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Munster need to recover quickly - Johann van Graan

Munster head-coach Johann van Graan says they'll need to recover quickly from last night's 38-17 ...



Munster head-coach Johann van Graan says they'll need to recover quickly from last night's 38-17 defeat at Ulster at Kingspan Stadium.

The loss saw the Reds surrender top spot in Conference B of the Guinness Pro14 after a run of just two wins in their last seven matches.

Munster face a crunch Heineken Champions Cup encounter at Racing in Paris next weekend and van Graan knows they'll need to be much better:

"That is rugby, I will take the responsibility on my side, straight on the nose and then we move on.

"I thought we started pretty well, got a nice try but we were unable to exit and they got three points. Then, we had an attacking lineout and were penalised for a side-clean, we turned that over and kicked long and then they caught us on the blindside with Cooney's try.

"Then, multiple penalties on our goal-line. I think we were lucky not to concede a yellow card there, I thought we got to within seven on the stroke of half-time, 17-10 at half-time and we spoke at half-time about discipline and patience and we conceded a penalty just after half-time, we conceded a try and went from 17 to 24-10 straight away.

"We came up against a good side at home who haven't lost here for a long time, we had to play more, on 31-10 that intercept killed the game. So, we got out-played on the evening and I'm very disappointed.

"Our European pool was always going to be tough against Racing and Saracens...we were forced to make 14 changes against Edinburgh and then we had the two games against Saracens. The second one I thought we played well, unlucky not to get away with a point.

"It was 10 changes for that game, then guys had to go away for two weeks.

"Then, more guys had to go away, seven changes again and then 10 tonight again 10 changes so obviously it is a concern. We want to win every single game but literally we haven't had any continuity."

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