Injuries had denied Munster the services of Conor Murray at nine until the very end of November, new signing Joey Carbery’s introduction at number 10 was limited by his involvement with the Ireland squad during the November internationals, and Chris Farrell’s comeback from serious injury at outside centre has been hampered by subsequent niggles, denying him the chance to link up with regular inside centre partner Rory Scannell.

Throw in the need for squad rotation, both as decreed by the IRFU player welfare and the heavy fixture schedule around the festive season, and it is no wonder Munster arrived at their crunch European penultimate pool fixture in Gloucester having been previously unable to field that quartet.

Van Graan understandably ratcheted down the importance of the presence of Murray, Carbery, Scannell and Farrell playing together, but the outcome spoke for itself, as Munster delivered their best attacking performance of the season at Kingsholm, the five tries all coming from backs, with Carbery claiming two and Scannell a crucial score just before half-time.

The win allowed the province to reclaim control of Pool 2 heading into Saturday’s finale against Exeter Chiefs at a sold-out Thomond Park and, though van Graan stressed the contribution of his squad as a whole rather than focus on individuals, the South African did give credit to his important 9-10-12-13 axis.

“What Conor and Joey [together] does give you is world-class quality at nine and 10; Rory the fact that he’s left footed and a very good decision maker, that he’s so calm, and the fact that he just always seems to take the right option,” said van Graan.

And then let’s call it, I don’t know how you’d say it in English, but the ‘bigness’ of Chris Farrell, the fact that he can carry, that he can off-load, he definitely worries defences and he definitely worries the attack in terms of how big he is, so it was nice to have that combination over the weekend.

Carbery picked up the man-of-the-match award following his 26-point contribution to the 41-15 victory, his most complete performance since joining from Leinster during the summer and in only his third start alongside Murray in a Munster line-up.

As Scannell further emphasised, he and Carbery’s relationship as a 10-12 combination is not much older.

“Obviously, with the competition in the squad at the moment… Joey’s been away in the autumn with Ireland, so getting those couple of games in a row together has definitely been important,” said Scannell of his understanding with the fly-half. “When you start playing with guys more, you start to get more comfortable. It’s been hard, because it’s such a competitive squad and lads have gotten opportunities, and Chris [Farrell] is only just back as well, so the three of us haven’t played a whole lot together, but I’ve enjoyed the last couple of games and, hopefully, it will be the same this weekend.”

Scannell, 25 last month, has been impressed with Carbery’s growing composure as a starting 10 and is enjoying the improving combination they are forging.

“I played a lot of 10 through school and, from that point of view, I like to get good communications from the guys outside me and that’s what I am trying to do for Joey. I try to tell him where space is and when he knows where that space is, he is more than likely going to be able to take it.

“He’s playing unbelievable rugby. He had a disappointing day over in Castres [in round four] and since then he is playing probably the best rugby of his career. His kicking has been outstanding in the last couple of games and I think he’s starting to enjoy it.

‘He’s just been so calm under pressure. Last year with Leinster he probably wasn’t starting at 10 in a lot of those big European games.

“It’s been a great experience for him this year to start in those games and I was most impressed with his goal-kicking; he’s got his last 17 kicks since the Castres game. That shows great character after having had a disappointing day off the tee in a big European game; there is only a point in it at the end, but since then I don’t think he’s put a foot wrong. He’s had two man-of-the-match awards since and shown outstanding character.

On the Monday [after the Castres game], he just put it all behind him and focused on the following game. Then, he just went straight out and trained like he normally does.

If Munster, four points ahead of the fast-finishing English league leaders Exeter in Pool 2, are to see off their rivals in Limerick on Saturday, they will need to take every point that comes their way. Corkman Scannell has been in the set-up long enough to understand that reaching the knockout stages is a minimum requirement as they bid for a record 18th quarter-final place.

“Yeah, definitely. It nearly feels like the norm. You have to get out of your group and a lot of the squad that are here at the moment experienced those two years when we didn’t get out of the group and there were disappointing times. I think we’ve bounced back massively over the last two seasons to get to two semi-finals as well, so it’s going to be very important for the club and it’s definitely going to be a tough task against a strong Exeter side, who probably didn’t think a couple of weeks ago that they’d be in a position to top the group. It’s pretty tight and it’s going to a straight shootout on Saturday.”

Meanwhile, loosehead prop Liam O’Connor has been added to Munster’s Heineken Champions Cup squad for

Saturday’s game. O’Connor is making his way back from a long-term knee injury suffered in November 2017. The Corkman made his return for Cork Constitution in the Munster Charity Cup final win over Garryowen 10 days ago and played for Munster A against Leinster A last Friday. O’Connor goes into the squad, as Munster deregistered Brian Scott, who underwent surgery for a foot injury and now faces four to six months’ rehabilitation.