CJ Stander in Champions Cup action
Munster captain and Man of the Match, CJ Stander, felt his side had restored pride as they produced a superb display to claim a bonus-point 26 / 13 victory over Stade Francais in Pool 4 of the European Rugby Champions Cup.
The French side were chasing a quarterfinal berth but had no response to a tremendous Munster effort as Mike Sherry, Keith Earls, Simon Zebo and Stander himself scored tries, with flyhalf Ian Keatley kicking 6 points.
The Irish side, 2-time European champions, had no chance of advancing from the pool after being humbled by a 14-man Stade side in Paris just a week previously.
Stander admits there has been a lot of hurt within the Munster camp and he hopes an impressive win was a step back in the right direction for a team who have traditionally been one of the competition’s major players.
“We said we were playing for nothing but pride and that shows the character we have here in Munster,” said Stander. “There was a lot of hurt last week but a lot of the boys stepped up and we are very proud.”
“The fans stood behind us and made an unbelievable noise. We knew it was all about our actions and getting pride back into the place and we showed a lot of characters.”
“The tries either side of halftime were crucial and we are pleased to get 4 points, we did what we needed to do and we hope we have made the fans proud.
“We made our tackles when we had to, we did not make the same mistakes we made last week. We have not been great at closing games out but we put it all on the table.”
The result seriously dents the French side’s hopes of advancing from Pool 4 in the European Champions Cup.
Munster had been humbled by 14-man Stade in Paris last weekend, but they gained revenge as Mike Sherry, Keith Earls, Simon Zebo and CJ Stander scored tries, with Ian Keatley adding 3 conversions.
Stade’s only try came from flank Jono Ross, with Morné Steyn kicking the rest of their points and they will need to beat Leicester Tigers in their final fixture to have any hope of reaching the knock-out stage.
The hosts did not make the most promising of starts as they conceded a penalty inside the 1st 10 seconds, which Steyn slotted to give the visitors the early advantage.
But Munster meant business with their defensive line speed harrying and hassling their opponents and forcing mistakes from Stade.
Sherry’s try gave them the lead when a superb driving lineout ripped its way through the Stade pack and rumbled over the line with little opposition.
Keatley missed the conversion and Steyn but the French side back ahead a few moments later when he added his 2nd penalty.
But there was a growing momentum behind Munster and they struck crucial blows either side of the interval to put Stade firmly on the back foot.
Earls got the 1st of them, the Ireland wing looked up to find a huge dogleg in the defence and pinned his ears back to race home from halfway. Keatley converted to send the hosts into the changing rooms 6 points ahead.
Moments after the restart came another try, Keatley’s deft chip was seized upon by Zebo who ran in under the posts to give Keatley an easy conversion.
There seemed no way back for Stade and they could not capitalise when Munster lost Ronan O’Mahony to the sin bin after taking out Hugo Bonneval in the air.
Once he returned the French side gave themselves hope as a loose Munster lineout allowed flank Ross to get over the line, with Steyn converting.
But Munster had the last word. Conor Murray took a quick tap penalty and the outstanding Stander slithered his way to the line for the bonus-point score.
Scorers:
Munster:
- Tries: Sherry, Earls, Zebo, Stander
- Conversions: Keatley (3)
Stade Français:
- Tries: Ross
- Conversions: Steyn
- Penalties: Steyn (2)
Yellow Card: Ronan O’Mahony (Munster, 49 – foul play, taking a man out in the air)
Teams:
Munster: 15 Simon Zebo, 14 Keith Earls, 13 Francis Saili, 12 Rory Scannell, 11 Ronan O’Mahony, 10 Ian Keatley, 9 Conor Murray, 8 CJ Stander (captain), 7 Tommy O’Donnell, 6 Billy Holland, 5 Mark Chisholm, 4 Dave Foley, 3 Mario Sagario, 2 Mike Sherry, 1 Dave Kilcoyne.
Replacements: 16 Kevin O’Byrne, 17 Liam O’Connor, 18 John Ryan, 19 Donnacha Ryan, 20 Robin Copeland, 21 Jack O’Donoghue, 22 Tomás O’Leary, 23 Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino.
Stade Français: 15 Hugo Bonneval, 14 Waisea Vuidravuwalu, 13 Jonathan Danty, 12 Paul Williams, 11 Julien Arias, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Julien Dupuy, 8 Sergio Parisse, 7 Jono Ross, 6 Sekou Macalou, 5 Pascal Papé, 4 Paul Gabrillagues, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Laurent Panis, 1 Zak Taulafo.
Replacements: 16 Zurabi Zhvania, 17 Heinke van der Merwe, 18 Paul Alo Emile, 19 Hugh Pyle, 20 Sylvain Nicolas, 21 Julien Tomas, 22 Jules Plisson, 23 Jérémy Sinzelle.
Referee: JP Doyle (England)
Assistant Referees: Tom Foley (England), Paul Dix (England)
TMO: Graham Hughes (England)
Man of the Match: CJ Stander
epcrugby & rugby365
Quite sure CJ Stander will be included in Ireland’s 6 Nations squad. If he isn’t there will be much gnashing of teeth by Munster fans and Schmidt will be accused of all sorts of Leinster bias.
Nice tries scored by Munster backs Keith Earls and Simon Zebo and by Stade’s Jono Ross.
Well done Simon Zebo who equalled Anthony Horgan’s all time try scoring record of 41 tries for the club.
Also a nice touch by Zebo to give his boots to a young fan after the game
Watched CJ playing a few weeks ago, still a battering ram, so much for “look for spaces”… but gosh darm he is strong.
5 @ MacroPolo:
Hi Macro yes he is very strong and is much loved in general by the Munster fans, although he was still put in his place by Josh Strauss last season, seem to remember Josh running through the space that was left after his hand off put him on the grass. CJ seems to be used almost exclusively at 8 now but my thinking a while back considering his stature that he was best suited to 7 (or 6 back in SA), saw a photo from last week taken off the field and he was looking up to Parisse who is a good few inches taller than CJ although their weight is similar if you believe the different numbers if anything Parisse is a few kgs lighter. Think he may be behind Heaslip and O’Brien in the pecking order, at this stage, so possibly will be used as a loose forward sub to begin with in the 6 Nations unless any injuries crop up.
@ Bullscot:
Ah the irish are too obsessed with size 😀
7 @ MacroPolo:
maybe but not necessarily, my opinion is that O’Brien is better than CJ and quite similar in height just a little lighter but he is also a strong beast. At his best (probably going back a few seasons ago now) Heaslip is also for me better, but don’t think he has been playing his best for a while although have not seen much of Leinster this season. If O’Brien and Heaslip are in top form you have a formidable portion of a back row, and Heaslip is not the biggest either as far as number 8s go, so maybe for the Irish size hasn’t been everything.
From the42 “MUNSTER HEAD COACH Anthony Foley freely admits it wasn’t part of the plan to make CJ Stander his captain, but with each passing performance the skipper cements himself further in to the hearts of Munster supporters.
Stander was on song again on Saturday as the southern province tore Stade Francais apart in Thomond Park….
Asked to measure the quality of his talismanic number eight, Foley first and foremost speaks of Stander the man rather than his quality as a player.
“Ah, he’s a great man,” exhales Foley, he’s a great man, and the player comes out of that.
“I’ve been banging on for weeks, if we get more people like that, people follow that. I think the supporters are starting to connect with him and they’re starting to see what he’s about.
It’s the grit and the hard work. It’s not just the big carries, he’s good out on the pitch.
“Him being captain this year obviously wasn’t something that we foresaw. It wasn’t a plan until Peter (O’Mahony)’s knee went, so we needed to figure out who was the man to lead this because this group would be used to big leaders. Big physical, demanding men that lead but also make sense in what they’re trying to get out of it. I think CJ is getting there, and he’s going to be a great leader going forward.”
Foley gives a short shrift response when asked if he might have any hesitations in giving him a starting berth for Ireland in the Six Nations. Two words:
“None whatsoever.””
Talking about Irish loose forwards, Leinster have unearthed another really good opensider – Josh van der Flier who may just be a bolter for their 6 Nations squad. Young guy made his debut for Leinster senior team in October 2015 and seems to have taken to the level really well.
a poor stade francais side though
a fickle side this year 😳
@ rebop75:
Hi rebop75 good to see you here again hope you enjoyed the festive season. What is happening with your team this season? Have there been many changes in squad since season or are too many players out of form compared to last year or have other teams like Racing just strengthened more?
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