Munster 26 Castres 10: A fifth consecutive victory guaranteed Munster a place in the Heineken Cup playoffs but the absence of a bonus point against Castres at Thomond Park, coupled with the nature of the performance, will smart. A home quarter-final now rests on a result in Northampton next weekend, where the Saints will seek revenge after having their pockets picked here in November.
The English club will be chasing a place in the Amlin Challenge Cup.
A lack or precision, principally in the opposing 22, saw the home side spurn several excellent try scoring chances. A frustration was that they made a host of line breaks but just couldn’t convert them. Their dominance in the scrum provided a rich seam of penalties and they also nicked several lineouts but couldn’t properly translate the glut of possession into tries. Decision making was also questionable, at times, the home side guilty of kicking away ball and forcing passes.
Castres couldn’t believe their good fortune and in snatches demonstrated reasonable continuity and muscularity. They might have had one or two more tries of their own without really threatening to win the match.
In some respects the performance was symptomatic of the way Munster have played in Europe this season; fitfully by their own high standards.
Munster should have enjoyed a perfect opening but James Coughlan, who had racked up a couple of errors in those first five minutes, butchered a glorious try-scoring opportunity, coming down with a dose of white line fever.
He had Denis Hurley and Johne Murphy outside and either would have scored untouched but the Munster number eight instead chose to put his head down and drive the line, a gambit that ended in a turnover as the ball was spilled forward inches from the line.
The move had started with a break from the excellent Donnacha Ryan on the opposite side of the pitch and offered an early indication of the qualities, pace and width, that would cause problems for the French club.
Castres had opened brightly, if in rather pedestrian fashion with one-out runners and were facilitated by Munster mistakes and indiscipline. However, the province absorbed the early pressure and after Coughlan’s mental aberration, took the lead on seven minutes with a well worked try.
Ryan won a lineout, Conor Murray flipped an inside pass to right wing Johne Murphy who brushed aside a rather weak attempted tackle by Castres’ scrumhalf Thierry Lacrampe as he cut through and cantered in from 22 metres.
O’Gara converted and would post three further penalties in the opening 40 minutes to give the two-time European champions a 16-7 interval lead. Castres scored a try of their own from flanker Yannick Caballero on 18 minutes. Lacrampe took a quick penalty 30 metres out that caught Munster napping somewhat and then prop Saimone Taumoepeau’s intelligent offload allowed Caballero an uninhibited touch down.
Barnard, who had earlier missed a reasonably straight forward penalty, tagged on the conversion. Munster applied themselves diligently enough but the lacked precision at times and a cutting edge to their back play. The forwards were punching enough holes and on several occasions when the backs looked for quick ball, a forward would take it on one time too many or the backlines progress would be lateral rather than penetrative.
In their desire to get the ball wide, the passing often too high, forcing the intended recipient to check; momentum was conspicuously lost on a couple of occasions. Castres, who might have feared the worst initially, spent a fair chunk of time in the Munster half and it took a great turnover by Paul O’Connell a couple of metres from his own line to prevent the visitors from grabbing a second try.
Bernard kicked a second penalty two minutes after the re-start but O’Gara responded in kind 10 minutes later to maintain a reasonable buffer. What will irk coach Tony McGahan is that Munster spoiled some decent approach play by failing to capitalise on good try scoring chances; the final pass or in several cases, the decision making process was flawed.
The home side though kept plugging away and were finally rewarded on 67 minutes. Coughlan took a quick tap penalty, Mafi danced his way past traffic in the Castres 22 and following a couple of rumbles from the pack, Wian du Preez forced his way over, a decision confirmed by the television match official.
O’Gara converted to make it 26-10 and any lingering anxiety amongst the home supporters evaporated. It didn’t mean they were happy, as the frequent shouts of frustration and the relatively sombre atmosphere illustrated.
Munster continued to huff and puff but the lack of accuracy that dogged their performance throughout continued to undermine their ambition. The lack of a bonus point simply capped a disappointing afternoon.
Scoring sequence
7 mins:Murphy try, O'Gara conversion, 7-0; 14: O'Gara penalty, 10-0; 18: Caballero try, Bernard conversion, 10-7; 22: O'Gara penalty, 13-7; 25: O'Gara penalty, 16-7. Half-time: 16-7. 42: Bernard penalty, 16-10; 52: O'Gara penalty, 19-10; 67: du Preez try, O'Gara conversion, 26-10.
Munster: D Hurley; J Murphy, K Earls, L Mafi, S Zebo; R O'Gara, C Murray; W du Preez, D Varley, BJ Botha; D Ryan, P O'Connell (capt); P O'Mahony, N Ronan, J Coughlan. Replacements: D O'Callaghan for Ronan 13 mins; T O'Leary for Murray 65 mins; D Fogarty for Varley 72 mins; M Horan for du Preez 72 mins; S Archer for Botha 73 mins; I Keatley for O'Gara 73 mins; D Barnes for Mafi 76 mins; B Holland for O'Mahony 76 mins.
Castres Olympique:R Martial; V Inigo, P Bonnefond, P-M Garcia, PG Lakafia; P Bernard, T Lacrampe; S Taumoepeau, M-A Rallier, A Peikrishvili; M Rolland (capt), R Capo Ortega; Y Caballero, I Diarra, J Bornman. Replacements: M Coetzee for Taumoepeau 55 mins; K Wihongi for Peikrishvili 55 mins; M Bonello for MA Railler 65 mins; M Nicholas for Inigo 72 mins; P Roussel for Diarra 75 mins.
Referee: Andrew Small (England)
Yellow card:Lacrampe (Castres) 54 mins.
