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Munster suffer Champions Cup crashout at hands of Castres

By PA
Edwin Edogbo of Munster after his side's defeat in the Investec Champions Cup match between Munster and Castres Olympique at Thomond Park in Limerick. (Photo By Seb Daly/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Munster saw their hopes of Champions Cup progress end with an agonising 31-29 defeat by Castres at Thomond Park.

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Castres – who had also lost two of their opening three games in Pool 2 – got on the board early through a penalty from Jeremy Fernandez before Vuate Karawalevu went over from close range. Munster responded in the 17th minute through a converted try from Craig Casey after a flowing team move.

Munster completed the turnaround in the 35th minute when Casey went over again, coming off the back of a rolling maul following a lineout, but Castres regrouped with a well-taken try from full-back Theo Chabouni, claiming his own kick, to go into half-time with a 17-12 lead.

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The home side got themselves back on level terms soon after the restart when Thaakir Abrhams dived over in the corner, but Jack Crowley could not land the extras from out on the right. Edwin Edogbo then added a bonus-point try just before the hour to move Munster ahead 22-17.

After Tom Farrell was shown a yellow card for an illegal clearout, Castres produced a strong finish with tries from Geoffrey Palis and then Christian Ambadiang.

With five minutes left, Castres lock Leone Nakarawa was sent to the sin bin, and Munster got another try as Edogbo barged over to close within two points, but came up just short.

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1 Comment
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Eric Elwood 45 days ago

Before the match Irish pundits on Premier Sports were on about “Castres’ heart not being in it” and “ French clubs don’t travel well”. Also, they took far too much out of Munster’s narrow defeat to Toulon, where Toulon played one of their worst matches of the season. “Munster love these European nights” and loads of other Happy Horsh1te. Meanwhile the Castres team were metaphorically banging their heads against the dressing room walls psyched to the max and waiting to get stuck into the match. Munster seemed to be in the “We are favourites but we can’t be complacent” (complacent) zone. Castres sprinted into a 10-0 lead. Held ping pong leads until near the end when they stretched back up to 9 pts Converted try got it back to 2 pts and match over. Bye Munster.


If Munster shared any of the 1980s stereotypes coming out of the Premier sports pundits mouths then it explains their demise. Castres needed a win to be in with a likely knock out place. Not a mathematical chance as the idiots on Premier said, but a probable chance. One team treated it as the knock out match it was. One team tried to ‘manage’ the match and were 10-0 down before they knew what hit them.

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