Whereas Leinster have moved clear of Pool 3 in the Champions Cup and can secure at least a top-four seeding by winning in Bayonne next Saturday, Munster have to beat Castres at home on the same day (kick-off 5.30pm) to qualify for the knockout stages.
Munster sit fourth in Pool 2 after their 27-25 loss to Toulon in the Stade Félix Mayol on Sunday and could feel aggrieved by the pedantic 76th-minute match-winning penalty awarded by Karl Dickson against Jack O’Donoghue for “taking the space”. Andy Goode described it as “ridiculously harsh” on Premier Sport.
However, Munster captain Tadhg Beirne said: “There’s no point in arguing because once the decision is made, the decision is made. We may disagree or disagree, whatever, it doesn’t really matter at the end of the day. It’s not the reason we ended up losing the game.”
Munster conceded 14 points while Beirne was in the bin, and although there were two yellow cards apiece, the penalty count was 14-7 in favour of the home side. Yet Clayton McMillan was equally uncritical of Dickson.
“Look, that’s a world-class referee there and you pick those guys to make the key calls. He’ll be the one that will go away and review it and make his own decision around whether it was right or wrong.”
Still, the losing bonus point secured by Jack Crowley and Ruadhán Quinn holding up Toulon’s Tomás Albornoz in the last play kept Munster above Gloucester on points difference and a point above Castres.
Munster and Jack Crowley can reflect on some positives in their performance despite the disappointment of losing in Toulon. Photograph: Dan Sheridan/Inpho
In a pool where no team has qualified, that could prove significant. Granted, the likelihood is that Munster will be away in the Round of 16 for the fourth season running. However, a bonus-point win could earn them a top two place and a home tie, although they would need Gloucester and Bath to beat Toulon and Edinburgh respectively at home.
Bordeaux-Bègles’ ominous 50-28 win over the Premiership pacesetters Northampton at the Stade Chaban Delmas in a repeat of last May’s final has set up a Pool 4 lunchtime shoot-out against Pat Lam’s Bristol Bears at Ashton Gate next Sunday.
Glasgow have also accumulated 15 points after their bonus-point win in Clermont on Saturday in Pool 1, where Saracens completed the weekend by beating Toulouse 20-14, a second loss for the six-time champions who must beat Sale next Saturday to advance.
In the Challenge Cup, Connacht let slip a 31-14 lead in losing 33-31 in Montpellier while Ulster’s game against the Cheetahs in Den Bosch was postponed just 40 minutes before kick-off due to a frozen pitch. The game had been switched from its original location at the NRCA Stadium in Amsterdam an hour away.
Against all of that, Leinster’s epic 25-24 bonus-point win over La Rochelle in Saturday night’s thriller in the Aviva puts them on 14 points, three clear of Harlequins after their 61-10 win over an understrength Stormers side.
Connacht’s Sean Jansen and Josh Ioane dejected after the loss to Montpellier. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho
Bayonne cannot qualify after suffering a third defeat when beaten 57-14 in Leicester on Saturday, but the Stade Jean Dauger is one of the most atmospheric French fortresses and Cullen is bracing himself for the full Basque experience.
“We need to prepare for that,” said Cullen. “I know they lost to Stormers at home [in round one] but they have won all their games at home in the Top 14 and they had the best home record of all the teams last season.
“That’s why I wanted to go there during November to see ‘what is this place?’ It’s class. I was in with the Montauban fans. Bayonne hammered them that day,” said Cullen in reference to a trip to Bayonne with his 79-year-old father and 11-year-old son.
“It was a great little trip that we had. But it’s a great ground and we just need to get excited about going over there and putting in a big performance.”
Paddy McCarthy (foot) and Ciarán Frawley (ankle) have added to Leinster’s lengthy injury list, but Cullen was confident others will return this week, among them Tadhg Furlong, RG Snyman and Garry Ringrose.
“It was a proper slugfest out there,” said Cullen of the duel with La Rochelle. “The fighting analogy, it was literally blow for blow for blow and it’s great to come out on the positive side of that.
Leinster’s Luke McGrath and Robbie Henshaw try to grab hold of La Rochelle’s Nathan Bollengier during Saturday’s Champions Cup encounter. Photograph: Nick Elliott/Inpho
“But it’s gone to the death so nobody’s going to be getting too carried away with themselves because we could easily have lost that game . So, we need to understand the reasons why, if we had lost the game.
“On the flip side, why we won the game as well, coming up with moments, keep backing up what we were trying to do off the back of that. That is really, really pleasing, seeing the space and going to the space, and it’s a constant work in progress.”
More worrying is how La Rochelle’s offloading and wide game dissected Leinster’s defence, which leaked 13 line breaks and 31 missed tackles, only for the visitors to leave several tries behind.
“I don’t mind missed tackles with the right intent,” said Cullen. “When you pull the game apart, as we always will, it was far from perfect out there.
“You are always going to get that, but again, the right mindset overall.
“So, we need to get better because there are quality teams in the competition and I know people who want to keep giving out about the competition but it’s an amazing game out there for people to watch. I’d rather go with the positive.”