Castres Olympique vs Munster, Sat 15th Dec 5.30pm Irish time

thomond2006 · 14-12-2018 1:26pm #1

L’équipe du Castres Olympique :
Spedding ; Laveau, Combezou, Vialelle, Paris ; (o) Urdapilleta ; (m) Kockott ; Babillot (cap.), Vaipulu, Caballero ; Jacquet, Lassalle ; M. Clerc, Firmin, Fa’anunu.

Remplats : Rallier, Tichit, Hounkpatin, Samson, Gimeno, Ebersohn, Batlle, Radosavljevic.

Munster:
Mike Haley; Andrew Conway, Sammy Arnold, Rory Scannell, Keith Earls; Joey Carbery, Conor Murray;
Dave Kilcoyne, Niall Scannell, John Ryan; Tadhg Beirne, Billy Holland; Peter O’Mahony (C), Chris Cloete, CJ Stander.

Replacements: Kevin O’Byrne, Jeremy Loughman, Stephen Archer, Fineen Wycherley, Arno Botha, Alby Mathewson, JJ Hanrahan, Jaco Taute.

Pool 2:
Munster 11
Gloucester 8
Castres 5
Exeter 3

It's last chance saloon for Castres as they host Munster tomorrow. The visiting team will be looking to remain ahead of chasers Gloucester in Pool 2, with Gloucester likely to pick up a win tonight against the eliminated Exeter Chiefs.

Joey Carbery gets the start at 10 and Sam Arnold remains at centre with Chris Farrell unavailable. The starting pack remains the same with Stephen Archer coming onto the bench.

thomond2006 · 14-12-2018 1:29pm

Kockott

14-12-2018 1:34pm

I'm going to be a doubting Thomas here, Castres have been a nightmare at home even when completely out of the competition.

I haven't seen enough inventiveness from Munster in attack and the forwards won't be able to do this one by themselves.

Hope I'm wrong and Munster come away with 4 or better yet 5, but my gut tells me it will be a bonus point loss.

Eoinbmw · 14-12-2018 1:44pm

A scrappy win is my prediction could be a few sin bins in this one!

Sabre0001 · 14-12-2018 1:54pm

Not sure what to expect. Very scrappy and error prone game last week. Castres didn't look like offering much BUT they'll be hurting even more after the league loss and then losing in Thomond and being beaten up front for the most part. Hoping we can make the last few rounds a little more comfortable for ourselves, but that's usually not how we like doing it.

Finally get to see the Carbery, Murray partnership - will be interesting to see. Murray can keep defences honest, which might get Carbery more space and time.

Could be another scrappy game. Hopefully we can get inside Kockott's head again! And test them some more with high kicks which they struggled with.

Former Former · 14-12-2018 2:12pm

Like every game involving Castres, the result depends entirely on how bothered they are. If Castres go all out, they'll win. If Munster get an early score or two, they might just throw their hat at it.

Cookiemunster · 14-12-2018 2:12pm

Deleted User wrote: »

I'm going to be a doubting Thomas here, Castres have been a nightmare at home even when completely out of the competition.

I haven't seen enough inventiveness from Munster in attack and the forwards won't be able to do this one by themselves.

Hope I'm wrong and Munster come away with 4 or better yet 5, but my gut tells me it will be a bonus point loss.

They question can also be asked the other way. How will they break down Munster? At the end of the day they're 7th in the Top 14 with minus points difference. Yes they play batter at home, but they're not suddenly going to become Clermont at their pomp by changing a few forwards from last week.

Buer · 14-12-2018 2:20pm

Very hard to know how it will go but I fancy Munster to take the win. Castres are a very hard side to judge but they've been hit and miss even at home this season having lost already to Agen and Stade Francais in the T14.

I would say Munster to win by a whisker but, at the very worst, to take a LBP.

thomond2006 · 14-12-2018 3:59pm

The weather forecast looks horrendous, heavy rain is promised.

thomond2006 · 14-12-2018 10:45pm

Pool 2:

Munster 11
Gloucester 8
Exeter 8
Castres 5

It couldn't be set up much better for Munster.

Buer · 14-12-2018 11:08pm

Even a loss tomorrow and Munster are well placed to top the pool. Unfortunately, it's starting to look like an away semi final is the most likely outcome.

Poorside · 15-12-2018 12:21am

Buer wrote: »

Even a loss tomorrow and Munster are well placed to top the pool. Unfortunately, it's starting to look like an away semi final is the most likely outcome.

Getting a smal bit ahead there, a home QF is within our grasp but qualifying has to be the goal first, it’s all in our hands now and I think we’ll get at least 5 points from the next 2 games, not having to chase TBP will actually help the team just focus on winning and making the right decisions

Mantis Toboggan · 15-12-2018 2:02pm

On TV anywhere apart from BT?

budhabob · 15-12-2018 6:30pm

Mantis Toboggan wrote: »

On TV anywhere apart from BT?

Don't think so, just BT 3.

Weather looks ****e, was terrible for the Toulouse / wasps game too.

LuckyGent88 · 15-12-2018 6:31pm

Out in Germany for the weekend, hopefully we get the win. Going to be a tight game I’d imagine. Win is all we need no matter the performance

ScrubsfanChris · 15-12-2018 6:32pm

Munster jerseys fitting in much better now in the Christmas season :pac:

budhabob · 15-12-2018 6:38pm

Good defense by Munster after a fair bit of pressure from them.

razorblunt · 15-12-2018 6:42pm

Not sure of that penalty, the tighthead seemed to be driving inwards helped by the flanker.
Barnes has absolutely no time for Kockett's antics.

I really hope this isn't going to be one of those nights of silly Munster penalties.

budhabob · 15-12-2018 6:44pm

Kilcoyne has made a great start, carrying and tackling very hard!

budhabob · 15-12-2018 6:47pm

Some carry by CJ, so graceful

c.p.w.g.w · 15-12-2018 6:57pm

budhabob wrote: »

Some carry by CJ, so graceful

What was the TMO looking at?

razorblunt · 15-12-2018 6:59pm

Definitely contact made with Cloete's face earlier, think it might just have been a push though.

budhabob · 15-12-2018 6:59pm

Complaints of gouging on cloete, think I certainly saw a hand in his face a few minutes ago.

As for the grounding, I thought it was inconclusive.

ScrubsfanChris · 15-12-2018 7:00pm

TMO must have x-ray vision

Sirius Boner · 15-12-2018 7:01pm

So, the tmo can see a miniscule grounding.. but can't see Cloete getting a hand in the eyes ......

razorblunt · 15-12-2018 7:05pm

Commentary is so flat. Such a slog.

Stout Warrior · 15-12-2018 7:09pm

razorblunt wrote: »

Commentary is so flat. Such a slog.

Donncha my life’s a party O Callaghan

razorblunt · 15-12-2018 7:11pm

4 times Barnes told him leave while Murray waited for the ball.
Stonewall penalty.

razorblunt · 15-12-2018 7:12pm

On his hands too FFS.
The lads in comms looking at it on the replay too busy cramming their facts in.

razorblunt · 15-12-2018 7:15pm

Barnes loves shouting instructions but then just watches lads professionally foul, their 6 walked back through the ruck then joined from the wrong side on Scannell's mini break.

Stout Warrior · 15-12-2018 7:16pm

Munster aren’t protecting their own ball at the breakdown and it could cost them the game

Castres Olympique vs Munster, Sat 15th Dec 5.30pm Irish time

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