Munster’s 16-14 defeat by Castres on Friday night in the Champions Cup appears to have come at an additionally heavy cost after they suffered a plethora of injuries, potentially the most serious of which concerns Craig Casey.
The in-form scrumhalf had to be carried from the pitch in the 32nd minute and cut a forlorn figure on crutches in the tunnel between the dressingrooms at the Stade Pierre-Fabre after the game due to a knee injury.
“Craig’s is pretty serious, he’s on crutches,” admitted interim head coach Ian Costello. “We don’t know the extent of that yet, but you could see he left the pitch in a bit of pain.”
The damage didn’t stop there, with winger Thaakir Abrahams forced off just before the hour mark by a no-arms hit by Castres’ number eight Abraham Papalii which incurred a penalty but no more.
“Thaakir, in that tackle, it dislocated his shoulder, or it certainly popped out,” said Costello.
Peter O’Mahony, who was evidently testing a heavily strapped ankle in the warm-up, Dian Bleuler (head injury), David Kilcoyne and Diarmuid Barron were also unable to see out the game.
“Killer was cramp at the end,” said Costello. “Peter got a stud in the calf so hopefully that’s okay.
“As always, you come to a place like this, it’s a punishing, attritional performance and a few guys we’ll have to watch pretty closely over the next couple of days to see if they’re good for next week.”
Munster have to regroup before facing Ulster in the Kingspan Stadium next Friday (kick-off 7.35pm) in the URC, and then host Leinster in their marquee festive sell-out at Thomond Park on Friday, December 27th ahead of returning to the Champions Cup in January with difficult pool games at home to Saracens and away to Northampton.
“Really disappointing, particularly the first half,” was how Costello described Munster’s first-half performance, at the end of which they were fortunate to only be trailing by 10-7.
“We started really poorly and that’s something we’ve been working really hard on. We probably overplayed in our half and uncharacteristically kicked away a bit of ball in their half. We had good opportunities so we were very lucky to be 10-7 down at half time.
“That gave us a lot of belief, a lot of trust. Ultimately, we had our chances but 17 penalties, some from their pressure and they obviously had a very strong scrum but some were within our control, I would say, where we chased a lot of breakdowns,” said Costello with regard to the 17-17 penalty count.
“Our discipline let us down at key times so we lost that footing to have a chance in that second half.”
The losing bonus point could yet be significant although Munster’s chances of a coveted home tie in the Round of 16 have again been undermined and they now face a more difficult task in reaching the knock-out stages.
“I know at the end of January that could be really important, and going on the road in France and getting a point is important but right now, there’s elements of the performance we’re really disappointed with,” conceded Costello.
“We have a lot of good work done over the last five or six weeks, so we get a chance to reset and go out next week in the URC.”
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