MUNSTER WILL TRAVEL home from Castres today having suffered a worrying injury toll during their Champions Cup defeat to the French side last night.
Scrum-half Craig Casey left Pierre Stade Fabre on crutches and in a knee brace, while wing Thaakir Abrahams dislocated his shoulder during the bruising 16-14 defeat to Castres.
Back row Peter O’Mahony limped off with a knee injury, loosehead prop Dian Bleuler suffered a head injury, his replacement Dave Kilcoyne had to be withdrawn with cramp, and there will be other bumps and bruises today after an attritional game.
Casey’s knee injury is among the most concerning, with the 25-year-old carried off in the second half in obvious pain.
“You saw Craig’s, Craig’s is pretty serious,” said Munster interim head coach Ian Costello last night.
“He came off in crutches. We don’t know the extent of that yet but you could see he left the pitch in a bit of pain.
“It looked like his studs got stuck in the ground. He was sore coming off the field, I don’t know any more than that at the moment.”
As well as being a key man for Munster, Casey finished the November series strongly for Ireland and appears to have strengthened his position in the national squad, so a long-term injury now would be cruel.
The same is true of South African wing Thaakir Abrahams, who only recently returned from a leg injury.
Abrahams suffered his shoulder injury in an illegal tackle by Castres number eight Abraham Papali’i that was sanctioned with a penalty.
“Thaakir in that tackle dislocated his shoulder, you know, or it certainly popped out,” said Costello.
The Munster boss is hopeful Ireland international O’Mahony will recover quickly after he “got a stud in the calf” and limped off in the second half. The 35-year-old flanker also had heavy strapping around his right ankle for the game.
Bleuler will go into the return-to-play protocols after suffering a heavy blow to the head while making a no-arms tackle.
The South African prop was forced off just after the 20-minute mark meaning Kilcoyne had to dig deep on his return from a year on the sidelines through injury. Kilcoyne was replaced in the closing minutes due to cramp.
Costello confirmed that 20-year-old number eight Brian Gleeson hadn’t been injured when he came off for Jack O’Donoghue in the second half.
Gleeson was on the end of an illegal high tackle by Castres’ Quentin Walcker in the first half for which the loosehead was sin-binned, but Gleeson played on at that stage.
“The two medics were there and very comfortable with where he was at. He took a shoulder to the head but they felt he was absolutely fine,” said Costello.
“He’s in the dressing room now absolutely fine. We took him off to bring Jack into the game, nothing to do with that knock.”
All in all, it was a tough night for Munster on the injury front.
“As always when you come to a place like this, it’s a punishing, attritional performance and there’s a few guys we’ll have to watch really closely over the next couple of days to see if they’re good for next week,” said Costello.
The southern province travel to Ulster next weekend in the URC and will be eager to atone for their poor performance in Castres.
Costello and his fellow coaches were disappointed with the number of errors they made in defeat at Stade Pierre Fabre.
“Really disappointing, particularly the first half,” he said.
“We started really poorly and that’s something we’ve been working really hard on. We probably overplayed in our half and uncharacteristically kicked away a bit of ball in their half. We had good opportunities so we were very lucky to be 10-7 down at half time.
“That gave us a lot of belief, a lot of trust. Ultimately, we had our chances but 17 penalties, some from their pressure and they obviously had a very strong scrum but some were within our control, I would say, where we chased a lot of breakdowns.
“Our discipline let us down at key times so we lost that footing to have a chance in that second half.”
Munster did at least come away with a losing point point to add to last weekend’s try-scoring bonus-point win over Stade Français but it felt like scant consolation.
“I know at the end of January that could be really important and going on the road in France and getting a point is important but right now, there’s elements of the performance we’re really disappointed with,” said Costello.
“We have a lot of good work done over the last five or six weeks, so we get a chance to reset and go out next week in the URC.”
Sometimes injuries are just a lottery and nothing to do with S&C as some people have suggested in the past. An illegal tackle, a stud in the calf, studs caught in the grass etc. For Munster and Ireland the most frustrating injury is Casey’s. He is pivotal for Munster and IMO playing better than JGP at the moment.
@Tom Reilly: He’s only had one game where played better than JGP for Ireland (the last game against Australia and he was exceptional on the day). Let’s see how he goes after he recovers.
@Tom Reilly: yes, some injuries are unlucky but when you have continuous run of an above abnormal injury rate, it’s not just down to luck. It seems it’s being addressed now and I believe that’s why there was a parting of ways between Munster and certain coaches.
It’s 1 step forward 2 back when it comes to injuries and munster
@Cian Halley: a bit like their phase play last night.
@Conor Lynott: Read my post about S&C. It may enlighten you. We in Leinster have a load of injuries, many long term.
Lost by 2 points calm down everyone comments on here are getting worse
@Shanie: exactly. If I was offered a losing bonus point 24 hours ago, I would have taken it
@5sZl1dX2: You’re a good loser
I think the worrying thing for Munster is without POM and Beirne they can’t compete against any top half URC side or in the champions cup and the younger guys coming through are not exactly showing much. Castres were so comfortbale in defense last night with 15 men, the yellow cards gave Munster an in. They haven’t a hope of beating Saracens or Saints, Challenge cup is a good competition for them to compete.
@Eoin H: it is because we were missing 2 of those “younger guys that aren’t showing much” (casey and coombes) that we lost, also wasn’t 24yr old hodnett the man who got us back into the game? Is he also a young guy who doesn’t show much?
@Eoin H: ‘team looks worse without its best players’
Jesus pretty shrewd analysis there champ
@Eoin H: Saracens are not great, Munster will beat them at home. Possibly with the bonus point too.
@Aidan Farrell: You are delusional and out of touch if you think that’ll happen. Saracens have a very powerful dynamic pack, Earl, Itoje, Isiekwe, McFarland, Gonzalez, Tom Willis. With that back 5 alone they’ll dominate
@munsterman: Beirne and POM are excellent stoppers, probably the most niggly players to play against in the game. Excellent breakdown threats and technically very good at defending mauls. If both them are gone Munster wouldn’t even be anyway competitive
@Cian Halley: Europe is the barometer as to whether you can play test rugby or not, and there’s a strong correlation between Munsters results in Europe the last few years and their players not being picked for Ireland shows that. Some Munster fans think good performance vs a rotated Dragons or Zebre = Ireland test jersey. That’s not how it works. Just look at the crowd like Harry Barry that was calling for Scott Wilson to be in an Ireland 23 and he gets absolutely tuned by Jack Boyle at the scrum, who Ireland didn’t even think was ready for test rugby.
@Eoin H: Sarries could send the B team.
@Aidan Farrell: The top English sides never do that in this competition to be fair, especially Saracens who take pride in this competition. Genuinely I reckon there’s more chance of Leinster losing today than Saracens not beating Munster.
@Eoin H: How on earth did Bundee, Hansen & Bealham ever get picked for Ireland so? An exceptional player can still shine through whilst playing for a losing team in Europe. And the moment you start referring to Harry Barry you are losing me.
@Aidan Farrell: Bath and Leicester (in the knock outs) have done it very recently. I don’t expect Sarries to do it unless they feel they need to prioritise the Prem.
@Eoin H: but 80% of the team in ERC regularly send out B or C teams. so how is it a good barometer?
@Paul Ennis: Bundee was clearly a freakish talent, that’s an exception. Hansen had an outstanding performance against Leinster in the Reds in 2021 before being called up for the 2022 six nations. Some areas where we don’t have depth you just have to go with what you’ve got, but certainly the competitive positions in the Ireland squad Farrell is picking the best players, no doubt about that
@Niall English: I mean that’s just nonsense isn’t it. Some teams pick and choose for home and away games but that’s just not true. When is the last big scalp Munster had, Stormers away is not exactly the most impressive given they’ve lost to plenty of teams at home. It’s sad really that Munsters reaction to defeats is too shove all the blame onto great servants like Archer, Scannell and Ryan to protect the credibility of their young players. Personally think there’s a lot worse scrims in the comp than Munster, Castres are actually just a very strong scrummaging side in Europe.
@Eoin H: I’d rather not play any European rugby than play in the Challenge Cup. That competition is only to keep the likes of Connacht happy while proper teams are battling it out
@Eoin H: Leinster’s European results and lack of wins are more worrying if that is the case! Can’t put all our eggs in one fragile basket.
@David Gaffney: Their mental fragility has really come to the fore in recent years. Bottle jobs.
@Cian Halley: You could add Aherne & Kendellan to the young guys who are showing up well.
@D Farrell: 100%
@Eoin H: which younger players aren’t showing enough? Coombes, Hodnett, Ahern, have all largely been exceptional for Munster over the last two or three years. Vastly better than previous players who came through prior. Dave Foley, Dave O’Callaghan, Darren O’Shea – were the forward youth for a while and we didn’t see anything from them. (No offence to them, they were just remotely close to the crop of backrow and lock talent coming through now.) even the better ones, like Tommy O’Donnell, I’d prefer today’s crop.
@Eoin H: there are no Munster fans who think a good performance against zebre automatically warrants test caps. lol. Do better Eoin.
Didn’t respect Castres. “squad rotation” call it what you like, the idea that you can let two fundamental players out of the most strategically important game of an CC campaign (first away game) is mad. Hopefully Costello has learned from this, unfortunately it’s another year and a different coach before we get to try and do it the right way (thats if we stay alive long enough to be in the competition). Feel for Casey, those defensive kicks to the halfway line are exceptional. Some hard games coming too.
@Thesaltyurchin: Outside the traditional big 4 Saracens are an awful match up for Munster. They’ll do the appropriate analysis on them and physically do a job on them up front.
@Eoin H: who are the traditional big 4?
@Niall English: UBB, Leinster, Stade Toulousain and La Rochelle. Tbf, La Rochelle look like an old team now and won’t be competing for it this season. Toulon are dark horses, they pretty much have a complete side.
@Eoin H: yeah definitely not a thing. In what way are UBB, whose best result in Europe so far as been a couple of quarterfinals, part of some kind of ‘traditional’ top 4?
@Conor Lynott: cop on to yourself
@Thesaltyurchin: Yaw… We hod non-slip paving instolled on Anglesea Road lost yar, Loike.
@Paul Ennis: ;)
@Conor Lynott: the footpaths are very slippy in Limerick. Been saying it for years!
Could be a serious knee injury for Casey, by the looks of it. To be fair Patterson did well when he came in, he should now be first choice ahead of Murray – who is a pale shadow of the player he was. Front row issues again continue to haunt Munster, minced in crucial scrums once more. Munster still wheeling out Ryan and Kilcoyne year after year, it’s incredible how and why they refuse to rectify it.
@Aidan Farrell: I know, like most other clubs they’d just go out and sign the front row players they need. Oh wait….
@munsterman: to be fair over the last 5 seasons I say it’s pretty even in terms of the amount of props each of the provinces has signed. I say Ulster have signed the least of all four provinces. Munster have signed 4/5 props over the last 5 seasons, Leinster 4 Connacht 4/5.
@Ian1989: Plus there’s the fact you can’t take on debt to build a stadium and when your struggling to repay it not expect the lender to impose some constraints.
@Eoin H: not struggling to pay it. they are meeting the annual repayment structure set out in the terms of the loan agreement.
@munsterman: Archer, Ryan, Warwick, Buckley etc will still be going at 45. Didn’t realise that DH was such an expert on props.
@Justin Robinson: Tbf im actually not against sending Gus Mccarthy to Munster, he’s an outstanding scrummaging Hooker for his age and would massively improve them there. People blame the props but genuinely neglect how important a hooker is in the scrum and Scannell and Barron are not powerful enough vs the top sides
@Eoin H: leinster scrum gets blown off the field every week by every ref
@munsterman: if Porter had been born and raised in the South African or French system , he’d be one of if not the most destructive scrummagers in the world. But in fact as you say, he gets whistled off the park often against props he’d have a natural power advantage over. His technique is perceived as poor or illegal by many refs (can they all be wrong?). We know the issues with the schools game and scrummaging but rather than barring the provinces from having NIQ props, the IRFU must find away of making sure we have props who will not produce displays
@Michael Corkery: like the one we saw last night from Munster
@Niall English: Yeah very helpful when it’s an interest free loan payable over 100 years!
@Eoin H: The scrum is one of the few areas where Munster doesn’t have an issue. While Killer had issues last night, he has been out for a long time and got a lot more time than expected last night, as shown by the cramp. The stats show Munster has by far the best scrum of the Irish teams.
@Carmine Lorenzo: a Leinster troll can’t mock Munster on stadia. Leinster blew 12 million on Donnybrook before doing a feasibility test that showed they couldn’t expand it to the required level. Now they pay other sports organisations for their grounds. Munster developed two stadia that are owned by IRFU / Munster rugby
Wig is to blame for these injuries
Terrible pitch conditions on top of a hostile atmosphere. The less we have to go back there the better
@Sam Bingham: Dwarfism is a growing problem
@Conor Lynott: You would know
@Conor Lynott: you a wee child who know doubt has a leinster shrine in the bedroom. At least try to offer something constructive and fair, rather than this bias rhetoric you spout constantly. And dwarfism? You look like you’re two hands higher than a duck.
@Conor Lynott: youre a pathetic child. And you’re recent comments have only reinforced that.