

"We just focused on what we needed to do and we knew after the Glasgow performance that we couldn't go through anymore and we just focused on our performance and the most important thing is our performance.

"We're very disappointed that we didn't make it. We had opportunities throughout the competition and that shows that you've got to take your points on offer.

"There were some big moments over the six rounds, looking back at it the Racing game at home and the Saracens game away would have given us an opportunity but that's all hindsight and we'll look forward to the PRO 14 now, backing our young players, backing our squad and hopefully doing very well in the PRO14. "

Speaking to Off The Ball van Graan was also asked for his opinion on Saracens' relegation from the Premiership for the slary cap irregularities, which he refused to be drawn on, saying that he had no comment and that that was totally out of his control.

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European Heineken Champions Cup Johann Van Graan Munster Rugby