Munster lose 16-14 by Castres on a frustrating and bruising night for the Irish province at the Stade Pierre Fabre.

MUNSTER RUGBY have announced their team to face Castres Olympique in round two of the Champions Cup tomorrow night in France at 8pm. Interim head coach Ian Costello has freshened up his starting XV by bringing Niall Scannell, Stephen Archer, captain Tadhg Beirne, John Hodnett, Brian Gleeson and Mike Haley into the team.

A scrappy contest was dominated by the whistle of pernickety English referee Christophe Ridley, who penalised each side a whopping 17 times, but Munster could not avail of the three yellow cards for a Castres side that played on the edge and were more physical and direct.

Munster lost a string of players to injury, prop Dian Bleuler, scrum-half Craig Casey withdrawn during the first half, while Peter O’Mahony, Thaakir Abrahams and replacements Dave Kilcoyne and Diarmuid Barron were second-half casualties.

Munster have suffered a 16-14 defeat away to Castres in the Investec Champions Cup meeting. Munster scored two tries, with John Hodnett crossing over twice. The French side had a 10-7 lead at the break,

Munster had the territory and possession required to back up last weekend’s bonus-point win over Stade Français with a crucial victory on the road but they were totally lacking

Castres want to prove their Champions Cup doubters wrong against Munster at Stade Pierre Fabre on Friday, according to returning prop Will Collier. He knows one strong performance won’t come close to overturning Castres’ reputation as perennial Champions Cup underachievers,