Van Graan full of praise for Carbery, O'Mahony and the Thomond Park faithful

Munster head coach Johann van Graan praised the impact of the Thomond Park faithful, Joey Carbery, and captain Peter O'M<ahony after his side secured passage to the Champions Cup quarter-finals.

Munster dispatched Exeter Chiefs 26-10 at Thomond Park to book their place in the quarters beating Exeter 34-23 on aggregate.

"Two very proud clubs going at each other, a very unique experience over two legs, but the 16th man pulled us through today." van Graan said in reference to the fans at Thomond Park.

"We as a group said that to claw back the five-point difference would be massive, and the fact that we were unbeaten in the pool stage meant we were always going to finish here at Thomond Park.

"We banked on the crowd, and they were phenomenal today."

Returning from injury, Peter O'Mahony produced a man of the match display that included 14 tackles, three turnovers and five carries.

The Munster boss was certainly impressed by his captain's ability to inspire his side to victory.

"Pete's a man for the big moments and that's why you back your captain to come though in big European games, and we targeted this one," van Graan said.

"We knew that we needed to stay in the fight last week, which we certainly did. Last week they were over the try-line four times and we scrambled, and that five-point deficit, we knew that we needed to claw that back.

"I thought that we started the game pretty well and then came back into it, but from Pete's point of view, that's what you want your captain to do on the big days, perform like that."

"We gave them soft entries last week, with maul and scrum penalties. That was an even battle today, the quality of our hitting was a lot better and our decision better at the breakdown was excellent."

Van Graan savoured praise for flyhalf Joey Carbery describing him as 'a special player' before adding "I said to him early in the week, that when I met him a few years ago I had so much belief in him."

"He's such a special player, and I said to him 'today is the day to lead us through'. He certainly responded, not only with his kicking, but the try he scored.

"He's a phenomenal man, he's been through a lot, but he's led us to victory from a 10 perspective.

"On that note, all 23 players gave it their all, I know Ben Healy didn't get on the pitch, but in terms of being all-in, we were 23 guys."