Dec 13,2024
A notoriously hard place to go, Castres is also proving a hard place to get to this week.
A French rail strike is complicating the travel plans for some of the Munster supporters as they try to make the 90km journey from Toulouse.
If Munster supporters are sick of the sight of Castres Olympique, then it's hard to imagine how strong the feeling is on the other side.
These two teams just can't stay away from each other. Tonight’s meeting at Stade Pierre-Fabre will be the 19th clash of what is the most common pairing in the 30 years of the Investec Champions Cup.
Munster’s pedigree in this competition means that Castres are just one of many rivalries they’ve built up down the years, with a series of great back-and-forths against the likes of Toulouse, Wasps, Racing 92 and Northampton Saints down through the decades.
Castres don't have that same pedigree. While this will be Munster’s 202nd game of Champions Cup rugby, the French side will be playing their 98th, with Munster now accounting for 19.3% of their games in Europe. There's a bit of history in this game.
Appropriately, Munster bookend Castres’ involvement in the competition. The French side's first ever game in the inaugural 1995-96 season was at home to Munster, who had beaten Swansea at home a week earlier thanks to Pat Murray's late try. Castres won 19-12 in the first European meeting of the sides, future coach Laurent Labit kicking 14 of their points but the Top 14 side have stubbornly refused to fall in love with the tournament.
In 17 previous Champions Cup campaigns, the five-time French champions have only ever reached the knockout stages once, and as luck would have it, they ran into Munster three times that season. After sharing a win apiece in the pool stage in 2001/02, Castres hosted Munster in Beziers, but Declan Kidney’s side pulled off a memorable 25-17 win.
The head-to-head weighs heavily in Munster’s favour, with 13 wins against four, while there was one draw, 17-17 at Stade Pierre-Fabre in 2017.
Their last meeting came in January 2022, where Munster snatched a dramatic late win, with Gavin Coombes’ try two minutes from time, converted by Jack Crowley, giving the province 16-13 win.
Plotting Munster’s downfall this week is a familiar face in Jeremy Davidson.
The former Ulster, Ireland and British and Irish Lions lock spent three years at Castres as a player, and has been in charge of the club since early 2023, when he was appointed to replace Pierre-Henry Broncan who had been sacked just seven months after leading the underdogs to the final of the Top14.
Davidson steered them away from relegation trouble to eventually finish ninth that year, and after finishing seventh last season, they remain mid-table through 11 games of the current campaign.
Despite being within reach of the play-offs, and operating off one of the league’s lowest budgets, the 50-year-old only has a few more months left in the job, with the club confirming last month that current attack coach Xavier Sadourny would be replacing Davidson (below), whose own deal is not going to be extended.
As if often the case with French sides, they are a different prospect at home compared to away.
While they were comfortably beaten 38-8 away to Northampton last week, they have been formidable at Stade Pierre-Fabre domestically, winning all six home games against Racing 92, Perpignan, Stade Francais, La Rochelle, Montpellier and double-champions Toulouse.
And Munster’s attack coach Mike Prendergast, who spent nine years coaching in France, knows the challenge they present on home soil.
"It just depends where they are in the league. You look at Stade [Francais] last weekend, and they had a lot of injuries, all that comes into the question," Prendergast said.
"In terms of Castres, they changed a few around last weekend. I would imagine they would go quite strong and deep against us, looking at what they have the following week, which is a Top14 game against Bordeaux.
"At home they haven’t been beaten all season, they’ve taken a lot of good scalps, in terms of Racing, La Rochelle, Toulouse. They have been and will be a formidable team at home, whoever plays for them.
"If you look at their side last week, they left some of their starters on the bench, I would imagine with a view to putting a team to winning their home game and lead them back into the Top14 the following week."
The Castres side Munster face this evening is much different to the one that started in Northampton last week, with Davidson making 12 changes to his starting team; out-half Louis de Brun, lock Leone Nakarawa and flanker Tyler Ardron are the only players who are retained in the first XV. For context, 11 of this week’s team started their 28-24 win against La Rochelle last month.
Former EPCR Player of the Year Nakarawa is one of several notable names in the line-up, as is ex-All Black centre Jack Goodhue, who joined after the 2023 Rugby World Cup. Abraham Papali’i, who played 25 times in three seasons with Connacht (collecting three red cards along the way), starts at number 8.
For the first time since 2021, Munster made a winning start to their Pool 3 campaign last week, with a bonus-point 33-7 win away to Stade Francais, and Ian Costello’s side know a win of any kind this evening would leave them well-placed to qualify for the knock-outs, and potentially earn a good seeding for the Round of 16.
With that in mind, the province are taking no chances with their team selection, captain Tadhg Beirne returning to the starting side after featuring off the bench last week, while John Hodnett, Niall Scannell, Mike Haley, Stephen Archer and Brian Gleeson also coming in, the latter replacing Gavin Coombes who seemingly misses out due to injury.
For 20-year-old Gleeson, it will be a first appearance of the season after a lengthy shoulder injury. A Friday night away in Castres, a Munster rugby right of passage.
