Leinster 22; Bayonne 13
So far, so good. But good won’t be good enough from now on and what Leinster have left up their sleeve to surprise Europe’s elite from now on is indeed a moot question.
On a miserable day in Bayonne on Saturday, they fought a trench-warfare battle with the local team which has a proud unbeaten home record, before emerging late to claim the spoils with two late tries and top their group in the last of the Phase One matches.
The result means they will face Scottish side Edinburgh at the Aviva Stadium in the first weekend of April
It was a tough day at the office down in Basque country as they came from behind with six minutes left on the clock to maintain their proud pool games record of now having won 31 games in succession.
On the face of it with Bayonne having failed to collect even a single point in the previous three games, it looked an easy assignment until you factor in the fact that this is a proud team with proud fans who are proud of their impressive winning home record.
That was why the game was in the balance until substitute Sam Prendergast and flanker Max Deegan got in for late touchdowns to finally wrestle control when it mattered most.
In the early stanza of play it was the hosts who looked the livelier and more inventive and showed why they are unbeaten in this ground in the Top 14 for over 20 months.
Their play brought out the Achilles Heel that has been hampering Leinster all season - their discipline. Another nine penalties conceded and from one of those, Bayonne did their first damage on the scoreboard following Tommy O'Brien's illegal aerial challenge on full-back Cheikh Tiberghien.
From that penalty and follow on lineout Yohan Orabe combined with centre Sireli Maqala, who dotted down under the sticks.
While that reverse was registering at one level, at the exact same time the sight of Tadhg Furlong hobbling off after 16 minutes sent alarm bells ringing to the Leinster and Ireland backroom teams. The optimistic hope is that the “tight calf” was caught early and will allow him to be part of the Ireland side to play France away on the first Thursday of next month. However with his history, it would only be a super optimist that would wager not just on his playing, but even making the travelling squad.
Leinster raised their game with the new boy Joshua Kenny and Jimmy O'Brien showing up well in counter attack with the former almost getting in at the corner before Harry Byrne opened Leinster’s ledger with a penalty.
Home out-half Joris Segonds cancelled that out with a huge penalty of his own after the visitors were penalized in the lineout while it looked bleak on the injury front when the prone Robbie Henshaw departed the pitch with a knee injury.
Lady Luck had deserted the cause as well as replacement prop Tom Clarkson got over but was ruled to do so in a double movement while later in the second half Jimmy O’Brien took advantage of good running and kicking by Prendergast to apparently touch down - only for the replay to show he dropped the ball and lost control on the dotting down movement.
As the hosts went in 10-3 ahead, did we mention injuries? Yes another one limped out of the game at the start of the second period when Tommy O’Brien appeared to be the victim of a calf injury.
Things could hardly get worse… and thank heavens they didn’t. Yes it became a scrappy affair and an excellent Jimmy O offload saw replacement hooker Dan Sheehan galloped over with Byrne leveling matters.
Another Segonds penalty from his own half following Leinster infringement tilted the tie slightly in favour of the home crew, but it was then Leinster upped the ante and began squatting in the hosts half.
With the Bayonne rearguard under increasing pressure and with Segonds missing for once, the wheel of fortune began turning in the Ireland province’s direction.
They huffed and puffed a good bit even with the upperhand and it took a delightful chip from Byrne to unlock the defence with Prendergast taking advantage by touch down under the posts.
Replacements Joe McCarthy and Scott Penny hit the ground running as they forced the homesters into conceding a penalty that paved the way to ultimate victory.The lively Sheehan was again quickest to react to an overthrow from the other side to feed Deegan who was on hand from the recycle to get the important final try.
Leinster: J O'Brien; T O'Brien, G Ringrose, R Henshaw, J Kenny; H Byrne, J Gibson-Park; J Boyle, R Kelleher, T Furlong; RG Snyman; J Ryan; M Deegan, J van der Flier, C Doris (capt) Replacements: D Sheehan (Kelleher 46), J Cahir (Boyle 70), T Clarkson (Furlong 16), J McCarthy (Snyman 55), S Penny (Van der Flier 74), L McGrath (J O'Brien 66), S Prendergast (T O'Brien 42), R Ioane (Henshaw 34).
Munster’s early exit
Castres 31; Munster 29
Scorers Castres: Tries: Vuate Karawalevu, Theo Chabouni, Geoffrey Palis, Christian Ambadiang Cons: Jeremy Fernandez (2), Santiago Arata (2) Pens: Jeremy Fernandez (1)
Munster: Tries: Craig Casey (2), Edwin Edogbo (2) Thaakir Abrahams
Cons: Jack Crowley (2)
Munster: S Daly; T Abrahams, T Farrell, A Nankivell, B O'Connor; J Crowley, C Casey; J Loughman, N Scannell, M Ala’alatoa; J Kleyn, F Wycherley; T Beirne (capt), J O’Donoghue, G Coombes Replacements: L Barron (for Scannell, 49), M Milne (for Loughman, 56), O Jager (for Ala’alatoa, 56), E Edogbo (for Kleyn, 49), B Gleeson (for O’Donoghue, 49), E Coughlan, JJ Hanrahan (for O’Connor, 56), D Kelly (for Nankivell, 60).
RUGBY
Leinster 22; Bayonne 13
So far, so good. But good won’t be good enough from now on and what Leinster have left up their sleeve to surprise Europe’s elite from now on is indeed a moot question.
On a miserable day in Bayonne on Saturday, they fought a trench-warfare battle with the local team which has a proud unbeaten home record, before emerging late to claim the spoils with two late tries and top their group in the last of the Phase One matches.
The result means they will face Scottish side Edinburgh at the Aviva Stadium in the first weekend of April
It was a tough day at the office down in Basque country as they came from behind with six minutes left on the clock to maintain their proud pool games record of now having won 31 games in succession.
On the face of it with Bayonne having failed to collect even a single point in the previous three games, it looked an easy assignment until you factor in the fact that this is a proud team with proud fans who are proud of their impressive winning home record.
That was why the game was in the balance until substitute Sam Prendergast and flanker Max Deegan got in for late touchdowns to finally wrestle control when it mattered most.
In the early stanza of play it was the hosts who looked the livelier and more eventive and showed why they are unbeaten in this ground in the Top 14 for over 20 months.
Their play brought out the Achilles Heel that has been hampering Leinster all season - their discipline. Another nine penalties conceded and from one of those, Bayonne did their first damage on the scoreboard following Tommy O'Brien's illegal aerial challenge on full-back Cheikh Tiberghien.
From that penalty and follow on lineout Yohan Orabe combined with centre Sireli Maqala, who dotted down under the sticks.
While that reverse was registering at one level, at the exact same time the sight of Tadhg Furlong hobbling off after 16 minutes sent alarm bells ringing to the Leinster and Ireland backroom teams. The optimistic hope is that the “tight calf” was caught early and will allow him to be part of the Ireland side to play France away on the first Thursday of next month. However with his history, it would only be a super optimist that would wager not just on his playing, but even making the travelling squad.
Leinster raised their game with the new boy Joshua Kenny and Jimmy O'Brien showing up well in counter attack with the former almost getting in at the corner before Harry Byrne opened Leinster’s ledger with a penalty.
Home out-half Joris Segonds cancelled that out with a huge penalty of his own after the visitors were penalised in the lineout while it looked bleak on the injury front when the prone Robbie Henshaw departed the pitch with a knee injury.
Lady Luck had deserted the cause as well as replacement prop Tom Clarkson got over but was ruled to do so in a double movement while later in the second half Jimmy O’Brtien took advantage of good running and kicking by Prendergast to apparently touch down - only for the replay to show he dropped the ball and lost control on the dotting down movement.
As the hosts went in 10-3 ahead, did we mention injuries? Yes another one limped out of the game at the start of the second period when Tommy O’Brien appeared to be the victim of a calf injury.
Things could hardly get worse… and thank heavens they didn’t. Yes it became a scrappy affair and an excellent Jimmy O offload saw replacement hooker Dan Sheehan galloped over with Byrne leveling matters.
Another Segonds penalty from his own half following Leinster infringement tilted the tie slightly in favour of the home crew, but it was then Leinster upped the ante and began squatting in the hosts half.
With the Bayonne rearguard under increasing pressure and with Segonds missing for once, the wheel of fortune began turning in the Ireland province’s direction.
They huffed and puffed a good bit even with the upperhand and it took a delightful chip from Byrne to unlock the defence with Prendergast taking advantage by touch down under the posts.
Replacements Joe McCarthy and Scott Penny hit the ground running as they forced the homesters into conceding a penalty that paved the way to ultimate victory.The lively Sheehan was again quickest to react to an overthrow from the other side to feed Deegan who was on hand from the recycle to get the important final try.
Leinster: J O'Brien; T O'Brien, G Ringrose, R Henshaw, J Kenny; H Byrne, J Gibson-Park; J Boyle, R Kelleher, T Furlong; RG Snyman; J Ryan; M Deegan, J van der Flier, C Doris (capt) Replacements: D Sheehan (Kelleher 46), J Cahir (Boyle 70), T Clarkson (Furlong 16), J McCarthy (Snyman 55), S Penny (Van der Flier 74), L McGrath (J O'Brien 66), S Prendergast (T O'Brien 42), R Ioane (Henshaw 34).
Munster Exit
Castres 31; Munster 29
Scorers Castres: Tries: Vuate Karawalevu, Theo Chabouni, Geoffrey Palis, Christian Ambadiang Cons: Jeremy Fernandez (2), Santiago Arata (2) Pens: Jeremy Fernandez (1)
Munster: Tries: Craig Casey (2), Edwin Edogbo (2) Thaakir Abrahams
Cons: Jack Crowley (2)
Oh Munster, Munster, wherefore are thou Munster? I’m talking about the Munster of old, not the one that fumbled its way out of this year’s Champions Cup pool with a home elimination at Thomond Park on Saturday evening.
Yes, they have only themselves to blame because they huffed and puffed going forward and then couldn’t resist the Castres incisive counter attacks which ultimately was responsible for the Irish province’s first elimination at this stage since the tournament scaled the knockout rounds to 16 teams.
This was the French side’s first ever win at Thomond Park thanks to a late flurry of scores which put them 31-22 ahead. In fairness, there was a sting in the dying wasp as Munster got in for a converted try but with only a win counting, the reverse by three points means they are now idle on the European front so early in January.
Head Coach Clayton McMillan began life down in the province on a high with victories overLeinster at Croke Park in November suggesting that the good old times were about to revisit followers of the men in red, or pink as it was on Saturday.
Five points behind at the break, ahead several times, this group, despite the presence of the amazing Tadhg Beirne, seem to have perfect the art of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
When the dynamic Craig Casey got in for two first half tries to claim a 12-10 lead for his team who had been 10-0, it suggested that they had found their groove and would kick on from there.
How naive of us to think along such lines. By half-time they had allowed Castres back into the game and forge five in front.
Beirne kept his men out on the pitch in a circle as he laid down the law about it being a case of now or never. The way Munster stormed into action in the second half, it looked like they had not just heard his message but had heeded it as well.
The tricky Thaakir Abrahams and Edwin Edobgo got in for two fine scores to give their side a 24-17 advantage. This time, we thought they would kick on but the self-destruct button was hit almost immediately as influential centreTom Farrell saw yellow and you guessed it - Castres took advantage to claim the two winning scores.
Head Coach McMillan could only underline the topsy turvy nature of his team as the hit hot and cold streaks over their 80 minutes.
“The big disappointment for me and the worrying trend I guess is that we work really hard to score some points, but we give up points very quickly after scoring. We don't make it hard for the opposition to have to come back and get points, and that's the one worrying trend for me over the last three or four weeks.”
McMillan also focused on how Munster are losing in “lots of different ways.”
He said, “I think we missed a couple of kicks at goal. We fell off a few tackles. We created a few opportunities and didn't quite nail them. Missed a couple of lineouts. It's the accumulation of all the little things that make all the difference in the end. They hurt us.
“You win the game and they don't seem as important as when you lose, but that's the margins at this level if the game and games that have a lot riding on them. It's being on the right side of those moments. They had a few more than us,” he stated.
Munster: S Daly; T Abrahams, T Farrell, A Nankivell, B O'Connor; J Crowley, C Casey; J Loughman, N Scannell, M Ala’alatoa; J Kleyn, F Wycherley; T Beirne (capt), J O’Donoghue, G Coombes Replacements: L Barron (for Scannell, 49), M Milne (for Loughman, 56), O Jager (for Ala’alatoa, 56), E Edogbo (for Kleyn, 49), B Gleeson (for O’Donoghue, 49), E Coughlan, JJ Hanrahan (for O’Connor, 56), D Kelly (for Nankivell, 60).
O’Gara fuming as La Rochelle dumped out
Former Ireland outhalf and current La Rochelle head coach Ronan O'Gara was unhappy at what he described as the “unacceptable defeat” following their home loss that killed their chances of progressing to the Champions Cup knockout stages.
England club Harlequins may be finding it hard in the domestic league but they rose to the challenge to beat the French side 27-17 at Stade Marcel Deflandre on Sunday.
Former Ireland outhalf and current La Rochelle head coach Ronan O'Gara was unhappy at what he described as the “unacceptable defeat” following their home loss that killed their chances of progressing to the Champions Cup knockout stages.
England club Harlequins may be finding it hard in the domestic league but they rose to the challenge to beat the French side 27-17 at Stade Marcel Deflandre on Sunday.
CHAMPION CUP - LAST 16 DRAW
(Seeding in brackets)
Bordeaux (1) v Leicester Tigers (16)
Glasgow Warriors (2) v Bulls (15)
Leinster (3) v Edinburgh (14)
Bath (4) v Saracens (13)
Northampton Saints (5) v Castres (12)
Harlequins (6) v Sale Sharks (11)
Toulon (7) v Stormers (10)
Toulouse (8) v Bristol Bears (9)
Matches to be played on weekend of 3/4/5 April
