'The pressure is on' - Craig Casey says Munster have no choice but to seal Champions Cup spot in Cork

Munster need a victory at a sold-out Virgin Media Park to ensure a place in the end-of-season URC play-offs and qualification for the 2025-26 Champions Cup.

COOL CASEY: Munster Rugby scrum-half Craig Casey, pictured at the C11 Recovery partnership announcement with Munster Rugby at Thomond Park. Pic: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan.

Craig Casey has described the prospect of failing to qualify for next season’s Champions Cup as “inconceivable” as Munster prepare for a make-or-break last game of the regular season against Benetton in Cork on Friday night.

Munster’s season hangs in the balance going into round 18 of the league campaign, occupying the last of eight qualifying positions in the standings and needing a victory at a sold-out Virgin Media Park to ensure a place in the end-of-season URC play-offs and qualification for the 2025-26 Champions Cup.

Failure to do so would mean a first season without a place in the top-flight European competition in the 30-year history of the competition, Munster having played Swansea in the first game of the inaugural campaign at Thomond Park on November 1, 1995. For a club that won it twice, played in a further two finals and another 10 semi-finals, relegation to the second-tier Challenge Cup would strike a damaging blow, not least to Munster’s finances.

Casey, speaking at his unveiling as an ambassador for Munster’s global recovery equipment partners C11, recognised what is at stake this Friday.

“Munster and the Heineken Cup and the Champions Cup, it’s something - we have no choice - we have to be there to be honest," Casey said. “The pressure is on this weekend, it would be inconceivable not to be there.

“We’ve got to show up this weekend and do ourselves justice and then it’s knockout rugby from then on, and you’ve got a chance to win a trophy. We’ll look after this weekend first and look at the rest after that.” 

The new partnership will see C11 Recovery, a leading Irish brand and global provider of recovery services for elite athletes, become the Official Recovery Partner to Munster Rugby. Pic: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan.

Munster went into knockout rugby mode from last weekend, beating Ulster at Thomond Park to keep their season alive and Casey echoed defence coach Denis Leamy’s assertion on Monday that the do-or-die mentality was part of his province’s DNA.

“I’d be confident in us that if we put our game onto it, we’ll test any team. And we know how to win knockout games. The run we went on a few years ago (a draw and four wins) to win a trophy and we did that. I think we won 11 in a row to finish first (last season), now we didn’t go on to win the thing so that is disappointing in itself, (but) we have kind of knockout pedigrees in us, the La Rochelle game will stand to us, the learnings from the Bordeaux game as well, please god there is more knockout games to come.” 

While there is still plenty of rugby potentially left in the campaign, Casey, 26, acknowledged his disappointment in missing out on Lions tour selection last Thursday. He had returned from four months sidelined by a knee injury in April and stated his desire to tour Australia this summer but on Tuesday spoke about losing out to the chosen nines, Jamison Gibson-Park, Alex Mitchell and Tomos Williams.

"I definitely wanted to be there. I am gutted to be honest. I was gutted on Thursday. It's hard sitting there watching the announcement and it's going on for a good while, it looked like a cool little spectacle, you're waiting, hoping for your name to be called out, and then it went straight to Elliot Daly, that's when you know because of the alphabet.

"It was probably a good thing to get straight back into it on Friday night. I took Thursday to be disappointed because I was gutted. It's a dream I’ve always had. I earmarked it this season so I won't shy away from it now that I'm not picked.

"It's definitely something I would still love to go on. I probably have a bit of youth on my side that I could get two tours, please god, if I do put my hand up in a few years’ time. And who knows what happens from here on in. There is a lot of rugby still to be played.

"I have just come off the back of an injury, so I wouldn't wish injury on any of those three (nines) that have been picked. They are really good players. I am disappointed but it was nice to get back onto the field on Friday night against Ulster."

Casey admitted he chose to watch the squad announcement in isolation.

"I said I'd watch it by myself. I was actually with all the lads, we had just finished the captain's run and we were out for lunch. I was like 'Nah, I'm rushing home.' They were like 'Ah, stay.' I was like 'Not a hope am I watching it with all ye dopes!'

"My parents and my girlfriend were working, so I said I'd watch it in a room by myself and then I stayed in that room by myself for another two-and-a-half hours after that!"