Bonus point only consolation for below-par Munster in Champions Cup defeat to Castres

Leading 14-13 with nine minutes left in a game that they were very much second best in, Munster’s shaky scrum coughed up a penalty in front of the posts, which allowed Castres to keep their proud unbeaten home record this season intact.

Munster were ultimately too indisciplined and too disjointed, while first-half injuries to Craig Casey and Dian Bleuler were followed by Peter O’Mahony, Thaakir Abrahams and Dave Kilcoyne also being forced off.

Munster’s frustrations were exacerbated by the fact that Castres had three yellow cards, yet they couldn’t make them pay, as their own discipline issues came back to haunt them.

After their French double date against Stade Francais and Castres, Munster will face back-to-back English clashes with Saracens (home) and Northampton (away), as they left themselves with work to do to advance to the knockout stages.

A try in either half from John Hodnett was not enough to get the job done here, as Munster were forced to settle for a losing bonus point.

Their error count was high, as interim head coach Ian Costello was left to rue a litany of poor mistakes in the kind of difficult away venue where you need to be squeaky clean.

Twenty-year-old Tipperary back-row Brian Gleeson marked his first Champions Cup start with a promising display, but he too required treatment after he left the pitch.

It was that kind of night for Munster, whose sloppiness was summed up when Jack Crowley missed a kick to touch in the last play of the game.

A poor first-half started badly from the first kick-off, which set the tone for what was to follow.

Munster’s indiscipline was costing them valuable field position, and when Stephen Archer was penalised for his second high tackle in the space of five minutes, it set the platform for Castres to strike for the opening try.

Gleeson had already done brilliantly to hold up the ball over the line, but a clever lineout play just shy of the 15 minute mark saw former Connacht No 8 Abraham Papali’i power his way over in the corner.

Munster were breathing a sigh of relief that Jérémy Fernandez left his kicking boots at home, as the scrum-half missed both of his first-half conversions.

In between Castres’ second try after half an hour, further Munster errors, including a lost lineout, a Crowley kick out on the full and a penalty concession in what was their first period of sustained pressure inside the opposition 22, continued to hamper the visitors’ attempts to gain a foothold.

Castres punished Munster’s profligacy, with Papali’i again causing the damage, as the bulldozing Kiwi took a quick-tap penalty, and while he was stopped just short of the line, there was no stopping prop Quentin Walcker on the next phase.

Fernandez’s wayward conversion kept Munster in touch, and they were handed another way back into the contest when Walcker was shown a yellow card, much to the disgust of the locals, for a high tackle on Gleeson following a TMO check.

Although Munster made a mess of the initial attack, they got a second bite at the cherry when the pack did well to win a scrum penalty. This time they made no mistake.

Crowley found touch, and as the lineout fired and the maul got rolling, Hodnett peeled off with Gleeson on his shoulder before Rosscarbery back-row made it all the way to the line for a superb score.

Crowley added the extras on the stroke of half-time to leave Munster happy to be just 10-7 down at the break.

No sooner had Castres been restored to their full complement shortly after the restart, they found themselves reduced to 14 players for another 10 minutes, as winger Geoffrey Palis was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on.

Munster had a gilt-edged chance to make them pay again, but another botched lineout move deep inside the 22 let Castres off the hook.

Two scrum penalty concessions in quick concession allowed Fernandez to kick his first points of the note, as he pushed his side 13-7 in front.

Another scrum penalty prompted Costello to send on replacement hooker Diarmuid Barron and tighthead Oli Jager in the hope of changing the picture for the referee but the set-piece struggles continued.

The injury-enforced changes didn’t help Munster’s attempts to find their second wind, and with the penalty count continuing to rise, Julian Dumora pushed a penalty wide.

That gifted Munster a lifeline and as they piled on the pressure deep inside the 22, Nicolas Corato became the third Castres player to see yellow, as the home fans howled in anger.

Entering the closing stages, it felt like now or never for Munster, who delivered what looked like the sucker-punch 11 minutes from full-time, as Hodnett crashed over for his second try of the night.

Crowley silenced the baying crowd with a nerveless conversion to put Munster into the lead for the first time, but they immediately coughed it up after the scrum again came under enormous pressure and Louis Le Brun kicked the penalty in front of the posts.

Jack O’Donoghue thought he was in for a late try, but play was called back for a forward pass before Crowley missed touch with the last roll of the dice.

Castres: J Dumora (T Chabouni 66); G Palis, J Goodhue, A Cocagi (A Seguret 63), R Baget; L le Brun, J Fernandez (S Arata Perrone 51); Q Walcker, G Barlot, W Collier (N Corato 66); G Maravat (L Zarantonello 63), L Nakarawa (P Jedrasiak 63); M Babillot (capt), T Ardron, A Papali’i (W de Benedittis 35-41, F Tukino 63).

Munster: M Haley; C Nash, T Farrell, A Nankivell, T Abrahams (R Scannell 58); J Crowley, C Casey (P Patterson, 32); D Bleuler (D Kilcoyne 21) (Archer 75), N Scannell (D Barron 55-72), S Archer (O Jager 55); F Wycherley, T Beirne (capt); P O’Mahony (T Ahern 51), J Hodnett (71), B Gleeson (J O’Donoghue 49).

Referee: C Ridley (England).