'This team dreams big' - Hard times have toughened Munster, says Van Graan

Munster head coach Johann van Graan says his side are battle-hardened as they head into the business end of the season.

The two-time European champions produced their biggest result of the when it was needed most on Saturday, as they overturned a five-point first leg deficit to beat Exeter Chiefs 26-10 on the day and 34-23 on aggregate, to secure a Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final against Toulouse.

Van Graan's side dug deep in the second half at Thomond Park, outscoring the Chiefs 16-0 in the final 30 minutes courtesy of a Damian de Allende try and a conversion and two penalties from Joey Carbery.

As well as securing Munster a record 19th Champions Cup quarter-final, it also halted their two-game losing run, having been beaten by Exeter at Sandy Park in the first leg, on top of their loss to Leinster earlier this month.

The big games are coming thick and fast for the province, who face a crucial United Rugby Championship trip to Ulster on Friday night, and the head coach says they appear to be coming out the right side of a difficult period.

"Yeah, look, to be successful you need to come through hard times and we've lost a few close ones over the last few weekends," Van Graan said.

"Obviously the Leinster game didn't go our way but we kept just focusing on ourselves, going through our process which I felt we did really well.

"As I've said before, this team dreams big dreams and we've got big dreams for the season. In order for us to get through to a European quarter-final, stating the very obvious, we needed to come through today by more than five and we came through with 11, so we'll take 11.

"We've enjoyed this season from a group perspective inside. I know there's a lot of noise on the outside but inside it's been a very