Plenty of positives to take from Thomond

IN the sporting arena, the team that reacts best to pressure invariably comes out on top.

As a consequence of Sale’s comprehensive bonus point victory over the Newport Gwent Dragons on Friday night, Munster faced Castres on Saturday a whopping nine points behind the pool leaders. Defeat would almost certainly result in a Heineken Cup exit before the turn of November.

As with all French sides, for Munster to win, they knew they would have to match the power of the massive Castres forward unit. A quick scan of the Thomond Park stand before kick off underlined the scale of the task. In their civvies, Paul O’Connell sat with his hand in a heavy plaster, while Alan Quinlan was on crutches. At home in Cork, in a neck brace, Frankie Sheahan wasn’t able to travel. To compound matters, Limerick was awash with rumours that John Hayes was unfit to start.