Munster Lose in Castres

Munster lost their final Heineken Cup Pool game 21-13 to Castres and must now travel away from home in the quarter finals. In a dramatic finish Olivier Sarramea scored in the corner for a try that snatched the home quarter final advantage from Munster’s grasp.

That score came in the sixth minute of added time and after substitute David Wallace had scored a precious try which Ronan O’Gara converted to leave Munster trailing 16-13. Had it stayed like that then Munster would have topped the group but their supporters were stunned by the late late Castres score.

O’Gara missed an early opportunity to give Munster the lead when he missed a relatively easy penalty opportunity in the fifth minute but Castres full back Romain Teulet made no mistake two minutes later to give the home side a three point advantage. That was extended to ten when Teulet raced over to the right of the posts on 17 minutes after a sustained bout of Castres pressure. Teulet was on the mark three minutes later but from the kick off Munster found good position thanks to a clever O’Gara restart. From there Munster attacked left with Anthony Horgan stopped just short but they finally got on the scoreboard when O’Gara landed a penalty in the 25th minute. Another penalty from Teulet and Castres led 16-3 at half time.

O’Gara landed a second half penalty and made the break that led to Wallace’s try but in the end it was Sarramea who stole the show.