Dec 12,2024
Munster, once European royalty, haven't made a dent in the Champions Cup since 2021.
By the time they won their second Heineken Cup in 2008, only Toulouse had more titles, but since then, they have never been past a semi-final and have been left in the slipstream of dear rivals Leinster.
After Paul O’Connell lifted the trophy in the Millennium Stadium following victory over Toulouse 16 years ago, Munster have lost seven semi-finals, two quarters, three last-16 games and failed to qualify for the knockouts on four occasions.
It’s been a relatively steady decline with three semi-final defeats in a row between 2017 and 2019, followed by a pool-stage exit, three last-16 losses and a quarter-final defeat on penalties to Toulouse in 2022.
The last two years in Europe have been meek, with Munster winning just three of 10 games, including two heavy knockout defeats to Northampton and Sharks.
Ireland wing Calvin Nash scored two tries in five of those matches and feels that Munster’s downfall has been games where they "completely lose the run of ourselves".
Last season’s draw against Bayonne, and defeats to Saints and Exeter, all from winning positions, spring to mind.
"I think it’s been inconsistent 80-minute performances," said Nash, who helped Munster to a 33-7 opening-round win over Stade Francais last weekend.
"You think back and we’re probably not losing games by massive margins.
"It will be, say 15 minutes in the second half where we completely lose the run of ourselves and stop playing our game plan or go off script, and leave other teams back in the game, or else we don’t have a good start and are chasing the game.
"They are the times that I see us starting to lose games.
"If we can have a consistent 80-minute performance we’ll have better results in Europe."
Munster are currently without a permanent head coach with Ian Costello (above), head of rugby operations, in charge as the province search for a replacement for Graham Rowntree, who departed in October.
The win over Stade came following victory over the Lions in the URC.
"Lads are buzzing," said the eight-times capped Nash, whose side take on Castres at Stade Pierre-Fabre on Friday night.
"With rugby you can't stay still, you have to move onto the next job.
"The last two results have been good for us and hopefully we can keep building momentum 'cos the next few games are massively important.
"When you start well [in the pool] you can feel a bit more confident and not be chasing scores in games or [thinking], ‘we need a bonus point’."
Meanwhile, Costello says he doesn't believe his side will be gaining any particular advantage by playing a Top14 side in consecutive weeks.
"No, they're quite different," he said ahead of the clash against former Ireland international Jeremy Davidson’s side, currently seventh in the French league.
"I think the Lions and Stade lined up nicely and just by coincidence or good fortune, it lined up [with] the things we've been working on the last few weeks.
"We've really looked to develop the unstructured part of our game, or dial it back up, and that's really coming out and the Lions and Stade are lethal around transition so that sharpened our focus.
"Castres is a different battle, very, very strong up front, very physical, brutal.
"We're expecting a toe-to-toe battle in a very tough place to play."
