Video | Munster’s Road To The Champions Cup Quarter-Final
2nd May 2022 By The Editor
Joey Carbery celebrates after scoring a try with Mike Haley, Conor Murray, Damian de Allende, Simon Zebo and Chris Farrell.
The province are back in the High Performance Centre in UL putting in the work ahead of Saturday’s Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final against Toulouse at the Aviva in what will be a record 19th appearance for both sides at this stage of the competition (3pm).
The #MunsterMarchOn is well underway with over 30,000 tickets sold for the clash. Tickets from €20 can be bought online here.
Munster qualified for the knock-out stages of the Heineken Champions Cup with a flawless return in the pool stages securing wins against Wasps and Castres Olympique.
Despite the challenges of the pandemic the province and pool opposition did well to manage the December and January period to field a side and play each game.
The challenge for Munster included an opening round game that saw the travelling group to South Africa, including 34 players, unavailable due to mandatory isolation periods on their return. The province registered an additional 22 players for the tournament with players from the provincial talent squad and the national talent squad registered for the first time.
It was an action-packed afternoon in Coventry with Munster producing a fantastic 32-14 bonus point win. It was all the more impressive that 12 players made their Munster senior debuts that afternoon as the well-oiled machine of experienced players and young guns did everything asked of them when producing the goods against a 14-man Wasps.
A week later Munster dug deep to grind out a 19-13 win against Castres Olympique with the win putting the province in a strong position before the back-to-back games in January.
In Round 3 Munster snatched a dramatic win away to Castres with a 78-minute Gavin Coombes try. Jack Crowley who made his first Champions Cup start was 100% off the tee with three penalties and a conversion.
The province finished the pool stages on a flourish with a six-try bonus-point win against Wasps at Thomond Park at the end of January.
The four victories and third place seeding in Pool B gave Munster the advantage in the Round of 16 games against Pool A’s sixth-placed Exeter with Johann van Graan’s side having the second leg at home in Thomond Park.
Following the first leg battle Exeter held a five-point advantage after securing a 13-8 victory at Sandy Park. While managing some key injuries and illness in the build-up to the game superb Munster defence denied the English side a greater aggregate score ahead of the return trip to Limerick.
The performance in Thomond Park saw Munster qualify for their 19th Champions Cup quarter-final after their 26-10 victory clinched a 34-23 aggregate win over Exeter Chiefs. There were several standout performers with Joey Carbery scoring a try and kicking 16 points and Damian de Allende securing the win with a late try after a brilliant Simon Zebo pass. The Star of the Match was Peter O’Mahony after a captain’s performance that included breakdown steals, lineout steals and a speedy pass to set up Carbery for the first try.
On completion of the Round of 16 games it was confirmed Munster would play their home tie against the reigning champions Toulouse at the Aviva in early May.
