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Investec Champions Cup

Munster (12) 29

Cons: Crowley 2 tries: Casey 2, Abrahams, and Edogbo 2 attempts:

Castres (17) 31

In a compelling Pool Two match at Thomond Park, Munster was eliminated from this year’s Champions Cup due to a crushing defeat by Castres.

Despite Vuate Karawalevu’s two early tries, Munster’s Craig Casey responded to his own scoring with a score of 17-12 at half-time.

After the break, Thaakir Abrahams and Edwin Edogbo (2) scored the try-scorers for the home side, while Theo Chabouni, Geoffrey Palis, and Christian Amabadiang scored the visitors.

Four conversions were scored by Jeremy Fernandez and Enzo Herve in the span of a tee-ball game, which was crucial given Jack Crowley’s inconsistent performance for Munster.

The most victories Castres has had between the clubs in continental competition is six, with six coming from Castres.

Despite having lost eight of their previous visits to Limerick, the visitors appeared determined to put an end to that string in the first half.

Castres took the lead when a quick Fernandez penalty from Fernandez’s penalty put him in front, and Fernandez added the extras when Karawalevu burst through to pass Gavin Coombes.

After accepting an offload from Jack O’Donoghue, Crowley kicked the conversion, and Munster quickly responded when Casey, who had been named in the team after recovering from a shoulder injury from last week’s defeat to Toulon, dived over.

Abrahams’ good deeds were largely credited with the score, which had a little too much on it when he collected a pass from Alex Nankivell.

Four minutes before the break, Casey jumped on a pass from Niall Scannell and dotted down in the corner after the Munster maul drew nearer to the line.

Castres fought back, though, and thanks to Chabouni’s score, which the television match official (TMO) gave the all-clear, they eventually came out on top five points.

Munster restored parity after half-time with Abrahams’ score, which sent the wing’s fleet-footed wing scurrying down the right.

After Castres broke the length of the pitch, Santaigo Arata ran in after the home side, but after the match officials discussed the situation, the score was ruled out for a forward pass in the build-up.

Edogbo rolled over the line just as the hour-mark, putting five in the middle, with Crowley continuing to suffer from his poor performance as a bootleg.

When Tom Farrell dropped his weight on Ambadiang’s leg, Munster were given a yellow card, and their rivals capitalized on their numerical advantage, sending Palis over for their third try after collecting a looping pass.

Herve’s excellent conversion from wide gave his team a two-goal lead, but the Irish side’s situation deteriorated with eight minutes left.

Ambadiang tipped off a superb cross-field pass to Shane Daly, who fired the ball past him in the corner. The visitors had a nine-point lead after Herve’s successful kick.

Replacements: L. Barron, M. Milne, O. Jager, E. Edogbo, B. Gleeson, E. Coughlan, J. J. Hanrahan, and D. Kelly.

Castres: T. Chabouni, C. Ambadiang, V. Karawalevu, J. Goodhue, G. Palis, P. Popelin, J. Fernandez, A. Zarantonello, W. Collier, G. Maravat, T. Staniforth, B. Delaporte (capt), B. Cope, and F. Vanverberghe.

Pool 1 of the Investec Champions Cup

Toulouse (28) 77

Cons: Ramos 11; Delibes, Delibes, Lebel 2, Marchand, Dupont, Gourgues, Delibes, Lebel 2, Graou, Graou, Brennan; Tries:

Sale (0) 7

Toulouse, who scored 11 tries and embarrassed Sale Sharks, eluded a shocking Investec Champions Cup exit.

A 70-point victory at Stade Toulousain comfortably eclipsed Sale’s previous best-ever defeat, a 58-8 defeat by Wasps in 2000.

The six-time winners would have been eliminated if Alex Sanderson’s side had won. They had already qualified.

The Top 14 leaders scored three tries within the first 30 minutes, but that never seemed likely.

The bonus-point try was scored by Kalvin Gourgues and was scored by Emmanuel Meafou, Julien Marchand, and Antoine Dupont.

The back-three players Dimitri Delibes, Matthis Lebel, and Thomas Ramos each added second-half goals.

Dupont scored a second try after Paul Graou’s substitution, with Joshua Brennan and Lebel’s third try coming in.

Ramos, a dead-eye goalie, impressively completed all 11 of Ramos’ conversions.

Given the unremarkable quality of Toulouse’s attacking display, Sale paid the price for resting their star players, including England’s George Ford and Tom Curry, even though they might not have had much of an impact.

The Prem side’s starting lineup will look significantly different for the knockouts, and Toulouse, who have previously been defeated by Glasgow and Saracens, should be reminded not to rule them out before the crucial moment, when they are playing.

If Saracens are defeated by the Warriors on Sunday, Toulouse will finish second in the pool and earn a home last-16 game.

Toulouse dropped out of the last-16 qualifying spots following Durban Sharks’ earlier victory over Clermont Auvergne on Saturday.

The Top 14 leaders were placed in a strange position after being defeated by the Glasgow Warriors and Saracens.

Toulouse’s play was not altered by the must-win game, as they effectively broke open a mediocre Sale side with relative ease.

Dupont started and completed a free-flowing attack following two close-range tries, which the hosts’ game had missed due to the challenging playing conditions in London last weekend.

Before half-time, a sharp finish from center Gourgues gave the 2024 champions a 21-point lead over Glasgow, so it was obvious nothing would be taken for granted.

Delibes’ try capitalized on two Sale yellow cards before Lebel intercepted it for the sixth try.

Replacements: Thomas, Mauvaka, Neti, Mallez, Brennan, Roumat, Cros, Graou, and Neti.

Sale: Davies, Ene, Ma’asi-White, Louw (capt), Wills, Curtis, Rodd, Jibulu, Harper, Burrow, Andrews, Gilmore, Woodman, Dugdale, and others.

Referees’ assistants: Padraic Reidy and Peter Martin (Ire).

The home support booed the full-time whistle at Anfield for the first time this season.

Liverpool had lost three of its three home league games to newly promoted teams for the first time since the 1980-81 top-flight season.

Before drawing 0-0 against Leeds on January 1st, Arne Slot’s side lost 1-1 to Sunderland last month. The set was finished with a 1-1 draw at Burnley.

When asked about the boos, Slot responded, “In my head, it wasn’t booing but it was also frustration.” Something is wrong if Liverpool aren’t let down by a draw at home to Burnley.

I fully comprehend your frustration. The players and I both experience the same frustrations, just like the fans do.

His team, in all fairness, won this game well against a Burnley side that had only made one attempt on target.

The statistics alone told the truth. In the opposition box, Liverpool made 76 touches, made 32 shots, made 11 shots, and had a 2.95 xG.

Slot told Match of the Day, “I think we ought to have won this game.” In terms of chance creation, there wasn’t much more I could ask. Although we possess a lot of ball possession, I would like to create more.

At the start of the second half, it seemed as though it would only take a second goal for Florian Wirtz to match Florian’s first-half goal.

The infamous chant “A team that plays the Liverpool way” was heard from the Kop.

Although it wasn’t particularly heavy metal football, Liverpool were playing with some more energy and joining the Burnley backline after weeks of having trouble breaking down low blocks.

Before Gakpo had a shot cut off the line, Wirtz came in close again, but unexpectedly Burnley found a leveller through Marcus Edwards to silence Anfield.

“We didn’t turn the ball out from the back, but I wouldn’t say that.” That is a game of football. The Liverpool manager continued, “This is another example of how our season is summarized,” adding that.

The frustration persisted for Slot. In retrospect, the outcome of Dominik Szoboszlai’s first-half penalty might have been different, but Liverpool should have put the game to bed before Burnley could have equalized.

Not for the first time, they say. The Liverpool manager said, “It is typically frustrating. They “come in various ways.” Sometimes we score in stoppage time and you anticipate winning the game before giving up yet another goal.

“But yes, in football, one team can have two chances, one of which was almost an own goal by us, and one team can score one goal, the other team can have multiple chances, and each team can score just one goal.”

The damning thing about Liverpool is that they should have won at least three of their previous four league draws even though they are now 12 games without defeat.

In addition to the draw at Arsenal, they have lost points at home to Leeds and Burnley and were unable to hold onto a lead at Fulham despite scoring in the 94th minute.

With those extra six points, Liverpool would now be 42 points, seven points clear of Manchester United in fifth place and one point clear of Aston Villa, who are second and third.

Bemoaned Slot, “We have dropped far too many points when we didn’t deserve to to and we hardly ever got a point when we deserved less.” We are the only ones to blame.

In the upcoming days at the very least, Liverpool can anticipate having Mohamed Salah back.

Salah will return to Merseyside in the coming days after missing a penalty in the shootout at the Africa Cup of Nations against Egypt.

The Dane has previously been the target of toxic behavior, failing miserably to appeal to Spurs supporters who were dissapointed by his provenance after leaving Brentford, along with a conservative and dull-looking stodgy style.

But this is different. Not at the fury Frank felt at the dramatic end of West Ham United’s 2-1 home defeat.

When Callum Wilson snuck home a stoppage-time winner, Frank appeared a miserable, defeated figure as he yelled out polite applause to those who viciously attacked him, the start of a roil of discontent.

Spurs fans were already yelling “sacked in the morning” at their own manager even during the offside video assistant referee’s check that ultimately resulted in Wilson’s winner.

It felt like there was no way out when the final whistle revealed the most recent blow to Frank. Fans were starting to dislike their head coach and no longer desired him at the club, according to this oomph.

Indeed, Frank had a relatively positive week. until his team began to play.

When Liverpool won the Premier League last year, Frank played a significant role in making sure Spurs beat Aston Villa to take the match against Gallagher before adding renowned Dutch coach John Heitinga to his assistant coaching staff when they won the title last year.

Spurs’ ongoing undercurrent of discontent shows no signs of abating, which is exacerbated by the league’s current home record of 11 games, 6 defeats, and only winnings.

The pressure increased with Crysencio Summerville’s opening goal. Spurs’ desperate lack of urgency, which in turn caused unhappiness and nerves in the supporters, hardly helped them.

Pedro Porro made a throw in deep in West Ham territory just before half-time, which seemed like an age before giving the defense the opportunity to take control.

Spurs fans erupted at the hour as the ball was tossed aimlessly at the back in the manner of a team defending a strong lead, with time running out and an equalizer necessary.

As Spurs keeper Guglielmo Vicario was once more found weak and lacking at a corner, his complaints that he had been impeded were rightfully ignored as they raced to the equalizer. Cristian Romero’s equaliser gave away a false hope.

West Ham, in contrast, wildly celebrated after a run of ten league games that gave them and their head coach Nuno Espirito Santo a blow. The old jibe about “Dr. Tottenham” prescribing a remedy for every ailing club’s ailments was once more thrown out.

At the final whistle, Captain Romero declared, “Tomorrow we will train in silence, work hard again,” going straight down the tunnel. We have yet another significant match in the middle of the week.

When things happen so frequently, Frank starts to sound like a broken record.

He remarked on the booing, “I understand your frustration, but it’s not a nice feeling.” A significant rival in London is taking our place. Nothing is worse than that.

“We worked very hard to achieve this at home, which we couldn’t win. Hopefully the boys’ efforts are noticed by the fans. They put in a lot of effort. In the second half, we did everything.

When asked about his future, he responded, “Everyone wants the same thing: long-term success.” We are working on a lot of things in the background, but we are not getting the desired outcomes.

Frank’s issue is that Spurs now face a potentially crucial sequence of games after losing games even their sceptical supporters might anticipate winning, like against West Ham.

Before traveling to Turf Moor to face Burnley, they will face Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League. West Ham’s victory and their own admirable performance at Liverpool will undoubtedly boost the Clarets.

After a home game with Manchester City, Spurs then travel to Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League. At Old Trafford, they then take on Manchester United.

Then comes the north London derby against Arsenal on February 22nd, followed by home games against Newcastle United and then.

Given the magnitude of the almost universal ill-feeling that swept around the stadium as the credits began to roll for yet another defeat, whether Frank will survive those games is a serious question.

The Spurs hierarchy has always preferred to back Frank, but this was met with defeat when the fans lost all faith in him.