Munster beats Casters after a close encounter in Heineken Cup – Rugby News
Munster battle past Casters by a close difference of 27-24 after a thrilling contest in the ongoing Heineken Cup 2011-12. The match was played on November 19, at Toulouse in which Ronan O’Gara gave his side a last minute victory with the help of an excellent
drop goal. The match was hanging in the balance with 24 each when fly-half from Munster kicked a decisive three pointer to seal second consecutive victory in the tournament. The impressive triumph over Casters has put Munster in second spot on the point’s
tables.
The two times champs of Heineken Cup, Munster, were trailing by a huge difference in the start as Casters had increased their lead with an unanswered 11-0 just after 11 minutes play. Casters fly-half, Pierre Bernard, opened the account for his team in the
second minute with a well directed penalty goal and later on doubled the lead to 6-0.
Brice Mach, the hooker of Casters, made a good neat run into Munster’s half to score the first try of the match in the 11th minute and expanded his team’s lead to 11-0. The Munster had to wait for 22 minutes to open their account. Their wing,
Doug Howlett, produced a ray of hope while crossing the white wash line which was converted successfully by Ronan O’Gara. The score difference was reduced to 11-7 by Munster in the 23rd minute. Until the interval, the Casters were leading the game
by handsome margin of 18-10.
After the break, Munster bounced back quite nicely and narrowed down the Casters lead to 18-17 just in the 45th minute. The equation was levelled at 24-24 in the 70th minute and the dying moments were tempting both sides to take a decisive
lead. The opportunity was created by Munster and O’Gara cashed in once again. He gave the final touch to the pill with a brilliant drop goal and secured a phenomenal victory of 27-24 for his side.
Castres: 15 Florian Denos, 14 Max Evans, 13 Paul Bonnefond, 12 Pierre-Manuel Garcia, 11 Marc Andreu, 10 Pierre Bernard, 9 Thierry Lacrampe, 8 Chris Masoe, 7 Yannick Caballero, 6 Jannie Bornman, 5 Iosefa Tekori, 4 Scott Murray, 3 Karena Wihongi,
2 Brice Mach, 1 Anton Peikrishvili.
Replacements: 16 Mathieu Bonello, 17 Michaël Coetzee, 18 Luc Ducalcon, 19 Matthias Rolland, 20 Rodrigo Capo Ortega, 21 Romain Teulet, 22 Rémi Tales, 23 Pierre-Gilles Lakafia,
Munster: 15 Johne Murphy, 14 Doug Howlett, 13 Danny Barnes, 12 Lifeimi Mafi, 11 Denis Hurley, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Conor Murray, 8 James Coughlan, 7 Niall Ronan, 6 Peter O'Mahony, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donnacha Ryan, 3 BJ Botha, 2 Damien Varley,
1 Wian du Preez.
Replacements: 16 Denis Fogarty, 17 Marcus Horan, 18 John Hayes, 19 Donncha O'Callaghan, 20 Denis Leamy, 21 Tomas O'Leary, 22 Ian Keatley, 23 Will Chambers.
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