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Van Graan brushes off 'cynical' claims

Cape Town - New Munster head coach Johann van Graan has brushed off claims that his side used ‘cynical’ tactics during their Champions Cup win over the Leicester Tigers at the weekend.

Munster maintained their unbeaten record in this season's Champions Cup and moved top of Pool 4 with a 33-10 annihilation of the English side at Thomond Park.

Leicester coach Matt O’Connor was however not happy afterwards and took a dig at Munster’s tactics.

According to the Limerick Leader, O’Connor said Munster were “very diligent and cynical, killing the ball whenever we had opportunities which made it hard for us to score.”

O’Connor added: "It's always the same here (Thomond Park), you have to make sure you are accurate. They are very committed and you have to be more accurate."

Van Graan responded: “I think a rugby game is played for 80 minutes. That’s 30 guys on a field with one referee and the challenge is to adapt to the referee as quickly as possible. I thought the referee had a very good game.

”There is 50-50 decisions going both ways and no, we are happy with what we did out there. We’ll take this win, review it over the weekend and start again on Monday.”

Van Graan recently joined Munster after spending the past six seasons as the Springboks’ forwards coach.

He replaced compatriot Rassie Erasmus in Ireland, with the latter having returned to fulfil the role of SA Rugby's director of rugby.

European Champions Cup results:

Sunday

Pool 1

Harlequins (ENG) 5 Ulster (IRL) 17

La Rochelle (FRA) 49 Wasps (ENG) 29

Pool 2

Saracens (ENG) v Clermont (FRA) - postponed

Pool 3

Exeter (ENG) 8 Leinster (IRL) 18

Saturday

Pool 5

Scarlets (WAL) 33 Treviso (ITA) 28

Toulon (FRA) 24 Bath (ENG) 20

Pool 2

Northampton (ENG) 32 Ospreys (WAL) 43

Pool 4

Castres (FRA) 16 Racing 92 (FRA) 13

Munster (IRL) 33 Leicester (ENG) 10

Friday

Pool 3

Glasgow 22 Montpellier 29

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