Munster left to bang against brick wall in European Champions Cup defeat

Munster 9 ASM Clermont Auvergne 16

It ended as it always does in Limerick; with a heroic act. This time from Clermont Auvergne captain Damien Chouly.

Munster, fighting to the death, sent Paul O’Connell then Peter O’Mahony, CJ Stander (finally), James Cronin, even Ian Keatley, Simon Zebo and O’Connell again crashing into the unbreakable white line.

The last fling was a lineout maul, five metres out but after arguably his most phenomenal November in green, an exhausted looking O’Connell was beaten to Duncan Casey’s throw by Chouly’s muscular reach.

At that moment the wonder was whether Munster can unearth enough reserves to sack Stade Marcel Michelin this Sunday. They looked spent.

In stark contrast, electricity was coursing through Clermont’s Frankensteinish frames.

Inevitably it cuts both ways. Some clubs refuse to die. Joe Schmidt moved on, more recently Vern Cotter took over as Scotland coach and still the city synonymous with rubber tyres continues to break new ground for French rugby.

Munster, admittedly, took an awful beating here yet only for the unforced errors they could have snatched a draw.

The look on Clermont faces come Wayne Barnes' final whistle though was special - finally, a Top 14 side scalps Munster in Thomond Park - especially Jamie Cudmore, the 36 year old Canadian giant falling to his knees with a joyful roar.

Last time Cudmore hit that turf was in 2008 after unloading on Paul O’Connell, and taking a few in return, before the inevitable red card.

Such sanction is not always a certainty. Barnes missed the avalanche of punches Fritz Lee landed on O’Mahony, hardly an innocent, after nine minutes.

O’Mahony always seeks early confrontation, game after demanding game.

It’s what makes him a warrior but the Clermont heavies, now coached by Jonno Gibbes, were so clearly waiting.

Lee was unquestionably this contest’s outstanding performer but the Samoan’s actions were reminiscent of Cudmore targeting O’Connell in the corresponding fixture six years ago. At least O’Connell got a few bullets off but this time O’Mahony had his jersey flipped over his head and landed a single defensive dig before Keatley realised the need to ignore ongoing play and bear hug Lee.

Cudmore arrived, O’Connell arrived but somehow the dust dissipated quickly enough for Barnes to set a scrum and move on. The need for continuity in such atrocious conditions may have influenced the Englishman.

The cameras, apparently, missed it as well, leaving the matter at the doorstep of citing commissioner John Byett.

O’Mahony squinted, shook himself and soldiered on. It was undoubtedly a night for the greasy, mud splattered trench fighter. A night he was made for.

But Cudmore battered into his rib cage, late, on 48 minutes, forcing sustained medical attention, as O’Connell effectively assumed the captaincy. It’s more a reflection on his fellow forwards that O’Mahony was still a more prominent figure than so many of them.

Munster desperately need him to recover for Sunday’s return leg. Dave Kilcoyne and Gerhard van den Heever are unlikely to feature as both hobbled off with knee injuries.

There was also a price on O’Connell’s head, Zebo and Sander too. It severely hindered the latter pairs influence with Zebo only dancing into space once in each half. Stander made one genuinely effective carry early but was otherwise anonymous.

At least Keatley delivered, landing all three shots at goal and probing the line on the few precious moments he saw space from within the hurricane’s eye.

It took Clermont 57 seconds to silence the hemmed in red army. Lee exposed the vacant short side off a lineout maul after Noa Nakaitaci re-gathered Camille Lopez’s kick-off following great aerial work by Aurélien Rougerie. Ludovic Radosavljevic’s clever chip forced the flawless Felix Jones into touch near his try line.

Clermont’s maul sucked in BJ Botha leaving only Conor Murray to stop Lee falling over the line.

Munster were blessed that Camille Lopez, hired to end the occasional Brock James nightmare off the tee, missed the conversion and two more shots at goal in the opening 40 minutes. Lopez did, however, land a peach of a drop goal to put the visitors 16-6 ahead at the turn.

The other try was excellently finished by Wesley Fofana, who fended off O’Mahony after Lee’s half break and brilliantly disguised offload.

There were tons of handling errors, uncharacteristically from Zebo and Murray, who remains such a crucial sweeping and kicking cog in both Munster and Ireland machines.

The scrum broke even while Barnes never established a gap in the constant mess that was the lineout.

All told, Clermont looked the more powerful and certainly dangerous side in open play with Fofana and Nick Abendanon’s counter attacking ability putting some doubt in Munster’s clear plan to punt long.

Other problems stemmed from an inability to keep hold of the ball. As O’Connell attempted to crank their own maul into gear on 53 minutes James Cronin let it spill to ground. Lopez cleared.

Keatley eventually reduced arrears to 9-16 on the hour mark but Clermont have clearly learned from the definition of insanity (repeating the same mistakes over and over again). They wore down their old rivals with enormous reinforcements as Alexandre Lapandry, Vincent Debaty and Davit Zirakashvili all made a defensive impact.

Shattering result.

Scoring sequence - 1 min: F Lee try, 0-5; 14 mins: I Keatley, 3-5; 20

mins: W Fofana try, 3-10; 25 mins: I Keatley pen, 6-10; 30 mins: C Lopez pen, 6-13; 33 mins: C Lopez drop gl, 6-16. Half-time. 60 mins: I Keatley pen, 9-16.

Munster: F Jones; G van den Heever, P Howard, D Hurley, S Zebo; I Keatley, C Murray; D Kilcoyne, D Casey, BJ Botha; D Foley, P O’Connell; P O’Mahony (capt), T O’Donnell, CJ Stander. Replacements: J Cronin for D Kilcoyne (12 mins), J Murphy for G van den Heever (58 mins).

ASM Clermont Auvergne: N Abendanon; N Nakaitaci, A Rougerie, W Fofana, N Nalaga; C Lopez, L Radoslavjevic; T Doingo, B Kayser, C Ric; J Cudmore, S Vahaamahina; D Chouly (capt), J Bonnaire, F Lee. Replacements: A Lapandry for J Bonnaire (61 mins), J Davies for N Abendanon (61 - 69 concussion check), for N Nalaga (69 mins), V Debaty for T Domingo (65 mins), D Zirakashvili for C Ric (70 mins).

Referee: W Barnes (England).