THOMOND PARK HAS played host to so many memorable European nights but Saturday’s defeat to Castres will live in the memory for the wrong reasons. A 31-29 loss dumped Munster out of the Champions Cup and left players, coaches and supporters cursing a litany of painfully familiar problems.
Earlier in the evening there had been plenty of moments to enjoy across a thrilling battle between two sides going head-to-head for the 20th time – Craig Casey’s inspired first-half showing, Thaakir Abrahams’ fast feet and the wonderfully worked tries Munster managed to piece together, before Edwin Edogbo’s late power-punch off the bench, but ultimately, those positives were washed away by a brilliant Castres side who fought hard and played some devastating rugby while taking full advantage of Munster’s shortcomings.
As the last of the Munster fans trudged out of the ground, the Castres squad celebrated with a small band of travelling supporters, savouring a famous win.
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Toulon’s 31-14 win at Gloucester in Saturday’s late game confirmed Munster will drop into the Challenge Cup, with the province away from home in the round of 16 on the weekend of 3/4/5 April – with their opponents to be confirmed on Sunday evening. This group could well make a good go of that competition, but it will feel a world away from their glorious win in La Rochelle at the same time last year.
This was an utterly deflating night for the province. Clayton McMillan’s team have now lost four games in a row, with this latest defeat ensuring they failed to qualify for the Champions Cup knockouts for the first time since the Covid-hit 2020/21 season.
Post-game, McMillan joined his captain, Tadhg Beirne, in the media room, where the pair reflected on the various issues which cost them so dearly. There was no hiding from the skill and execution errors which proved so damaging, but more concerning were the mental lapses which creeped into a must-win game.
“I felt like when we went ahead, we were good and then we just lost our way briefly,” Beirne said.
“We probably dug ourselves into a little hole, probably over-playing in our half a little bit at that point, but that had been working for us in the game so it’s hard to go back and say we shouldn’t have done that as well, so they got a penalty, we were under pressure then and a few other things.
“They took a quick lineout and all of a sudden we were under pressure again. A few things that we just weren’t ready for and we weren’t switched on and we weren’t good enough in those moments and they were able to exert more pressure onto us and capitalised on it.”
Munster scored five tries on the night but were cut open by their hosts as Castres scored four. Crucially, the French side converted each one and landed an early penalty, whereas Munster only converted two of five from the tee.
In a game that rarely let up, Castres came out fighting and finished strong, building an early 10-0 lead and then scoring 14 without reply during the period Munster were reduced to 14 men during the final quarter. That marked the second time in a week Munster shipped 14 while down a man.
“I think we’ll be disappointed with our first-half performance, defensively, for sure,” Beirne added.
“We fell off too many tackles and just left them into the game that way, and then obviously a few penalties as well.
“I think attack-wise it felt like we were exploiting them quite well. It’s just defensively, particularly in the first-half, we just weren’t where we needed to be unfortunately, and it was the losing of game really.”
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Castres exploit familiar Munster issues on a deflating night at Thomond Park
THOMOND PARK HAS played host to so many memorable European nights but Saturday’s defeat to Castres will live in the memory for the wrong reasons. A 31-29 loss dumped Munster out of the Champions Cup and left players, coaches and supporters cursing a litany of painfully familiar problems.
Earlier in the evening there had been plenty of moments to enjoy across a thrilling battle between two sides going head-to-head for the 20th time – Craig Casey’s inspired first-half showing, Thaakir Abrahams’ fast feet and the wonderfully worked tries Munster managed to piece together, before Edwin Edogbo’s late power-punch off the bench, but ultimately, those positives were washed away by a brilliant Castres side who fought hard and played some devastating rugby while taking full advantage of Munster’s shortcomings.
As the last of the Munster fans trudged out of the ground, the Castres squad celebrated with a small band of travelling supporters, savouring a famous win.
Toulon’s 31-14 win at Gloucester in Saturday’s late game confirmed Munster will drop into the Challenge Cup, with the province away from home in the round of 16 on the weekend of 3/4/5 April – with their opponents to be confirmed on Sunday evening. This group could well make a good go of that competition, but it will feel a world away from their glorious win in La Rochelle at the same time last year.
This was an utterly deflating night for the province. Clayton McMillan’s team have now lost four games in a row, with this latest defeat ensuring they failed to qualify for the Champions Cup knockouts for the first time since the Covid-hit 2020/21 season.
Post-game, McMillan joined his captain, Tadhg Beirne, in the media room, where the pair reflected on the various issues which cost them so dearly. There was no hiding from the skill and execution errors which proved so damaging, but more concerning were the mental lapses which creeped into a must-win game.
“I felt like when we went ahead, we were good and then we just lost our way briefly,” Beirne said.
“We probably dug ourselves into a little hole, probably over-playing in our half a little bit at that point, but that had been working for us in the game so it’s hard to go back and say we shouldn’t have done that as well, so they got a penalty, we were under pressure then and a few other things.
“They took a quick lineout and all of a sudden we were under pressure again. A few things that we just weren’t ready for and we weren’t switched on and we weren’t good enough in those moments and they were able to exert more pressure onto us and capitalised on it.”
Munster scored five tries on the night but were cut open by their hosts as Castres scored four. Crucially, the French side converted each one and landed an early penalty, whereas Munster only converted two of five from the tee.
In a game that rarely let up, Castres came out fighting and finished strong, building an early 10-0 lead and then scoring 14 without reply during the period Munster were reduced to 14 men during the final quarter. That marked the second time in a week Munster shipped 14 while down a man.
“I think we’ll be disappointed with our first-half performance, defensively, for sure,” Beirne added.
“We fell off too many tackles and just left them into the game that way, and then obviously a few penalties as well.
“I think attack-wise it felt like we were exploiting them quite well. It’s just defensively, particularly in the first-half, we just weren’t where we needed to be unfortunately, and it was the losing of game really.”
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European Rugby Champions Cup Munster Rugby Second best Tadhg Beirne