Munster grind out Champions Cup victory over dogged Castres
TOUCHDOWN: Munster back row Jack O'Donoghue squeezes over in the corner for the night's only try against Castres at Thomond Park.Â
Munster stretched their unbeaten home run in European pool matches to 15 as they saw off a dogged Castres on Saturday night in Limerick to make it two wins from two in this season’s Heineken Champions Cup.
There was little of the drama that had accompanied the province’s heroics in securing a bonus-point victory at Wasps without 30-plus senior players six days earlier but with some of those experienced players back in harness and head coach Johann van Graan and assistants Stephen Larkham and JP Ferreira back in the coaching box it was business as usual in front of a big crowd at Thomond Park.
Those crowds may be much reduced after this weekend following the reintroduction of capped capacities by the Government in the wake of the Covid-19 Omicron surge, but Munster will still be in the hunt for qualification to the knockout stages if or when the competition is able to resume in January.
Four penalties and a conversion of Jack O’Donoghue’s 58th-minute try were enough to deliver the second defeat of Castres’ campaign following their round-one loss at home to Harlequins, though they battled throughout and posed Munster a number of problems, not least a 76th-minute converted try.
No teams have played each other more in this competition and this 17th meeting saw Munster start as if they had every intention of making it an eighth straight home victory over their old foes.
The previous seven visits by the French club had seen them lose by an average margin of 22 points while 12 trips to Ireland was yet to yield a victory and three first-half penalties from the boot of fly-half Ben Healy, in for the luckless Joey Carbery who had suffered a fractured elbow at Wasps, confirmed Munster’s domination of the opening period.
They should have scored more than those nine points, though, an overcooked lineout on 21 minutes inside the Castres 22 led to the concession of a ruck penalty with Tadhg Beirne not releasing while dogged defence frustrated the home side.
When Damien de Allende did get over the line on 33 minutes after another Munster attack, a lengthy deliberation by referee Matthew Carley and his TMO Ian Tempest finally deemed the Springbok centre had lost control of the ball in the act of touching down under pressure from Castres scrum-half Santiago Arta and the visitors were off the hook once again.
They even went in with points of their own on the board, veteran fly-half Benjamin Urdapiletta kicking a penalty in the 29th minute to give his side a toehold in this contest as they went into the break trailing just 9-3.
Castres could have been even closer to parity if full-back Thomas Larregain had kicked the long-range penalty offered up by Munster just after the second half got underway but Munster survived and warmed to their task, 19-year-old full-back Patrick Campbell enjoying his home debut after a first senior appearance at Wasps with a neat carry soon afterwards and a scrum boosted by the return of an all-senior front five winning its second penalty of the night on 49 minutes. Healy took on the kick from halfway and got the range but his attempt drifted wide of the posts.
It did not take much longer for Munster to get their reward, their pressure this time delivering a try in the right corner that had much to do with Jack O’Donoghue’s strength and determination to power through full-back Larregain with a tackler hanging on in vain as he grounded the ball in the corner. It was a try all the way thought yet again Carley and his TMO took an age to reach their decision that it was good and when eventually it was awarded, Healy’s touchline conversion gave Munster a more respectable 16-3 lead heading into the final quarter.
It was far from plain sailing, Urdapiletta adding a penalty soon after O’Donoghue’s converted try and Castres creating a nervous final few minutes with a try from No.8 Kevin Kornath four minutes from time, the conversion securing a second losing bonus point for the Frenchmen.
Yet Munster survived further discomfort to secure back-to-back European wins.
: P Campbell; A Conway, C Farrell, D de Allende, K Earls; B Healy (J Crowley, 70), C Murray (C Casey, 70); D Kilcoyne (J Wycherley, 53), N Scannell (D Barron, 53) , J Ryan (K Knox, 53); J Kleyn (J Jenkins, 62), T Beirne; P O’Mahony - captain, J Hodnett (A Kendellen, 71), J O’Donoghue (J O’Sullivan, 70).
: T Larregain; B Guillemin (L Le Brun, 70 - HIA), T Combezou, P Aguillon, F Nakosi (A Zeghdar, 65); B Urdapilleta, S Arata (R Kockott, 51); W De Benedittis (J Nostadt, h-t), G Barlot (B Humbert, h-t), W Hounkpatin (A Guillamon, h-t); L Jacquet - captain, T Hannoyer (J Whetton, 51) ; N Champion De Crespigny (M Kafatolu, 65), S Meka, K Kornath.
: Matthew Carley (England)
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