Munster in shootout with old rivals Castres with Champions Cup campaign on the line
Picture: INPHO/Dan Sheridan
Munster find themselves in a straight old-fashioned Champions Cup shootout with old foes Castres on Saturday, with them requiring victory at Thomond Park to ensure their European campaign does not end prematurely.
To say these two clubs know each other well would be an understatement.
The match on Saturday will be the 19th meeting between the two clubs in European competition, with their being a healthy rivalry between them ever since Peter Clohessy and Ismaelle Lassissi traded blows and even bites back in 2002.
The first meeting took place way back in 1995, in what was Munster’s first ever away adventure in the European Cup, just after rugby crossed the Rubicon into professionalism, with the French side winning 19-12 at home.
Castres would win three of the first seven games from 1995 to 2004, but from that point on Munster have dominated the rivalry, with the one draw, in Castres, occurring in 2017, while a year later they won by the minimum, on a scoreline of 13-12, at the Stade Pierre-Fabre.
These results mean that Munster have only lost one of the last eleven games against Castres.
While Castres have historically proved to be a thorn in Munster’s side at times, they have never managed to pierce Munster’s skin in Limerick, with Munster enjoying a 100% record on home soil against Castres in their eight meetings at Thomond Park.
There were close calls, for sure, such as the narrow 19-13 victory in 2021, when a Jack O’Donoghue try proved to be the difference, as Ben Healy directed affairs from outhalf, but Munster have always emerged on the right side on home soil.
A defeat would not only mean failure to qualify for the knockout stages of the competition, but it would also probably mean finishing bottom of Pool 2 and missing out on the Challenge Cup too, which would be disastrous to their season.
Munster go into the weekend in 4th place in the table (with four teams qualifying for the knockout stages), with them only ahead of Gloucester thanks to a superior points difference. The English side host Toulon, who beat Munster last weekend.
Toulon fielded a second-string side against La Rochelle two weeks ago and lost 66-0, so Munster must assume that Gloucester might be facing a much weaker side than they did last week in France, and that Gloucester might get all five points on offer.
Therefore, Munster must get five points themselves. Grab the lot and qualification will be assured.
You would imagine that a display similar to the one they put together in Toulon should be enough to get the job done, assuming, of course, that Castres do not send their A team to Thomond Park.
Munster played some quality rugby on Sunday, ending up a whisker away from another famous victory on French soil, only to be denied by an incredibly harsh and controversial penalty at the death.
There were negatives, however, which ultimately cost Munster, with their indiscipline being the main one of these. Tadhg Beirne’s yellow card just before half-time ended up being extremely costly, with Munster losing that 10-minute period where they were down a man 14-0.
It is worth remembering that Beirne was also sinb-inned in the first half against Bath, with Munster losing that ten minute period 21-0.
Yellow cards happen at this level of rugby, but they do not have to be so costly.
Craig Casey looked to have picked up a serious shoulder injury last week but there has been good news on that front in recent days, with him not being completely ruled out for the weekend.
Calvin Nash has been ruled out unfortunately, but the hope is that Tom Ahern, Jean Kleyn, Diarmuid Barron and Oli Jager might all be in contention for the weekend, as Munster look to field a 23 that should be strong enough to get over the line once more.
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