Munster pack's scrum progress a pleasing factor for Jeremy Loughman 

STRONGMAN: Jeremy Loughman during Munster Rugby squad training. Picture:  David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

A losing bonus point was not the only positive for Munster to take home after the narrow Champions Cup pool defeat at Toulon, particularly with another heavyweight French pack rumbling over the horizon this Saturday.

After a month of set-piece woes, Munster’s scrum turned a corner last Sunday at the most unlikely of locations, Stade Felix Mayol. 

The game was ultimately lost, 27-25, but loosehead prop Jeremy Loughman will go into this Saturday’s Pool 2 finale against Castres at Thomond Park with confidence brimming after a successful afternoon at the coalface, not least in the penalties the Munster scrum scored at Toulon’s expense.

“Yeah, the scrum was a massive step (forward),” Loughman said. “I think it was something that at the start of the year probably wasn't going too well. I think we've been incrementally making those steps and a few adjustments.

“It was a nice performance, scrum-wise against Toulon, who are a good pack. We knew that's where they'd come after us, especially watching their Bath game (at home in Round 2, which Toulon won 45-34). They did a bit of damage there, so we knew they'd come after us there in the maul.

“It was nice to negate that and even get a few (scrum) penalties. I think one of them, we were able to get points off, which was nice.” 

Castres will arrive in Limerick for a European record 20th meeting with Munster this weekend and the 30-year-old prop has personally faced them three times already, having made his Champions Cup debut in a corresponding fixture at Thomond Park in December 2018, his first season having joined from the Leinster academy the previous summer. 

The visitors were reigning French champions at the time and Munster scored a 30-5 victory with Loughman replacing the now-retired Dave Kilcoyne for his competition bow. The return tie a week later was not so memorable, Johann van Graan’s side losing 13-12 at Stade Pierre Fabre in a testy battle.

“I got my European debut against them in Thomond Park and then played them the next week over there in Castres. That was an experience, anyway. We played them a few times over there. I saw something, 20th time, which is crazy.

“So, we’ve had a good few battles against each other; it’s always going to be a tough, tight game. They are playing some good stuff, a big physical team as well, so it’s always a confrontational challenge.

“They have some big boys there, so they rely a lot on weight and power, and they have some huge power there. We’d look at our drills, say compared to them, when we talk about scrum. Usually against a French team, it’s all about kind of how you handle that power game, because they like to suck you into it, into scrum and maul battle, and then those kinds of one-off confrontational carries and stuff around the breakdown.

"It’s about negating that as best we can, and then allowing us to play our game on top of them."

By his own admission, Loughman has grown into the 2025-26 campaign slowly but his recent uptick in form and the injury doubts currently surrounding Ireland looseheads Andrew Porter and Paddy McCarthy could pave the way for a return to the national team camp when Andy Farrell names his Six Nations squad next Wednesday.

A call-up for next month’s championship would end a two-year absence from camp, Loughman having been a member of the Six Nations title-winning squad of 2024, when he won his fifth and most recent appearance in green off the bench against Italy in Dublin.

“I feel like in the last few games, in this last block, I've really picked up my performance again and started to feel a lot more confident in what I'm putting out there,” he said be addressing the possibility of filling the potential Ireland loosehead vacuum.

“I think it would always be in the back of your mind. I think it would be silly not to think about that. I still have aspirations of getting back into camp and playing with Ireland, so I wouldn't shy away from that.

“I definitely believe if I can put my best foot forward here, nail down the starting position, show that through my performances, then the rest hopefully will take care of itself.

“I would think about it, but not too much. I think I'm more focused on here and now. I think if I take care of my performances here, that'll look after itself.”