MUNSTER WILL TRAVEL home from Castres today having suffered a worrying injury toll during their Champions Cup defeat to the French side last night.
Scrum-half Craig Casey left Pierre Stade Fabre on crutches and in a knee brace, while wing Thaakir Abrahams dislocated his shoulder during the bruising 16-14 defeat to Castres.
Back row Peter O’Mahony limped off with a knee injury, loosehead prop Dian Bleuler suffered a head injury, his replacement Dave Kilcoyne had to be withdrawn with cramp, and there will be other bumps and bruises today after an attritional game.
Casey’s knee injury is among the most concerning, with the 25-year-old carried off in the second half in obvious pain.
“You saw Craig’s, Craig’s is pretty serious,” said Munster interim head coach Ian Costello last night.
“He came off in crutches. We don’t know the extent of that yet but you could see he left the pitch in a bit of pain.
“It looked like his studs got stuck in the ground. He was sore coming off the field, I don’t know any more than that at the moment.”
As well as being a key man for Munster, Casey finished the November series strongly for Ireland and appears to have strengthened his position in the national squad, so a long-term injury now would be cruel.
Craig Casey on crutches. Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
The same is true of South African wing Thaakir Abrahams, who only recently returned from a leg injury.
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Abrahams suffered his shoulder injury in an illegal tackle by Castres number eight Abraham Papali’i that was sanctioned with a penalty.
“Thaakir in that tackle dislocated his shoulder, you know, or it certainly popped out,” said Costello.
The Munster boss is hopeful Ireland international O’Mahony will recover quickly after he “got a stud in the calf” and limped off in the second half. The 35-year-old flanker also had heavy strapping around his right ankle for the game.
Bleuler will go into the return-to-play protocols after suffering a heavy blow to the head while making a no-arms tackle.
The South African prop was forced off just after the 20-minute mark meaning Kilcoyne had to dig deep on his return from a year on the sidelines through injury. Kilcoyne was replaced in the closing minutes due to cramp.
Costello confirmed that 20-year-old number eight Brian Gleeson hadn’t been injured when he came off for Jack O’Donoghue in the second half.
Gleeson was on the end of an illegal high tackle by Castres’ Quentin Walcker in the first half for which the loosehead was sin-binned, but Gleeson played on at that stage.
“The two medics were there and very comfortable with where he was at. He took a shoulder to the head but they felt he was absolutely fine,” said Costello.
“He’s in the dressing room now absolutely fine. We took him off to bring Jack into the game, nothing to do with that knock.”
Thaakir Abrahams was injured in an illegal tackle. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
All in all, it was a tough night for Munster on the injury front.
“As always when you come to a place like this, it’s a punishing, attritional performance and there’s a few guys we’ll have to watch really closely over the next couple of days to see if they’re good for next week,” said Costello.
The southern province travel to Ulster next weekend in the URC and will be eager to atone for their poor performance in Castres.
Costello and his fellow coaches were disappointed with the number of errors they made in defeat at Stade Pierre Fabre.
“Really disappointing, particularly the first half,” he said.
“We started really poorly and that’s something we’ve been working really hard on. We probably overplayed in our half and uncharacteristically kicked away a bit of ball in their half. We had good opportunities so we were very lucky to be 10-7 down at half time.
“That gave us a lot of belief, a lot of trust. Ultimately, we had our chances but 17 penalties, some from their pressure and they obviously had a very strong scrum but some were within our control, I would say, where we chased a lot of breakdowns.
It was a tough night for Munster. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
“Our discipline let us down at key times so we lost that footing to have a chance in that second half.”
Munster did at least come away with a losing point point to add to last weekend’s try-scoring bonus-point win over Stade Français but it felt like scant consolation.
“I know at the end of January that could be really important and going on the road in France and getting a point is important but right now, there’s elements of the performance we’re really disappointed with,” said Costello.
“We have a lot of good work done over the last five or six weeks, so we get a chance to reset and go out next week in the URC.”
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Worrying injuries add to Munster's misery in Castres
MUNSTER WILL TRAVEL home from Castres today having suffered a worrying injury toll during their Champions Cup defeat to the French side last night.
Scrum-half Craig Casey left Pierre Stade Fabre on crutches and in a knee brace, while wing Thaakir Abrahams dislocated his shoulder during the bruising 16-14 defeat to Castres.
Back row Peter O’Mahony limped off with a knee injury, loosehead prop Dian Bleuler suffered a head injury, his replacement Dave Kilcoyne had to be withdrawn with cramp, and there will be other bumps and bruises today after an attritional game.
Casey’s knee injury is among the most concerning, with the 25-year-old carried off in the second half in obvious pain.
“You saw Craig’s, Craig’s is pretty serious,” said Munster interim head coach Ian Costello last night.
“He came off in crutches. We don’t know the extent of that yet but you could see he left the pitch in a bit of pain.
“It looked like his studs got stuck in the ground. He was sore coming off the field, I don’t know any more than that at the moment.”
As well as being a key man for Munster, Casey finished the November series strongly for Ireland and appears to have strengthened his position in the national squad, so a long-term injury now would be cruel.
The same is true of South African wing Thaakir Abrahams, who only recently returned from a leg injury.
Abrahams suffered his shoulder injury in an illegal tackle by Castres number eight Abraham Papali’i that was sanctioned with a penalty.
“Thaakir in that tackle dislocated his shoulder, you know, or it certainly popped out,” said Costello.
The Munster boss is hopeful Ireland international O’Mahony will recover quickly after he “got a stud in the calf” and limped off in the second half. The 35-year-old flanker also had heavy strapping around his right ankle for the game.
Bleuler will go into the return-to-play protocols after suffering a heavy blow to the head while making a no-arms tackle.
The South African prop was forced off just after the 20-minute mark meaning Kilcoyne had to dig deep on his return from a year on the sidelines through injury. Kilcoyne was replaced in the closing minutes due to cramp.
Costello confirmed that 20-year-old number eight Brian Gleeson hadn’t been injured when he came off for Jack O’Donoghue in the second half.
Gleeson was on the end of an illegal high tackle by Castres’ Quentin Walcker in the first half for which the loosehead was sin-binned, but Gleeson played on at that stage.
“The two medics were there and very comfortable with where he was at. He took a shoulder to the head but they felt he was absolutely fine,” said Costello.
“He’s in the dressing room now absolutely fine. We took him off to bring Jack into the game, nothing to do with that knock.”
All in all, it was a tough night for Munster on the injury front.
“As always when you come to a place like this, it’s a punishing, attritional performance and there’s a few guys we’ll have to watch really closely over the next couple of days to see if they’re good for next week,” said Costello.
The southern province travel to Ulster next weekend in the URC and will be eager to atone for their poor performance in Castres.
Costello and his fellow coaches were disappointed with the number of errors they made in defeat at Stade Pierre Fabre.
“Really disappointing, particularly the first half,” he said.
“We started really poorly and that’s something we’ve been working really hard on. We probably overplayed in our half and uncharacteristically kicked away a bit of ball in their half. We had good opportunities so we were very lucky to be 10-7 down at half time.
“That gave us a lot of belief, a lot of trust. Ultimately, we had our chances but 17 penalties, some from their pressure and they obviously had a very strong scrum but some were within our control, I would say, where we chased a lot of breakdowns.
“Our discipline let us down at key times so we lost that footing to have a chance in that second half.”
Munster did at least come away with a losing point point to add to last weekend’s try-scoring bonus-point win over Stade Français but it felt like scant consolation.
“I know at the end of January that could be really important and going on the road in France and getting a point is important but right now, there’s elements of the performance we’re really disappointed with,” said Costello.
“We have a lot of good work done over the last five or six weeks, so we get a chance to reset and go out next week in the URC.”
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