Munster crash out of Champions Cup in home loss to Castres
Munster's Tadhg Beirne wins a lineout against Castres Olympique at Thomond Park. Picture: INPHO/Nick Elliott
Munster were eliminated from the Champions Cup as Castres capitalised on a sin-binning in the second half to score two converted tries that drove them to a surprise victory at Thomond Park on Saturday evening.
Castres scrum half Jeremy Fernandez capitalised on his team’s fast start by slotting a 40m penalty in the 3rd minute and the early score did not prove to be a wake up call for Munster as Castres kept dominating, with them scoring an excellent try after eleven minutes when Fijian centre Vuate Karawalevu arrived like an express train to splinter the Munster defence and crash over.
The crowd was beginning to think it was going to be one of those nights when Munster finally got moving, with them scoring a wonderful team try in the 18th minute. Tom Farrell and Alex Nankivell combined to feed Thaakir Abrahams down the left and the winger fed it back inside to his supporting openside Jack O’Donoghue, and the Waterford man then popped it to Craig Casey to score.
Casey crossed again in the 35th minute, but this try was a very different try, as it came from an effective maul. The maul was rumbling towards the line and just when it looked to be stopping Casey took the ball from his pack and displayed some brilliant footwork to evade a tackle and dive over in the right corner.
Just when it looked like Munster had grabbed control of the tie they handed momentum back to the French side, as a speculative chip over the top by full back Theo Chabouni was sloppily spilled over his line by O’Donoghue, which allowed Chabouni to dot down, to ensure Castres enjoyed a 12-17 lead at the break.
Munster needed to go up a few gears and Abrahams instigated a move down the right-hand side. After Gavin Coombes had taken a quick tap penalty to get Munster within a few yards of the tryline, Munster went wide and Abrahams fittingly was there to score in the 47th minute.
On the hour mark Munster got the bonus point try when Edwin Edogbo pounced on a loose ball near the Castres tryline and touched down to score, but since Crowley had missed three of the conversions their lead was only five, so the match was very much still alive.
Castres’ tails were certainly up when Tom Farrell was sin-binned in the 63rd minute and Munster were suddenly under the cosh. The visitors battered away at the Munster line and when they eventually went wide winger Geoffrey Palis crossed in the left corner, with Enzo Herve crucially converting from the touchline to give Castres the lead.
In the 73rd minute Castres’ other wing Christian Ambadiang collected a crossfield kick, brushed off Shane Daly and dived over in the right corner to ensure that Munster lost the sinbin period 0-14.
Veteran lock Leone Nakarawa was yellow-carded in the 76th minute to give Munster hope and Edogbo skittled a number of Castres players to score in the 78th minute, but the last chance was squandered, and Munster were eliminated.
J Crowley (2 cons), C Casey, E Edogbo (2 tries each), T Abrahams (1 try).
J Fernandez (1 pen, 2 cons), E Herve (1 con), V Karawalevu, T Chabouni, G Palis, C Ambadiang (1 try each).
S Daly; T Abrahams, T Farrell, A Nankivell, B O’Connor; J Crowley, C Casey; J Loughman, N Scannell, M Ala’alatoa; J Kleyn, F Wycherley; T Beirne (c), J O’Donoghue, G Coombes.
L Barron, E Edogbo, B Gleeson for N Scannell, J Kleyn and J O’Donoghue (48), D Kelly for B O’Connor (56), M Milne and JJ Hanrahan for J Loughman and A Nankivell (61), O Jager for M Ala’alatoa (68).
T Chabouni; C Ambadiang, V Karawalevu, J Goodhue, G Palis; P Popelin, J Fernandez; A Sokobale, L Zarantonello, W Collier; G Maravat, T Staniforth; B Delaporte (capt), B Cope, F Vanverberghe.
A Manu for C Ambadiang (16), C Ambadiang for A Manu (28), A Azar for W Collier (40), Antoine Tichit, Tyler Ardron, Santiago Arata for A Sokobale, J Fernandez and P Popelin (47) T Durand-Pradere for L Zaratonelo (55), L Nakarawa for T Staniforth (56).
M Carley (RFU)
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