What-ifs galore but battling bonus keeps hopes of progress alive for Munster

Munster kept qualification hopes alove ahead of the final round of Champions Cup pool action this Saturday, with a visit to Thomond Park by old foes Castres.

BATTLE: Munster's Tom Farrell dejected after the match. Pic: ©INPHO/Billy Stickland.

Champions Cup: Toulon 27 Munster 25 

Some familiar themes from Munster’s great European heritage emerged after this narrow defeat in France on Sunday afternoon.

A severe case of the ‘what ifs’ is a common trait in the Munster back catalogue and it was resurrected once more following a second loss of their Champions Cup Pool 2 campaign, which came at a jam-packed Stade Felix Mayol on the back of a controversial late penalty awarded by referee Karl Dickson.

Also familiar is the scenario which has now unfolded, with Munster’s final round of Champions Cup pool action this Saturday coming with a visit to Thomond Park by old foes Castres for the last lap of the race towards the knockout rounds.

The annual assessment of permutations has never been so complicated following the third round of games in Pool 2, with five of its six teams still in with a shout of progressing to April’s Round of 16. That Munster will welcome the one team which cannot advance bodes well for their bid for victory, with Castres now likely to turn their focus back to the Top 14 following last Friday’s 43-20 home loss to Bath and excuse many of their frontline players from a weekend in Limerick.

Yet from Munster’s point of view, the picture is only looking so hopeful thanks to the final-play intervention at Stade Felix Mayol when Jack Crowley and Ruadhan Quinn held up a diving Tomas Albornoz over the visitors’ tryline.

Had Toulon’s Argentina fly-half scored, it would have delivered a try bonus point for the French club and taken away Munster’s losing bonus point in the process, making progress to the knockout stages all the more difficult.

As it stands, the Munster duo’s commitment to the cause during a desperate last stand has given their team the platform to springboard into Saturday’s pool finale with increased optimism than the alternative outcome, as Clayton McMillan recognised in his post-match comments at the Mayol.

“Oh yeah, every point in this competition, in any competition is good, and will prove crucial in the long run,” McMillan said.

“I don't want to take away the disappointment of having lost the game, but if you're going to get some sort of consolation, that was one, I think we fronted up for the game, and two, we managed to walk away with a point, which could be important.” 

The head coach’s satisfaction at his players’ fronting up stemmed from the reaction he got after a dreadful performance the previous weekend when Munster failed to land a punch on derby rivals Ulster and sank to a 28-3 URC defeat. It was that reaction, from Crowley and Quinn, which helped to deliver that precious point away from home.

They might have come away with a lot more but for a malfunctioning lineout and another display of poor discipline which led to 14 penalties and two sin-binnings, one on 36 minutes for captain Tadhg Beirne, the other for Alex Nankivell for playing Toulon scrum-half Ben White at the back of a ruck on 54 minutes.

But for Toulon’s own yellow cards, to Charles Ollivon and Esteban Abadie, Munster could have paid a higher price than the two converted tries they conceded in Beirne’s absence to full-back Marius Domon before half-time and White soon after the break.

Munster had responded well to Toulon’s two-try blast, Calvin Nash and Jack O’Donoghue scoring either side of a Gael Draen try before Tom Farrell’s 71st minute score pushed the visitors into a 25-24 lead.

That they failed to hang on was due to the concession of a penalty against Farrell for “taking the space” at breakdown, Domon adding to his try and three conversions with the game-winning penalty kick.

Yet while TV pundits deemed Dickson’s call “harsh” and the visitors’ coaches’ box fumed, Beirne refused to blame his side’s narrow defeat on that pivotal refereeing decision.

"Look, you're in a tackle and he's saying ‘release him’ but like, you can't just get out of the way of them,” Beirne said. “But there's no point in arguing because once the decision is made, the decision is made.

"We may disagree or disagree, whatever, it doesn't really matter at the end of the day. It's not the reason we ended up losing the game."

McMillan said of Dickson: "Look, that's a world-class referee there and you pick those guys to make the key calls. He'll be the one that will go away and review it and make his own decision around whether it was right or wrong.

"There were a couple of other penalties that we gave away further up the field, especially from kick-offs that I think were unnecessary (to give away) and they just released the pressure valve. We'll always turn the attention in on ourselves first and those were a couple of areas where we need to be better.” 

McMillan’s overriding emotions were of disappointment but pride in the character shown by his players to rally from 14-6 down after 44 minutes to come within five minutes of another famous day in France, with Crowley adding to his two first-half penalties with two of his three conversion attempts. A week on from a painful 28-3 URC loss at Ulster it was a much-improved performance for the Munster head coach to digest.

"We probably did a great job of working our way back into the game, and it's disappointing to lose it really.

"Yeah, really proud. I would have been disappointed if we didn't go down fighting or just fire a shot after last week. It was a massive disappointment from everyone in our camp. We know we're much better than that, and it was a lot better. We saw a lot better out there today and it's a tough place to come and play.

"I thought the attitude of the guys all week has been first class and as a result, we gave ourselves a chance, and that's all we can ask for. We probably left a few points out there in the first-half, but you've got to be good enough on these days to take those.” 

TOULON: M Domon ; G Drean, J-I Brex, J Sinzelle, M Ferte; T Albornoz (P Garbisi, 27-38 - HIA), B White; J-B Gros (D Priso, 48), T Baubigny (J Toevalu, 50), K Sinckler (L Ametlla,59); C Ollivon, D Ribbans – captain (B Alainu'uese, 56); L Ludlam, E Abadie, Z Mercer (C Mezou, 75).

Yellow card: E Abadie 56-66, C Ollivon 68-78 

Replacements not used: J Coulon, S Tuicuvu 

MUNSTER: S Daly; C Nash (D Kelly, 55), T Farrell, A Nankivell, B O’Connor (JJ Hanrahan, 65); J Crowley, C Casey (E Coughlan, 75); J Loughman (M Milne, 55), D Barron (N Scannell, 45), M Ala’alatoa (J Ryan, 55); E Edogbo (R Quinn, 55), F Wycherley; T Beirne - captain, J O’Donoghue, G Coombes (B Gleeson, 65).

Yellow Card: T Beirne 36-46, A Nankivell 54-64 

Referee: Karl Dickson (England)