Munster have played against 40 different teams in the various versions of the Champions Cup over the past 30 years but the most familiar foe will provide the opposition in the second round in Castres in the south of France this Friday evening.
This will be the 19th game in the Champions Cup between Munster and Castres Olympique when they battle it out at Stade Pierre-Fabre.
Only four other teams are in double figures for the fixture against Munster in Europe’s premier competition with Saracens on 11 and Leicester Tigers, Northampton Saints and Toulouse on 10 apiece. But while the win/loss record against all four of these teams is pretty even, the outcome in the games against Castres Olympique has been massively one-sided with Munster winning 13, drawing one and losing just four.
It is surprising then that the likes of Calvin Nash could have made 78 appearances for Munster before he finally gets to play against Castres this weekend.
“Yeah, it’s mental, actually, when you look at how many times Munster and Castres have played, isn’t it? And we know Castres to be massively physical, especially at home for them. It’ll be another battle,” said the 27-year-old.
It may be slightly bizarre he’s now only playing his first game against Castres and it was also perplexing that the winger, who started all seven Tests for Ireland in the spring and summer, didn’t see a minute of action in the four autumn games.
The return of Mack Hansen was obviously decisive in his non-selection but he still felt he got a lot from being involved.
“I obviously still learned a lot and worked a lot in camp on my game and stuff. But, yeah, I was excited, especially being back in as well,” he added.
His selection in the squad meant he was itching for game-time when he got back to play for Munster last weekend and he reckons that while they are heading in the right direction, they still have plenty of room for improvement as they try to build on that 33-7 win over Stade Francais.
Nash said they need to be more consistent and close out games when they are on top.
“I think it’s been inconsistent 80-minute performances that have cost us. You think back and we’re probably not losing games by massive margins. It will be, say 15 minutes in the second half where we completely lose the run of ourselves and stop playing our game plan or go off script, and leave other teams back in the game.
“Or else we don’t have a good start and are chasing the game. They are the times that I see us starting to lose games. If we can have a consistent 80-minute performance we’ll have better results in Europe.
“The last two results have been good for us and hopefully we can keep building momentum ‘cos the next few games are massively important. Lads are buzzing at the moment. With rugby you can’t stay still, you have to move on to the next job.”
It is a time of change off the pitch as well with Munster at the moment but Nash is leaving it to others to sort out who will become the new head coach.
“It’s definitely above my pay grade. I don’t really know anything that’s going on. To be honest, as long as we’re training well and we’re performing well, I actually don’t really care what happens.
“All I’m concerned about is us getting better and us performing better on the pitch and whatever happens other than that, happens I suppose.”
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