76 mins: Yet another forward pass by Munster at the key moment, Haley to O’Donoghue and another chance goes amiss.
Castres 16 Munster 14
73 mins: Castres with a penalty from the scrum and a chance for the French side to go back ahead.
Dumora won’t be given this one, Le Brun takes it and Penalty scored by Castres! Nicely taken, and they’re back ahead.
Castres 16 Munster 14
70 mins: Try for Munster! The lineout is overthrown but Beirne steals the loose ball. Munster push forward and Hodnett gets his second, unless TMO thinks otherwise. Try given!
Big conversion attempt for Crowley, which he makes! Munster go ahead.
Castres 13 Munster 14
68 mins: A lineout to Munster in the Castres half and this time the maul from it, the penalty goes Munster’s way. Crowley kicks for touch. 5 metres out lineout. Lineout is taken, Castres stop the second maul illegally and Corato is gone for 10 minutes. Yellow card for Castres.
Castres 13 Munster 7
63 mins: One of the few moments of ingenuity in the game as Beget plays a nice flair pass behind the back as Beirne gives away a cheap penalty. Castres opt for the posts. Awful penalty though by Dumura, he slices the ball well wide from not the hardest kick.
Castres 13 Munster 7
60 mins: After some kicking back and forth, Munster spread the pitch with good back play. Papalii penalised for a dangerous tackle and there’s a break in play for Abrahams to get treatment. Munster get within the 22, Patterson hits a grubber kick in behind but straight out of play.
Castres 13 Munster 7
55 mins: Nankivell turns over the ball and penalty to Munster, Crowley kicks to touch. The lineout goes into a maul but nothing happens for Munster again, Castres win a penalty.
Castres 13 Munster 7
52 mins: Another forward pass by Crowley and then O’Mahony pulls up with injury. A five second sequence they didn’t want to see.
Castres 13 Munster 7
49 mins: Castres win a penalty from the scrum and choose to go for the posts. Penalty scored! Nice kick by Fernandez gives Castres a bigger lead.
Castres 13 Munster 7
45 mins: A messy lineout and attempted maul by Munster and it’s loose, Castres turn it over with a knock on.
Castres 10 Munster 7
43 mins: Early penalty to Munster and Crowley kicks to touch. Wycherley wins the lineout and Hodnett makes great ground again. More pressure and penalty Munster. Yellow card for Palis for intentional knock on. Another penalty for Munster.
Castres 10 Munster 7
40 mins: Munster give away a penalty and one last attack of the half. Poor discipline from Munster in this half. Fernandez kicks to touch. But they don’t execute the lineout and that’s half-time
Half-time: Castres 10 Munster 7
The French were the better team there, Munster sloppy, but they will be pretty happy to be only three points behind. Very winnable game from here.
38 mins: Try for Munster! Chance for Munster after an infringement in the scrum and Crowley kicks inside the 22. From the lineout they go for the maul and Hodnett scores a great try from the back of the maul, sidesteps and then shows the determination to dive for the line. Crowley scores a fine conversion.
Castres 10 Munster 7
35 mins: Slight hero to zero moment for Walcker as he puts in a reckless tackle on Gleeson, his shoulder to the head. Yellow card for Castres, avoids a red due to mitigation for Gleeson dropping his head.
Castres 10 Munster 0
Munster second best today and another big blow as Craig Casey is carried off the pitch with injury...
29 mins: Tough day for Crowley as he miskicks another time. Castres push on again, their forwards pile on their weight and they win a penalty.
Try for Castres! Papalii takes a quick penalty, buldozing through the Munster defence and ball ends up with Walcker the prop, who scores the try. Jeremy Fernandez misses a second conversion.
Castres 10 Munster 0
26 mins: Niggly game so far and comes out with some argy bargy, Peter O’Mahony getting involved. No punishments though. Munster left the lineout go astray and lose the ball again.
Castres 5 Munster 0
22 mins: Dian Bleuler gives away a penalty with a poor tackle, and he’s off himself for a HIA, with Dave Kilcoyne replacing him.
Castres 5 Munster 0
17 mins: Penalty missed by Crowley! He had the direction, but not the distance, it falls short. Calvin Nash had taken a high ball in the Castres half, before Tadhg Beirne was taken out off the ball for the penalty.
Castres 5 Munster 0
14 mins: Forward pass from Crowley, another error from him gives Castres a scrum. A second high tackle from Stephen Archer, he’s lucky to get away with a card. Munster fall to the pressure.
Try for Castres! Abraham Papalii is down after a successful five-minute lineout, no stopping that one. Conversion missed.
Castres 5 Munster 0
10 mins: Another last-gasp defensive effort from the maul from 5 metres, Munster ground the ball under pressure, Gleeson with a key intervention. Castres’s Louis le Brun makes a kicking error and Munster have survived.
Castres 0 Munster 0
7 mins: Munster defend well, Castres set-piece was solid and ran at Munster but couldn’t make ground and well cleared. Another attack for Castres and Wycherley is penalised. A good kick into the corner, Castres continue to attack.
Almost a try for Castres! Or so it looked, that’s the onfield decision. Rémy Baget with some clever play, dummy then clever little kick over the defence, almost over the endline. But he couldn’t keep it down, wasn’t in control of the ball and it’s no try. Back for the lineout.
Castres 0 Munster 0
3 mins: Nervy start for Munster from the kickoff but they turn it over with a penalty. Crowley then misses touch from the penalty, poor stuff, and Castres win a penalty and Demora doesn’t miss touch.
Castres 0 Munster 0
It’s a cold night in Castres:
Munster back Calvin Nash was speaking before the game. Speaking about the season so far, he said:
“I think it’s been inconsistent 80-minute performances that have cost us. You think back and we’re probably not losing games by massive margins. It will be, say 15 minutes in the second half where we completely lose the run of ourselves and stop playing our game plan or go off script, and leave other teams back in the game.
“Or else we don’t have a good start and are chasing the game. They are the times that I see us starting to lose games. If we can have a consistent 80-minute performance we’ll have better results in Europe.
“The last two results have been good for us and hopefully we can keep building momentum ‘cos the next few games are massively important. Lads are buzzing at the moment. With rugby you can’t stay still, you have to move on to the next job.”
Here is the match preview from Gerry Thornley:
“If recent history has taught the men in red anything it is that this game looks like a must-win in advance of the January games at home to Saracens and away to the English champions Northampton, who beat Munster twice last season. This looks especially true if Munster are to secure the lucrative and coveted advantage of home tie(s) in the knockout stages.”
[ Opportunity knocks for Brian Gleeson as Munster face formidable CastresOpens in new window ]
Hello and welcome to live coverage of Castres Olympique against Munster in the Champions Cup, kickoff is at 8pm at the Stade Pierre-Fabre. Munster won their first game against Stade Francais in Thomond Park to make a perfect start to the competition and face a trickier test tonight away in France. Stand-in head coach Ian Costello has decided to rest Gavin Coombes and Shane Daly for this one but captain Tadhg Beirne returns to the side, while the talented 20-year-old Brian Gleeson will make his first competitive Champions Cup start for Munster.
Castres Olympique: Julien Dumora; Geoffrey Palis, Jack Goodhue, Andrea Cocagi, Rémy Baget; Louis le Brun, Jeremy Fernandez; Quentin Walcker, Gaetan Barlot, Will Collier, Gauthier Maravat, Leone Nakarawa, Mathieu Babillot (capt), Tyler Ardron, Abraham Papalii. Replacements: Loris Zarantonello, Wayan de Benedittis, Nicolas Corato, Paul Jedrasiak, Feibyan Tukino, Santiago Arata, Theo Chabouni, Adrien Seguret.
Munster: Mike Haley; Calvin Nash, Tom Farrell, Alex Nankivell, Thaakir Abrahams; Jack Crowley, Craig Casey; Dian Bleuler, Niall Scannell, Stephen Archer; Fineen Wycherley, Tadhg Beirne (capt); Peter O’Mahony, John Hodnett, Brian Gleeson. Replacements: Diarmuid Barron, Dave Kilcoyne, Oli Jager, Tom Ahern, Alex Kendellen, Paddy Patterson, Rory Scannell, Jack O’Donoghue.
Referee: Christophe Ridley (Eng).
