The poor Munster performance against Castres was not their fault, and it should not be seen as entirely negative, according to former Ireland flanker Alan Quinlan.

Munster earned a narrow 19-13 victory over European rivals Castres on Saturday, with a performance that left much to be desired.

Thomond Park was quiet. Both teams made a number of errors. Munster kicked aimlessly at times, and there was too little flair on display for many fans and pundits alike.

However, in spite of some negatives, The Red 78's Quinlan did not feel that the overall match should be seen negatively.

'They are not even excuses'

Speaking on Monday's OTB AM, Quinlan broke down why he felt the performance was not as bad as some are painting it to have been.

"If you didn't know anything about COVID or the troubles they've had in the last few weeks... and you rocked up and watched that match you'd think it was a dreadful performance," Quinlan said.

"But it is very, very difficult. There is kind of a negative spin coming out of the game. The crowd were quiet. There were lots of mistakes.

"It was frustrating to watch, frustrating for fans to be there. Everyone  was probably hoping for a jovial night, that Munster would get a bonus point win and the crowd would be a bit raucous.

"It didn't happen. Castres made it very difficult for them."

Quinlan felt that the build up to the match definitely affected how Munster played. He listed the reasons he felt that the hosts were not up to scratch against their French visitors.

"A number of things happened here," Quinlan said. "I think the emotional turmoil, physical fatigue, lack of match practice, a six-day turnaround; there are loads of excuses there.

"There's loads of reasons. They are not even excuses, they are reasons. I suppose because of the Johann van Graan announcement last week. He is leaving first of all, then Bath announce the day after that he has signed.

"Some people are not happy about that, particularly the timing of the announcement. Then you have a performance that's flat and the first thing people do jump on is it's not good enough. 'It's a negative performance'."

Munster's performance not a negative

Quinlan felt that there were signs in the match of life from Munster, however, their execution was poor.

One of the positives to be drawn from the game was player of the match Damian de Allende's acknowledgement that it was not a great performance, according to Quinlan.

"I think they tried to play," Quinlan said. "I watched the game back a number of times. They did try to play. Were they good? No.

"They were very sloppy and De Allende said it himself. I am glad he said it. You don't often hear players saying that they should have been a lot better in certain areas.

"He did, and he nailed it on the head. They were trying offloads, and they were trying kind of miracle passes. They were pretty sloppy in a lot of their application and lacking a bit of energy and zip."

If you gave Munster the option of nine points from their first two Heineken Champions Cup matches, they would have taken them, no questions asked.

While many will be disappointed with how they played on Saturday, at the end of two weeks, Munster are still undefeated in Europe this year. So far, only Ulster can say the same out of the Irish provinces.

"You know, 19-6 up, you'd take that," Quinlan said. "Then, with 77 minutes gone, Castres get up the field and get a couple of penalties. Then they score the try with a couple of minutes to go.

"That is a real negative on the night. But, if you were to give Munster the nine points before these two games, they'd have taken them. Absolutely.

"They'd have probably taken them in reverse; they would have probably wanted a bonus point win over Castres and a four-point win over Wasps.

"But I don't think it is as negative as people are making out."

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