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Sean Farrell reports from Stade Pierre Fabre
NOT FAR REMOVED from the chaos of the pitch invasion that followed the fiery match on a dirty night in Castres, it took a fair bit of effort to glean a positive outlook.
A look at the standings helped, with Munster perched top of Heineken Champions Cup pool 2. Yet as their three rivals line up within four points after the 13-12 loss, it’s easy to ponder on what might have been.
“It probably is,” says Peter O’Mahony after being asked if the losing bonus point is any consolation after the gruelling battle. But his frustration was evident as he turned his ire to Munster’s performance.
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“I don’t think we played well enough. Again, our breakdown was very poor. That’s really the heart of the game. We were beaten there across the board.
O’Nahony heads for the tunnel after defeat in France. Source: James Crombie/INPHO
“I don’t think we can have argument with regards to the result. I don’t think we deserved to win. There’s plenty of inaccuracies that we need to have a look at.”
Munster’s scrummaging was once again the pride of the province’s work. But the combination of being whistled off the breakdown and thwarted at the line-out served to nullify any solid footing and brought about Munster’s first try-less European performance since a December 2015 round 4 loss to Leicester in Welford Road.
“If you don’t make sure to look after your possession or set-piece, “you are going to get the tail-end of it,” says CJ Stander.
Just as the likely punishment in store for clear contact with the eye area of Chris Cloete will feel a little too late, the inaccuracies and missed opportunities will linger on as a nasty sting. Joey Carbery and Conor Murray missed four kicks at goal between them – none of them straightforward, but all kickable by their standards – and any one of them would have made all the difference.
A try, a nose in front would have been invaluable.
A scrum on Saturday. Source: James Crombie/INPHO
The pool could have a very different complexion had Munster been able to retain possession after Murray’s break and Rory Kockott’s sin-bin on the stroke of half-time, or had Benjamin Urdapilleta not been permitted to slide feet-first into Andrew Conway to force the wing to knock-on after his excellent second-half chip and chase down the right flank.
In a bear pit in politically-riled France, you need a lot of luck to make decisions go the way of the visitors.
“Regardless of the breakdown we had enough opportunities to get some more points on the board and we didn’t,” said Johann van Graan, “well done to Castres for winning by one point in a really intense game of rugby.”
The South African looks to the wider pool picture with a positive hue, but standing in a warm-up room of Stade Pierre Fabre, defeat is an open wound.