All You Need To Know | Castres Olympique v Munster

13th January 2022 By The Editor

Andrew Conway, Peter O’Mahony and Ben Healy chase a loose ball during the win over Castres last month. Inpho

Munster are back in Champions Cup action in France this weekend against familiar foes Castres Olympique.

This will be the 18th clash between Munster Rugby and Castres Olympique in the Heineken Champions Cup, the most played fixture in the history of the competition.

Where?

Stade Pierre-Fabre

When?

Friday, January 14, 8pm Irish time

Broadcast

Live on BT Sport & beIN Sports

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Teams

Castres Olympique: Thomas Larregain; Antoine Zeghdar, Thomas Combezou, Pierre Aguillon, Filipo Nakosi; Ben Botica, Santiago Arata Perrone; Antoine Tichit, Brice Humbert, Antoine Guillamon; Loic Jacquet (C), Jack Whetton; Mateaki Kafatolu, Simon Meka, Baptiste Delaporte.

Replacements: Pierre Colonna, Julius Nostadt, Matthew Tierney, Ryno Pieterse, Hugo Hermet, Rory Kockott, Louis Le Brun, Bastien Guillemin.

Munster: Mike Haley; Andrew Conway, Chris Farrell, Rory Scannell, Keith Earls; Jack Crowley, Conor Murray; Dave Kilcoyne, Niall Scannell, Stephen Archer; Fineen Wycherley, Tadhg Beirne; Peter O’Mahony (C), Jack O’Donoghue, Gavin Coombes.

Replacements: Diarmuid Barron, Jeremy Loughman, John Ryan, Jean Kleyn, John Hodnett, Craig Casey, Jake Flannery, Shane Daly.

Did you know?

Castres’ narrow defeat against Harlequins in Round 1 ended a run of nine games unbeaten at home in the Heineken Champions Cup (W7 D2). The last time they suffered consecutive home defeats in the competition was in 2014/15.

Preview

A huge task awaits Munster in France on Friday night as Johann van Graan’s side face in-form Castres Olympique.

The French side have won their last four games in the Top 14 against Racing 92, Perpignan, La Rochelle and Stade Francais to hold third place in the league.

Castres have secured two losing bonus-points in their two Champions Cup games and a win on Friday will put them in a great position to qualify for the knock-out stages.

Munster won their last away game in France in the Heineken Champions Cup (39-31 v ASM Clermont Auvergne in Round 2, 2020/21) but have not won consecutive away games against Top 14 opposition since 2009 (v Montauban and Perpignan).