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Munster's European dream at risk in Paris against high-powered Racing attack
Watch Racing 92 v Munster and all the European Champions Cup action live on RugbyPass in Asia and Australia.
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Every side would be wise to remember to never underestimate Munster in Europe.
The doggedly tough side has a history of knocking off more fancied opponents and dragging them into bare-knuckled slugfests in the Champions Cup.
Last year it was the high-flying Premiership darling Exeter Chiefs who were dragged through two key pool games in which Munster pulled off a tight 9-7 win at home and a 10-all draw at Sandy Park.
The Chiefs never recovered from that opening pool round draw and were left stumbling at the pool stage while Munster went onto their third-straight European semi-final appearance.
As they embark on their quest to make it back to their fourth consecutive semi-final, their European lifeline this season is holding on to a thread but not without hope as the traditionally tough Cork-side has scrapped their way through Pool 4 to stay in contention.
In Simon Zebo’s return to Thomond Park, back in the first clash between the French glamour club Racing 92 and Munster, the visitors built a 14-6 lead early.
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Powered by a majestic piece of individual skill by Finn Russell, using a ‘nutmeg’ grubber kick to score the opening try, Racing looked ominous early.
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Munster stayed in the fight and scrapped their way to a crucial 21-all draw via a late try to Andrew Conway and a clutch conversion from stand-in flyhalf JJ Hanrahan to save the European season.
Although he missed a subsequent game-winning drop goal attempt, that sideline conversion confirmed the points would be split and prevented Racing from taking a major leg up in the Pool.
Back-to-back games followed against last year’s Champions and salary-cap sanctioned Saracens, who were boosted by the return of their internationals following a World Cup rest in the return fixture.
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Across two dogfights between two physical sides that let nothing slip, just three tries were scored where honours were shared 1-1 in two low scoring affairs.
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Both sides completed a mountain-load of tackling as they bashed each other into a stalemate, before frustrations boiled over into a sideline brawl at Allianz Park at the end of the second leg.
Munster’s European season has now reached a pivotal point, with a daunting task ahead to try and slow down Racing’s prolific attack on the fast 4G surface inside La Paris Defense Arena.
Scotland flyhalf Finn Russell has been pulling the strings at the front of a ‘Hollywood’ backline, gifted with riches worthy of any international side at his disposal.
Fijian-born French centre Virimi Vakatawa has been in blistering form this season and wouldn’t look out of place in France’s Six Nations squad. He is top five in defenders beaten along with Racing’s winger Teddy Thomas.
Both Racing wingers, Thomas and Juan Imhoff, sit first and second among all players with the most clean breaks in the Champions Cup this season.
After a quiet night in his first game at Thomond in opposition colours, ex-Munster man Simon Zebo will be looking for a big performance back in the comforts of the high-tech Parisian arena against his old side.
Munster’s stingy defence will have to be even stingier to pull off this invasion into the French capital to steal the full complement of competition points.
With 11 points, they are well in the hunt to qualify for the quarterfinals, but if they are to top the Pool they must win in Paris and also hope that Saracens beat Racing in the final round of pool games.
However, failure to secure any losing bonus points this weekend would put Munster perilously in danger of being leapfrogged by Saracens and missing the finals altogether.
Making matters worse, Munster’s flyhalf Joey Carbery is out for the immediate future after breaking his wrist at Munster training.
But history has proven time and time again – never underestimate Munster in Europe.
You can watch all the Racing 92 v Munster and all the European Champions Cup action live on RugbyPass in Asia and Australia.
Comments on RugbyPass
late hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
4 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
24 Go to comments