The Elusive 1%.

Munster head coach Johann van Graan has revealed he and his coaches spent time ‘across the world’ this summer to learn from some of the best coaches and clubs in the business.

Jerry Flannery spent some time with Super Rugby champions the Crusaders alongside former teammate Ronan O’Gara, who works as an assistant coach at the New Zealand franchise. Felix Jones meanwhile linked up with former Munster player Jason ‘Dutchy’ Holland at the Hurricanes.

“We as a coaching staff went to a few places all across the world to do a bit of research, looking to redefine our processes and our game.” Van Graan said at Munster’s base in UL.

“We came back and we started slowly. It was the start of preseason which was Week 1, readjusted where we’re going to and improving our process, starting with the big Munster DNA, our set-piece game and improving the skill level of the player.”

“You know, we worked really hard to improve the individual first and then put it back into a team context.”

“Some of the coaches went to New Zealand, some went to South Africa, some of them went to Europe. We covered a lot of different areas. We didn’t just focus on-field, we focussed on off-field; diet, sleep, recovery because the small margins are pretty important in this game.

Munster have reached the semi-final stages of the Champions Cup for the last two years in-a-row, as well as reaching a PRO14 final and semi-final. But going that one or two steps further has eluded them.

“We won a quarter-final by one-point and lost a semi-final by one point. I believe I’ve said it before, one point is the biggest and smallest margin in the world and we’re really looking for the 1%. We tried to learn from the best all over the world, not only in rugby but in other sporting codes because I believe you can always learn from the best.”