Munster thrash Castres 48-3 to set date with Toulon
By PA Sport
Last Updated: 22/01/18 8:10am
Munster reached the Champions Cup knockout stages for a record 17th time with a runaway 48-3 bonus-point victory over Castres at Thomond Park.
The kick-off was delayed by three hours due to heavy rain in Limerick but the efforts of the ground staff ensured the game went ahead as Munster - advancing as Pool 4 winners - set up a home quarter-final against Toulon.
Man-of-the-match Keith Earls' third try in as many games made it 13-3 at half-time, with the hosts taking advantage of Thomas Combezou's yellow card after a slow start.
News came through at the break that La Rochelle's failure to notch a bonus-point against Harlequins meant Munster needed just a win to secure a home quarter-final.
Nonetheless, Johann van Graan's men pushed on.
Rhys Marshall's maul effort and a scintillating bonus-point score from Simon Zebo, either side of a penalty-try, put Castres out for the count.
And replacements Alex Wootton and James Cronin made it five unanswered tries in the second half.
The French side certainly came to play and they dominated the early possession stakes without creating any scoring opportunities.
But they soon found full-back Simon Zebo rock solid under the high ball. However, Jean Kleyn's goading of an opponent reversed a penalty on the quarter hour mark and Rory Kockott kicked Castres into a deserved lead.
Despite the injury-enforced departure of Dave Kilcoyne, the Munster pack, with Kleyn to the fore, were rewarded for some direct play entering the second quarter.
Ian Keatley knocked over two penalties from in front of the posts to put the hosts in front.
The penalties were mounting against Castres and centre Combezou paid the price for his team's indiscipline on the half-hour. Opting for a scrum, Munster flung the ball wide through Conor Murray, Rory Scannell and Zebo to put
the in-form Earls over in the left corner.
Keatley added a terrific conversion before the home side missed out on a second try before the interval when Chris Farrell made a powerful break but Murray was unable to link with Andrew Conway and the chance went awry.
Once hooker Marshall crossed at the end of a 44th-minute maul, Munster were in full control as they continued to build from their strong set-piece platform.
CJ Stander was held up on a bulldozing drive over the line, but a bout of scrum pressure saw Castres leak a succession of penalties.
Earls and Murray had close-range tries ruled out before referee Ben Whitehouse binned replacement prop Daniel Kotze and followed up with the awarding of a penalty try.
Earls proved devastating on a 58th-minute kick return, scurrying up towards the Castres 22 before passing for Zebo to evade the final two defenders and register the bonus-point.
Keatley converted and his replacement JJ Hanrahan converted Wootton's maiden European score. He wriggled over before a last-minute touchdown from prop James Cronin, after another punishing lineout drive, put icing on the cake.
