Five more European debutants the primary positive for blunt Munster

It was the experienced aces like de Allende, Farrell and the normally flawless Earls who will have reason to look back on their skill execution with disappointment

FLY KICK: Munster rookie Patrick Campbell clears downfield despite pressure from Castres' Pierre Aguillon on Saturday at Thomond Park. 

This was bordering on sporting cruelty. Thomond Park welcomed its biggest crowd since the first Coronavirus lockdown in March 2020, reminding all present of what great Heineken Cup nights in Limerick looked and sounded like, even if this outing didn't quite live up to expectations.

Next week, Munster will take to the hallowed turf again, this time to a muted audience of 5,000 as they welcome Leinster for the traditional St Stephen's Dday joust. Given the emotional rollercoaster ride Munster have endured over the last two months, the players will just take the latest setback in relation to crowd restrictions in their stride.

The big winners from Saturday night's disappointing 19-13 win over Castres were the bean counters in Munster’s financial department who’ve been under considerable stress for some time. That said, any temporary relief from an attendance approaching 20,000 will be tempered by the fact that an even bigger refund will have to be returned to the twenty odd thousand fans who had purchased tickets for the festive outing against Leo Cullen’s men.

Then again, we live in strange times and should be grateful for the live sport we do get to witness.

With five Champions Cup games postponed in this round due to the French government’s decision to toughen its restrictions around travel to and from the UK, this tournament is descending into chaos.

Castres president Pierre-Yves Revol made it absolutely clear that, in the current circumstances, they didn't want to travel to Ireland as they would be the only one of the seven competing French clubs playing in this round.

History has told us that, in this competition, if a French side has an excuse to down tools away from home, they normally take that option. In fact, Castres record is appalling with just four wins to show from 43 Heineken Cup games on the road over the years.

In the end, Munster were so blunt in attack on a perfect night for handling and passing that Castres, despite leaving the majority of their frontliners at home, were offered every incentive to keep going until the final whistle. Returning home with a losing bonus point will only serve to perk their interest for the return journey next month.

Perhaps we shouldn’t have been surprised, given the emotional energy invested, both in the build up and in the game itself against Wasps in round one, that Munster were off the boil in the opening half of this one.

Sloppy in attack - on three occasions they passed to a Castres player while in a decent position - Munster butchered their only real try scoring opportunity in the first half when Damien de Allende had a try dubiously disallowed on the intervention of the TMO.

While his disputed try led to a prolonged delay as the officials adjudicated on the merits of the score, the real issue was that de Allende had a clear two-man overlap outside him and should have passed the ball. Munster were certain to score.

A Castres penalty immediately afterwards turned what should have been a 13-point lead at the break into a manageable six-point deficit for the French visitors and the incentive to carry the game to Munster in the third quarter. In the end it took another highly contentious score from Jack O'Donoghue to put a bit of daylight between the teams.

Munster’s blunt attack was in no way reflective of Ben Healy’s performance at out half in place of the unfortunate Joey Carbery. While his kicking game was even more impactful than usual, he attacked flat on the gain line and also displayed a beautiful range of passing and off loading skills.

Ironically it was the more experienced trio of de Allende, Chris Farrell and the normally flawless Keith Earls who will have reason to look back on their skill execution with disappointment.

Encouragingly it was the younger brigade that caught the eye once again with Patrick Campbell backing up his excellent performance against Wasps with another positive showing here. The revamped front row of Josh Wycherley, Diarmuid Barron and Keynan Knox, introduced as a package on 53 minutes, anchored the scrum solidly against a massive Castres replacement front row and contributed well in broken play.

Summer signing Jason Jenkins finally made his Munster debut after six months in camp and, on first viewing, looks physical and abrasive while Jack Crowley also showed some decent touches in a ten-minute cameo.

In addition to the 12 European debutants who featured against Wasps, another five players in Barron, Knox, Jenkins, Crowley and Alex Kendellen made their Heineken Champions Cup debut on Saturday. That proved far more noteworthy that anything produced by Munster on the field of play in a performance best forgotten.

Being beaten on the field is one thing. To have five points stripped from you in the manner Leinster did, despite having a fit and able match day 23m including 12 starting internationals, ready to fly to Montpellier on Friday is hugely disappointing.

Therefore it came as no surprise to me that Leinster, given the wide ranging implications of the decision to cancel their fixture, intend to appeal given that Montpellier had Covid issues of their own and five other Champions Cup fixtures were postponed, albeit for those French government imposed UK travel issues, over the weekend.

This one is set to rumble into the New Year but, given that Wasps had four new Covid cases on the eve of the Munster game last week and were still allowed to play, Leinster have valid grounds for seeking a review.

Connacht performed heroically yesterday in defeat at Welford Road but at least had a losing bonus point to show for their impressive display. The Leicester Tigers scrum proved too strong in the second half and once Finley Bealham was yellow carded for a scrum infringement too many, the game turned with Leicester registering 14 points in his absence.

Given that Leicester remain unbeaten in 13 games across all competitions this season, Connacht’s losing bonus point was not only a well deserved extra but keeps them well in contention to make the knockout phase.

Fitting too that Jack Carty should have bagged the bonus point with a drop goal at the death as he was the catalyst for some outstanding Connacht attacking play throughout. With Carbery ruled out through his latest injury, Carty must be coming into serious contention for a slot in Andy Farrell’s Six Nations squad as back up to Johnny Sexton. He has been excellent in all of Connacht’s impressive displays of late.