Playing Castres in Castres is the definition of a tough place to go. Look up Tough Place To Go in the Dictionary and you’ll see a picture of the Stade Pierre-Faber with multiple 130kg dudes who look like American fridges with eyeballs and stubble.
This was one of those weird games where Munster had more possession (57% to 43%) but lost the territory battle 53% to 47%. What does this tell us? That Castres kicked deep and looked to pin Munster deep in our own half and dare us to play out.
This would be expected with Castres approach and our refusal to get drawn into the game they wanted to play which, for me, would have looked closer to even more Munster possession.
We largely avoided that and all the downfalls that come with it.
Munster’s Offensive Ruck Work Score vs Castres
- A Dominant Clean is an action that decisively secures possession when the ball carrier takes contact. A Dominant Clean does not have to be the first arrival at the breakdown but it is rewarded in the context of effectiveness. We will assign this action 3 points.
- A Guard Action is where a player plays a role in helping to retain possession after we have “re-won” the ball on the floor. Sometimes this can happen on a carry/ruck point where there is no active contention by the opposition. Let’s assign this action 2 points.
- An Attendance can be anything from standing as a “kick shield” on a ruck to adding a bit of bulk to ward against a counter-ruck. We’re marking this down as being worth 1 point.
- An Ineffective Action is a blown cleanout, a lean, a breakdown penalty or an action that I couldn’t see any direct benefit for. This will be worth -1 points.
| Dominant Clean | Guard Action | Attendance | Ineffective | Ruck Work Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kilcoyne | 4 | 1 | 7 | ||
| Scannell | 3 | 1 | 5 | ||
| Archer | 3 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 37 |
| Beirne | 2 | 14 | 1 | 33 | |
| Wycherley | 4 | 7 | 4 | 30 | |
| O'Mahony | 5 | 10 | 35 | ||
| O'Donoghue | 3 | 10 | 1 | 30 | |
| Coombes | 6 | 11 | 7 | 1 | 46 |
| Murray | 1 | 2 | |||
| Crowley | 1 | 3 | |||
| Earls | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||
| Scannell | 2 | 7 | 20 | ||
| Farrell | 2 | 6 | 1 | 19 | |
| Conway | 1 | -1 | |||
| Haley | 4 | 3 | 18 | ||
| Barron | 2 | 18 | 42 | ||
| Loughman | 6 | 12 | |||
| Ryan | 8 | 1 | 17 | ||
| Kleyn | 7 | 3 | 2 | 29 | |
| Hodnett | 2 | 1 | 8 | ||
| Casey | 1 | 3 | |||
| Flannery | 0 | ||||
| Daly | 2 | 4 |
Top Five ORW Rankings
- Gavin Coombes – 46 points
- Diarmuid Barron – 42 points
- Stephen Archer – 37 points
- Peter O’Mahony – 35 points
- Tadhg Beirne – 33 points
This was a pretty strong offensive breakdown performance by the Munster pack. Gavin Coombes produced the kind of output that has defined his career since his emergence last season. He was everywhere, doing everything. Diarmuid Barron produced an incredibly consistent day at the breakdown during his 60-ish minutes on the field. He was accurate, he was energetic and he was impactful.
Archer, O’Mahony and Beirne produced another high-quality, consistent performance at the offensive ruck in line with what they’ve produced in the last few weeks. That kind of consistency cannot be undervalued.
I was really impressed with Jean Kleyn’s impact off the bench with a very strong score of 29 points in 20 minutes. That’s the kind of breakdown dominance you have a guy like Kleyn in your team to produce and he was really impressive here.
More will be needed against a great defensive breakdown team in Wasps this weekend.
