Friday night was nearly as bad as it could've been for Munster as they lost to their old foe Castres' 16-14 in the south of France in the Champions Cup.
It was a disappointing match all round for the Red Army as they failed to properly capitalise on Castres' ill discipline and the night was capped off with Jack Crowley failing to find touch with a penalty as the clock went into the red.
It wasn't just a disappointing night for Munster because of the result but in the aftermath of the match Munster's injury list has had multiple names added on to it.
The most notable injury from an Irish perspective was the one to Craig Casey. The scrum-half had to be carried off after just 30 minutes and was pictured in crutches and a knee brace after the match. His International teammate Peter O'Mahony also came off with an injury as well as Diarmuid Barron.
13 December 2024; Craig Casey of Munster is carried from the pitch with an injury during the Champions Cup Pool 3 match between Castres Olympique and Munster at Stade Pierre Fabre in Castres, France. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
There were more worrying signs for Munster as emergency prop signing Dian Bleuler who was forced off after just 20 minutes and Thaakir Abrahams also came off in the second half with a shoulder injury.
Bleuler's replacement David Kilcoyne also couldn't see out the match as he came off with just a few minutes to go towards the end as Munster had just as bad a night as it could get injury wise.
Speaking after the defeat, interim Head Coach Ian Costello gave a quick update on the injury news to Abrahams, Kilcoyne, O'Mahony and Craig Casey. He also mentioned how injuries are almost inevitable when going away to France playing against such physical sides.
Thaakir, in that tackle, it dislocated his shoulder, or it certainly popped out.
Killer [Kilcoyne] was cramp at the end. Peter got a stud in the calf so hopefully that's okay.
Craig's is pretty serious, he's on crutches. He was sore coming off the pitch. We don't know the extent of that yet but you could see he left the pitch in a bit of pain.
As always, you come to a place like this, it's a punishing, attritional performance and a few guys we'll have to watch pretty closely over the next couple of days to see if they're good for next week.
Brian Gleeson also came off with a knock but Ian Costello confirmed that the young back-rower was cleared to play following a suspected head knock he had just before his substitution.
Munster had to deal with a crazy number of injuries all of last season and that misfortune has carried over into this term. As Munster are still in the hunt for a permanent Head Coach there's no doubt that if any coach is going to succeed they'll need to have a clean bill of health in the squad.
Hopefully more luck will fall Munster's way sooner rather than later under the next Head Coach.
