Munster lost for the first time in this season’s Heineken Champions Cup, going down by a single point to Castres Olympique on a very wet evening at Stade Pierre-Fabre in the south of France.
Joey Carbery fired over four penalties but the Munster half-backs, starting together for the first time, missed four place-kicks between them as Castres managed to grind out the win in difficult conditions. Man-of-the-match Kevin Firmin scored the only try in the 23rd minute.
Johann van Graan’s men trailed 10-6 at half-time and Carbery twice reduced the deficit to a single point, but the 23-year-old out-half missed from the tee with 10 minutes remaining and their best try-scoring opportunity was disallowed for a knock-on from Andrew Conway.
Nonetheless, Munster remain top of Pool 2 with the losing bonus point taking them to 12 points, three clear of Castres and four ahead of both Exeter Chiefs and Gloucester. They travel to Gloucester in round 5 before hosting Exeter in what could be a final round shootout on Saturday, January 19.
Giving his reaction after today’s game, van Graan said: “There was a lot going on at the breakdown, some decisions went our way and some didn’t. Regardless of the breakdown, we had enough opportunities to get some more points on the board. We didn’t, and well done to Castres for winning by one point in a really tense game of rugby.
“There was Andrew Conway’s try-scoring opportunity. I thought Conor Murray created more try-scoring chances that would have made it a game with a bigger margin, and I also thought there was an opportunity after the yellow card (to Rory Kockott) at the end of the first half.
“We’ve got to be more clinical. We certainly created a lot of opportunities tonight, but we weren’t good enough to win away. If you can’t convert all your opportunities for points, you aren’t going to win.”
A very vocal travelling support roared Munster on throughout, with Carbery giving the province an early lead with a well-struck long range penalty after two minutes. His opposite number Benjamin Urdapilleta pulled his first kick wide following a scrum penalty on the right wing.
The Argentinian stand-off made no mistake in the 11th minute, splitting the posts after Niall Scannell was penalised as he looked to block down Scott Spedding’s garryowen. Carbery suffered his first miss in response, Munster having no points to show for a big CJ Stander carry and a scrum penalty.
The visitors did end the opening quarter with a 6-3 lead, captain Peter O’Mahony being impeded as he claimed a lineout on the left flank and Carbery moping up with the three points. However, the Castres pack turned on the power when hooker and man-of-the-match Kevin Firmin wrestled his way over from close range, the grounding confirmed by TMO Rowan Kitt.
Urdapilleta’s conversion from the left put four points between the sides, the gap remaining up place up to the interval with Spedding missing a monster penalty from inside his own half and the Munstermen emerging scoreless from a late attacking spell.
A Keith Earls break up the left flank brought the pool leaders back into Castres territory with scrum half Kockott sin-binned for a cynical infringement late in the first half with Munster piling on the pressure. Frustratingly, the Castres defence managed to win a turnover after Munster had opted for a quick tap.
Five minutes into the second half, a huge effort from the Munster pack won another scrum penalty but Carbery pulled his kick wide of the target. The Ireland international stepped up soon after to reduce the arrears to 10-9, rewarding a lineout maul that had been dragged down.
It was then Castres’ turn to enjoy a numerical advantage when Munster hooker Scannell saw yellow for a maul infringement as the hosts’ front row reserves made their presence felt. Urdapilleta slotted over the resulting penalty kick to restore the four-point buffer.
With Tadhg Beirne standing out for his hard graft in defence, Munster were again unlucky to see a kick drift inches wide when Murray missed a long range penalty – he had been taken out by Kockott with the ball still in a ruck.
As the minutes ticked by and the arm wrestled grew tighter and tighter, the reigning French champions coughed up another penalty for slowing the ball at the breakdown. Carbery duly kicked his fourth successful penalty to make it 13-12. Scannell returned with the game still on a knife-edge.
A key moment came when Conway hunted down his fourth try in as many matches, but unfortunately he knocked on – under pressure from a sliding Urdapilleta – as he attempted to regather the ball from his own kick through. Play was brought back for a no-arms tackle on O’Mahony.
Referee Wayne Barnes brandished his yellow card to Castres replacement hooker Marc-Antoine Rallier for his foul play, but stepping up to a difficult penalty attempt from the right flank, Carbery watched his kick drift just wide of the posts.
A brilliant move by Murray, Earls and Conway down the right very nearly carved Castres open moments later but Conway”s pass was marginally forward. Munster were unable to fashion any further chances of note but the bonus point keeps them in control of their own destiny.
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