FOR ALL THE talk about Joey Carbery coming back and Jack Crowley coming through, you’d be forgiven for thinking Ben Healy is the half-forgotten guy on Munster’s roster of out-halves. He’s far from that. If anything this fella could end up as the best back-up at No10 since Winston Churchill told poor old Nev Chamberlain to get out the door of Downing Street.
Healy was superb here, slotting over five kicks, whipping passes to his outside backs, spiralling kicks into the corners, improvising marvellously in one move with a basketball-type pass to Damian De Allende – which should have led to a try.
Aside from all that, Healy offered Munster a sense of calm. They controlled this game and you never do that with an average ten. He’s way better than average.
So are Munster. This was an assured performance, Chris Farrell and De Allende adding to Healy’s box of tricks with some fine deliveries of their own, Keith Earls popping up with a clever crossfield kick which nearly sent Andrew Conway away. Why stop there? While you worried if the five players featuring in their first match in seven weeks would feel the pace, to their credit, they set a high tempo.
Healy had a fine game at No10. Morgan Treacy / INPHO
Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO
And Castres, by and large, coped with it. Yes, they lost but how often have we seen them give up in European games here? This time they didn’t. Their defeat had nothing to do with a lack of effort, more to do with an inability to cope with Munster’s best stuff.
Most of that revolved around Farrell and De Allende and the fact remains they look a different team when it is this pair trucking it up the middle for them rather than their physically smaller understudies.
Both gained yards when they had no right to in a move that saw another basketball pass from Healy eventually lead to Jack O’Donoghue touching down for the game’s decisive score. Healy’s conversion was magnificent and with that a 13-point gap was created, the result never in doubt.
Advertisement
Others also shone. Tadhg Beirne was immense, Andrew Conway and Keith Earls both impressive while this is turning out to be Niall Scannell’s best spell of form since 2018. As well as that, John Ryan continued his fine season with a decent shift at tighthead. As well as all that, the back row dominated the breakdown, especially in the first-half.
And yet only six points separated the sides at half-time, an early Healy penalty arriving after Wilfrid Hounkpatin was guilty of not rolling away following a break by Beirne. Forty yards from goal, at a tricky enough angle, Healy delivered under pressure.
Ahead, you’d have thought Munster would have just clicked through the gears. But Champions Cup rugby isn’t really as simple as that. Castres had their own weapons although a piece of stupidity from Kevin Kornath, who ripped off John Hodnett’s scrum-cap, saw referee, Matthew Carley, reverse his penalty decision. Thus went a shot at an equalising score for Castres’ Benjamin Urdapilleta.
Munster were winning a good few penalties through other means, three at the breakdown alone in the first half providing them with both territory and possession. Their maul was another source of joy but it was the technical excellence of their breakdown work which afforded Healy a second kick at goal, which he took in the 28th minute, to put Munster six points ahead.
It would have been 13 had De Allende’s try not been wiped out after a marathon review session. You can’t blame referee Carley for the call he made; you certainly can question De Allende’s choice to go it alone when he had Jean Kleyn unmarked outside him. That said, the pain of that missed opportunity was compensated for by the fact Healy slotted over his third penalty of the night. Thirty five minutes gone, Munster nine points clear.
Just before half-time Urdapilleta cut that gap to six. He’d add another penalty midway through the second-half but with O’Donoghue’s try and Healy’s eight second-half points from the boot, Munster entered the closing stages with a 19-6 lead.
Benjamin Urdapilleta kicks a penalty. Laszlo Geczo / INPHO
Laszlo Geczo / INPHO / INPHO
That was cut to 19-13 on 77 minutes when Kornath crashed over after a sustained period of Castres pressure, their only sustained period of pressure. You’d have imagined that would set up a rip-roaring finale. Not quite. Munster’s response was to control the final two minutes much as they did the first 75.
The win leaves them level with Harlequins at the top of their pool, the visit of the mediocre Wasps to come suggesting a place in the Champions Cup round of 16 is already theirs to look forward to. Expect them to go a wee bit deeper in the competition than that.
Munster scorers
Tries: O’Donoghue
Conversions: Healy (1/1)
Penalties: Healy (4/5)
Castres scorers
Tries: Kornath
Conversions: Urdapilleta (1/1)
Penalties: Urdapilleta (2/2) Thomas Larregain (0-1)
Munster: Patrick Campbell; Andrew Conway, Chris Farrell, Damian de Allende, Keith Earls; Ben Healy (rep: Jack Crowley ’69), Conor Murray (rep: Craig Casey ’69); Dave Kilcoyne (rep: Josh Wycherley ’53), Niall Scannell (rep: Diarmuid Barron ’53), John Ryan (rep: Keynan Knox ’53); Jean Kleyn (rep: Jason Jenkins ’63), Tadhg Beirne; Peter O’Mahony (capt), John Hodnett (rep: Alex Kendellen ’72), Jack O’Donoghue (rep: Jack O’Sullivan ’69).
Castres: Thomas Larregain; Bastien Guillemin (rep: Louis Le Brun ’69 HIA), Thomas Combezou, Pierre Aguillon, Filipo Nakosi (rep: Antoine Zeghdar ’65); Benjamin Urdapilleta, Santiago Arata Perrone (rep: Rory Kockott ’51); Wayan de Benedittis (rep: Julius Nostadt ’41), Gaetan Barlot (rep: Brice Humbert ’41), Wilfrid Hounkpatin (rep: Antoine Guillamon ’41); Loic Jacquet (capt), Théo Hannoyer (rep: Jack Whetton ’51); Nick Champion de Crespigny (rep: Mateaki Kafatolu ’65), Simon Meka, Kevin Kornath.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
50 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
Healy shines as Munster deservedly defeat Castres in the Champions Cup
MUNSTER 19
CASTRES 13
Garry Doyle at Thomond Park
FOR ALL THE talk about Joey Carbery coming back and Jack Crowley coming through, you’d be forgiven for thinking Ben Healy is the half-forgotten guy on Munster’s roster of out-halves. He’s far from that. If anything this fella could end up as the best back-up at No10 since Winston Churchill told poor old Nev Chamberlain to get out the door of Downing Street.
Healy was superb here, slotting over five kicks, whipping passes to his outside backs, spiralling kicks into the corners, improvising marvellously in one move with a basketball-type pass to Damian De Allende – which should have led to a try.
Aside from all that, Healy offered Munster a sense of calm. They controlled this game and you never do that with an average ten. He’s way better than average.
So are Munster. This was an assured performance, Chris Farrell and De Allende adding to Healy’s box of tricks with some fine deliveries of their own, Keith Earls popping up with a clever crossfield kick which nearly sent Andrew Conway away. Why stop there? While you worried if the five players featuring in their first match in seven weeks would feel the pace, to their credit, they set a high tempo.
And Castres, by and large, coped with it. Yes, they lost but how often have we seen them give up in European games here? This time they didn’t. Their defeat had nothing to do with a lack of effort, more to do with an inability to cope with Munster’s best stuff.
Most of that revolved around Farrell and De Allende and the fact remains they look a different team when it is this pair trucking it up the middle for them rather than their physically smaller understudies.
Both gained yards when they had no right to in a move that saw another basketball pass from Healy eventually lead to Jack O’Donoghue touching down for the game’s decisive score. Healy’s conversion was magnificent and with that a 13-point gap was created, the result never in doubt.
Others also shone. Tadhg Beirne was immense, Andrew Conway and Keith Earls both impressive while this is turning out to be Niall Scannell’s best spell of form since 2018. As well as that, John Ryan continued his fine season with a decent shift at tighthead. As well as all that, the back row dominated the breakdown, especially in the first-half.
And yet only six points separated the sides at half-time, an early Healy penalty arriving after Wilfrid Hounkpatin was guilty of not rolling away following a break by Beirne. Forty yards from goal, at a tricky enough angle, Healy delivered under pressure.
Ahead, you’d have thought Munster would have just clicked through the gears. But Champions Cup rugby isn’t really as simple as that. Castres had their own weapons although a piece of stupidity from Kevin Kornath, who ripped off John Hodnett’s scrum-cap, saw referee, Matthew Carley, reverse his penalty decision. Thus went a shot at an equalising score for Castres’ Benjamin Urdapilleta.
Munster were winning a good few penalties through other means, three at the breakdown alone in the first half providing them with both territory and possession. Their maul was another source of joy but it was the technical excellence of their breakdown work which afforded Healy a second kick at goal, which he took in the 28th minute, to put Munster six points ahead.
It would have been 13 had De Allende’s try not been wiped out after a marathon review session. You can’t blame referee Carley for the call he made; you certainly can question De Allende’s choice to go it alone when he had Jean Kleyn unmarked outside him. That said, the pain of that missed opportunity was compensated for by the fact Healy slotted over his third penalty of the night. Thirty five minutes gone, Munster nine points clear.
Just before half-time Urdapilleta cut that gap to six. He’d add another penalty midway through the second-half but with O’Donoghue’s try and Healy’s eight second-half points from the boot, Munster entered the closing stages with a 19-6 lead.
That was cut to 19-13 on 77 minutes when Kornath crashed over after a sustained period of Castres pressure, their only sustained period of pressure. You’d have imagined that would set up a rip-roaring finale. Not quite. Munster’s response was to control the final two minutes much as they did the first 75.
The win leaves them level with Harlequins at the top of their pool, the visit of the mediocre Wasps to come suggesting a place in the Champions Cup round of 16 is already theirs to look forward to. Expect them to go a wee bit deeper in the competition than that.
Munster scorers
Tries: O’Donoghue
Conversions: Healy (1/1)
Penalties: Healy (4/5)
Castres scorers
Tries: Kornath
Conversions: Urdapilleta (1/1)
Penalties: Urdapilleta (2/2) Thomas Larregain (0-1)
Munster: Patrick Campbell; Andrew Conway, Chris Farrell, Damian de Allende, Keith Earls; Ben Healy (rep: Jack Crowley ’69), Conor Murray (rep: Craig Casey ’69); Dave Kilcoyne (rep: Josh Wycherley ’53), Niall Scannell (rep: Diarmuid Barron ’53), John Ryan (rep: Keynan Knox ’53); Jean Kleyn (rep: Jason Jenkins ’63), Tadhg Beirne; Peter O’Mahony (capt), John Hodnett (rep: Alex Kendellen ’72), Jack O’Donoghue (rep: Jack O’Sullivan ’69).
Castres: Thomas Larregain; Bastien Guillemin (rep: Louis Le Brun ’69 HIA), Thomas Combezou, Pierre Aguillon, Filipo Nakosi (rep: Antoine Zeghdar ’65); Benjamin Urdapilleta, Santiago Arata Perrone (rep: Rory Kockott ’51); Wayan de Benedittis (rep: Julius Nostadt ’41), Gaetan Barlot (rep: Brice Humbert ’41), Wilfrid Hounkpatin (rep: Antoine Guillamon ’41); Loic Jacquet (capt), Théo Hannoyer (rep: Jack Whetton ’51); Nick Champion de Crespigny (rep: Mateaki Kafatolu ’65), Simon Meka, Kevin Kornath.
Referee: Matthew Carley (England).
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Castres Champions Cup Munster