Munster's European Aura: A Humbled Reality

That was a harrowing experience. Munster are no longer recognised as a European powerhouse, yet the history of the province means Munster Rugby is still synonymous with the Champions Cup and the European rugby aura lived on within the club. At least it did before their loss to Castres on Saturday evening. Munster gathered just eight points from four games. Five of those points came in their Páirc Uí Chaoimh victory against a weakened Gloucester, one from a bonus point loss against Toulon in France and two in their defeat against Castres. In this era of European Cup rugby, which includes a round of 16 knockout game, it's not difficult to qualify. Finish fourth in your group and you’ll go through, no matter how many points you’ve earned. That’s different from before when European Cup qualification was reserved for those that won their group and the two best runners up in their groups, meaning that you were competing against all runners-up and not just others in your group. In the unluckiest way, Munster finished with more points than Leicester who totalled six points and the Bulls who have finished on seven points. Both have qualified in fourth place from their group. Things might have fallen in Munster’s favour a bit more, although they didn’t look after what was in their control. Saturday evening’s loss to the tenth-placed team in the Top 14 was in their control. There were permutations that meant even if they won with a bonus point, they could be knocked out of the tournament. It was unlikely, but the chances still existed. However, by the time they kicked off on Saturday evening, they knew that any type of win would see them through to the knockout stages of the competition. Unfortunately, I think the Munster rugby European aura was taken for granted. I fell foul of the trap myself. I assumed that my former team would look after their business because it was a European match with an enormous amount of jeopardy. It was a home game in Thomond Park and the club is too proud to throw that opportunity away in front of their home crowd. Did those within Munster rely too heavily on that psychological factor getting them over the line too? I can’t answer that because I don’t know what happens inside the four walls of the HPC in Limerick. However, Tadhg Beirne alluded to the team not being switched on in his interviews after the match and they started the game on Saturday night being dictated to by Castres, who decided to re-write their terrible form in away Champions Cup matches. Munster set up to receive the first kick-off of the match. They were deep. Was there an assumption that the opposition would kick long to get into the rhythm of the game, and they’d receive possession in the same fashion as most other games? Instead Castres read their deep line of receivers and kicked short, winning the ball back and dictating the opening exchanges of the match. Maybe it’s not worth reading too far into one moment in time. However, it certainly didn’t help the psychological battle. The visitors grew taller and started to believe in themselves in this fixture. Clayton McMillan’s side stuttered in their first lineout, losing possession, which resulted in them throwing to the front of the lineout for the next two. One of those was a standing catch by Jeremy Loughman at the front, a play that a lot of teams use when there’s less faith in their lineout. Some teams use it as a clever ploy to change the pace and to move away from the set piece. Either way, Munster played off poor-quality delivery because of their need to win the ball at the front of the lineout. Castres, a dominant lineout team, grew another inch taller as a result. They raced into a 10-point lead. The try came off a maul attack before player of the match, Vuate Karawalevu, crashed through Munster’s forward defenders for the first try of the game. The two-time champions had given the visitors nothing to fear. They were given easy entries, the maul wasn’t forcibly stopped, and one of the Castres backs wasn’t stopped close to the Munster line. To their credit, and to nobody’s surprise, Munster fought back to establish the lead from a maul of their own before Craig Casey danced his way over for his second try. Munster were willing to attack, throw passes and offload the ball in contact. Unfortunately, not all those moments were positive, however, they took control of the game. They relinquished control again just before half-time when a mundane enough chip ahead was regathered by Theo Chabouni. He had no rights to the ball yet found a way to put Munster back under pressure. Once again, the hosts fought back. The introduction of Edwin Edogbo changed the power dynamic. He scored twice in the second half. Once to take the lead around the 60th minute and then to set up once last chance of winning. Not unlike La Rochelle last week, where they’ll be wondering how they lost the game against Leinster in the 79th minute, Munster will be wondering how they didn’t go on and win the game after Edogbo’s try to put them 22-17 in front. In a home game of this magnitude, after a slow start, Munster would be expected to follow through on their dominance and take the game beyond their opponents. They forced Castres back to their own try line with all the pressure on the French club. A miraculous recovery meant that Munster had possession on the Castres 22. A moment where Munster should have built towards a score, either through their attacking ability, or the creation of a kickable penalty to stretch the game beyond two scores. Instead they coughed up easy possession on the second phase of their attack, which turned into a penalty and a Castres resurgence. An unfortunate ruck effort from Tom Farrell resulted in a yellow card. An unintentional but deserved yellow card put Munster in a lot of bother. Despite Fineen Wycherley’s best efforts to steal possession, the next Castres try looked inevitable after a sequence of scrums. Everything that happened since Munster’s last score was all within their control. This is the part that will bother them. They could have put the game out of reach, yet they were behind on the scoreboard. After a positive kick through from a scrum attack, Munster naively failed to mark the lineout and a fast throw from the French led to a kick battle that they lost. This is where they switched off according to their captain. That’s the moment that will grate on the nerves of their coaches and leaders. Once Castres regained possession near the Munster 22, they pulled two deep passes before a cross-field kick landed in the hands of Christian Ambadiang, who shrugged off Shane Daly to score. Despite Munster’s late push, Castres were never going to relinquish a two-score lead. The result now sees Munster dropping down to the Challenge Cup where they will travel to Exeter. Their European journey won’t get any easier.