The first Champions Cup final between Munster and Leinster is still on course to happen, even if the quarter-final draw could not have been more unfavourable for either province.
Leinster were rewarded for earning their top-seed status by getting a home quarter-final against Saracens, the defending back-to-back champions.
Munster, too, are at home in the last eight. Toulon, the team that defeated the Irish province in the 2014 semi- final, must travel to Thomond Park for what will be Munster’s 10th home quarter-final in this competition. It’s a welcome relief for the club, who have faced deep scrutiny over the past week for the way that they have handled the Gerbrandt Grobler affair.
Grobler, who signed last summer, had previously failed a drugs test when he was with the Stormers in his native South Africa and has been subjected to deep scrutiny all week, as have the entire club. However, Jean Kleyn, Munster’s second row, insisted that the issue did not affect their concentration before yesterday’s match.
“At the end of the day we are a team,” Kleyn said after his side had defeated Castres 48-3 to ensure that they topped their pool. “At Munster, we play for each other and back each other.
Advertisement
“Even though some guys might have made mistakes in the past, I think Donncha O’Callaghan stated it very well [in his column for The Times] when he said you should ‘hate the sin but don’t hate the sinner’. And that is mostly what we do, we support each other no matter what we go through.
“Mistakes were made but he has turned over a new leaf and we support him fully. This was just like any other game, in that there will always be a lot of white noise in the background. What is important to us as a team is that we don’t focus on that white noise but on our internal structures. And that’s what we did.”
They did it in style by scoring six converted tries to overcome a Castres team who were initially competitive before surrendering meekly after the break. Munster must now face Toulon, the three-time winners of the competition, in the quarter-final and if they are successful they must travel to France for the semi-finals to play either Clermont-Auvergne or Racing 92.
Leinster, however, have an initially harder task against Saracens. And worse yet, a quirk of the draw will result in them having to travel to France for the semi-finals if their win over Saracens is matched by Scarlets losing at home to La Rochelle in the competition’s other quarter-final.
“The challenge doesn’t get any easier against a Saracens team looking for three Champions Cup titles in a row,” Leo Cullen, the Leinster head coach, said last night. “They’re well-coached under Mark McCall and have an array of English and foreign talent at their disposal and they’re showing good form in Europe and in the Premiership. They’re the top try-scorers in both competitions, so we’re under no illusions as to the task ahead.”