{"id":280718,"date":"2026-01-12T10:58:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T10:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/280718\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T10:58:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T10:58:09","slug":"munster-face-crunch-champions-cup-duel-with-castres-while-leinster-eye-top-four-seeding-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/280718\/","title":{"rendered":"Munster face crunch Champions Cup duel with Castres while Leinster eye top-four seeding \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whereas Leinster<\/a> have moved clear of Pool 3 in the Champions Cup<\/a> and can secure at least a top-four seeding by winning in Bayonne next Saturday, Munster<\/a> have to beat Castres at home on the same day (kick-off 5.30pm) to qualify for the knockout stages.<\/p>\n

Munster sit fourth in Pool 2 after their 27-25 loss to Toulon in the Stade F\u00e9lix Mayol on Sunday and could feel aggrieved by the pedantic 76th-minute match-winning penalty awarded by Karl Dickson against Jack O\u2019Donoghue for \u201ctaking the space\u201d. Andy Goode described it as \u201cridiculously harsh\u201d on Premier Sport.<\/p>\n

However, Munster captain Tadhg Beirne said: \u201cThere\u2019s no point in arguing because once the decision is made, the decision is made. We may disagree or disagree, whatever, it doesn\u2019t really matter at the end of the day. It\u2019s not the reason we ended up losing the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Munster conceded 14 points while Beirne was in the bin, and although there were two yellow cards apiece, the penalty count was 14-7 in favour of the home side. Yet Clayton McMillan was equally uncritical of Dickson.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, that\u2019s a world-class referee there and you pick those guys to make the key calls. He\u2019ll be the one that will go away and review it and make his own decision around whether it was right or wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, the losing bonus point secured by Jack Crowley and Ruadh\u00e1n Quinn holding up Toulon\u2019s Tom\u00e1s Albornoz in the last play kept Munster above Gloucester on points difference and a point above Castres.<\/p>\n

\"MunsterMunster and Jack Crowley can reflect on some positives in their performance despite the disappointment of losing in Toulon. Photograph: Dan Sheridan\/Inpho <\/p>\n

In a pool where no team has qualified, that could prove significant. Granted, the likelihood is that Munster will be away in the Round of 16 for the fourth season running. However, a bonus-point win could earn them a top two place and a home tie, although they would need Gloucester and Bath to beat Toulon and Edinburgh respectively at home. <\/p>\n

Bordeaux-B\u00e8gles\u2019 ominous 50-28 win over the Premiership pacesetters Northampton at the Stade Chaban Delmas in a repeat of last May\u2019s final has set up a Pool 4 lunchtime shoot-out against Pat Lam\u2019s Bristol Bears at Ashton Gate next Sunday.<\/p>\n

Glasgow have also accumulated 15 points after their bonus-point win in Clermont on Saturday in Pool 1, where Saracens completed the weekend by beating Toulouse 20-14, a second loss for the six-time champions who must beat Sale next Saturday to advance. <\/p>\n

In the Challenge Cup, Connacht let slip a 31-14 lead in losing 33-31 in Montpellier while Ulster\u2019s game against the Cheetahs in Den Bosch was postponed just 40 minutes before kick-off due to a frozen pitch. The game had been switched from its original location at the NRCA Stadium in Amsterdam an hour away.<\/p>\n

Against all of that, Leinster\u2019s epic 25-24 bonus-point win over La Rochelle in Saturday night\u2019s thriller in the Aviva puts them on 14 points, three clear of Harlequins after their 61-10 win over an understrength Stormers side. <\/p>\n

\"Connacht'sConnacht’s Sean Jansen and Josh Ioane dejected after the loss to Montpellier. Photograph: James Crombie\/Inpho <\/p>\n

Bayonne cannot qualify after suffering a third defeat when beaten 57-14 in Leicester on Saturday, but the Stade Jean Dauger is one of the most atmospheric French fortresses and Cullen is bracing himself for the full Basque experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to prepare for that,\u201d said Cullen. \u201cI know they lost to Stormers at home [in round one] but they have won all their games at home in the Top 14 and they had the best home record of all the teams last season. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why I wanted to go there during November to see \u2018what is this place?\u2019 It\u2019s class. I was in with the Montauban fans. Bayonne hammered them that day,\u201d said Cullen in reference to a trip to Bayonne with his 79-year-old father and 11-year-old son.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a great little trip that we had. But it\u2019s a great ground and we just need to get excited about going over there and putting in a big performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paddy McCarthy (foot) and Ciar\u00e1n Frawley (ankle) have added to Leinster\u2019s lengthy injury list, but Cullen was confident others will return this week, among them Tadhg Furlong, RG Snyman and Garry Ringrose.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a proper slugfest out there,\u201d said Cullen of the duel with La Rochelle. \u201cThe fighting analogy, it was literally blow for blow for blow and it\u2019s great to come out on the positive side of that.<\/p>\n

\"Leinster'sLeinster’s Luke McGrath and Robbie Henshaw try to grab hold of La Rochelle’s Nathan Bollengier during Saturday’s Champions Cup encounter. Photograph: Nick Elliott\/Inpho <\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s gone to the death so nobody\u2019s going to be getting too carried away with themselves because we could easily have lost that game . So, we need to understand the reasons why, if we had lost the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the flip side, why we won the game as well, coming up with moments, keep backing up what we were trying to do off the back of that. That is really, really pleasing, seeing the space and going to the space, and it\u2019s a constant work in progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

More worrying is how La Rochelle\u2019s offloading and wide game dissected Leinster\u2019s defence, which leaked 13 line breaks and 31 missed tackles, only for the visitors to leave several tries behind. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t mind missed tackles with the right intent,\u201d said Cullen. \u201cWhen you pull the game apart, as we always will, it was far from perfect out there.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are always going to get that, but again, the right mindset overall.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, we need to get better because there are quality teams in the competition and I know people who want to keep giving out about the competition but it\u2019s an amazing game out there for people to watch. I\u2019d rather go with the positive.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Whereas Leinster have moved clear of Pool 3 in the Champions Cup and can secure at least a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280719,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[56840,56839,23199,18,19,17,12861,53475,12311,132,23200],"class_list":{"0":"post-280718","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-challenge-cup","9":"tag-champions-cup","10":"tag-connacht-rugby","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-leinster-rugby","15":"tag-leo-cullen","16":"tag-munster-rugby","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-ulster-rugby"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115881777822981372","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}