Munster avenged their round one defeat at Franklins Gardens by quarrying a hard fought, 12-9 victory over Northampton Saints at Thomond Park, a result which guarantee’s them a quarter final berth at the same venue when the Heineken Cup resumes in the spring.
The visitors stout defence earned them a losing bonus point. But now they can only watch on anxiously in the hope that other results go their way this weekend and allow them progress into the last 16.
The ghosts of the 2000 final defeat to this opposition have long since been laid to rest for Munster as overdue European medals were finally collected. But Alan Quinlan, a man whose style of play harks back to an era well into the last century, was once again to the fore. The Tipperary native defied his 35 years by creating an illusion of being everywhere on the pitch and to be involved in every pivotal incident bar the Goal-Kicking.
Although Munster took an early lead through the ever reliable boot of Ronan O’Gara, the Saints looked intent on sneaking a smash and grab victory as the game plan was clearly to contain the home side and limit the noise from their vociferous support.
On Munster’s most promising foray to the opposition 22 Shane Geraghty initially looked lucky to escape sanction for a high tackle on Paul Warwick but, replays show the Australian knocked the ball forward a fraction before the impact came.
There are few things Limerick crowds enjoy more than having a villain in the opposing number 10 shirt and they ensured Geraghty’s inconsistent contact between boot and ball did not go unnoticed for the rest of the night.
O’Gara traded penalties with Bruce Reihana to send the hosts in at the break with a 6-3 lead.
The Guinness premiership side came out for the second half having removed their shackles and displayed their more familiar tactic of attacking on the gainline. They had already missed two penalties by the time sustained pressure gifted Geraghty an unmissable chance to level the scores.
Shortly before the hour, after O’Gara had restored a three point lead, referee Roman Poite harshly adjudged Paul O’Connell to have hands in the ruck on his own five metre line and had no hesitation showing him a yellow card.
Post match O’Connell, still annoyed by a referee’s performance which saw him continually lectured by the Frenchman for trying to influence his opinion, said:
“It’s hard when there’s no communication, just dictation (from the referee)”.
A series of English scrums followed as the second row watched on from his exercise bike, and it seemed inevitable that the hosts, shorn of their captain, were on the verge of conceding a penalty try.
But as is their trademark; Munster fought their way out of the tightest of corners, dramatically winning a 62nd minute scrum against the head and as they battled their way into opposition territory the games pivotal period was complete. It was Northampton this time guilty of stray hands allowing O’Gara to slot over from 40 meters just as both O’Connell and prop Marcus Horan made their return after vastly different lengths of time out of the action.
Replacement Stephen Myler narrowed the gap to three points to ensure his side left with the losing Bonus point, in reality that is all they could have hoped for coming into this match.
Munster: P Warwick; D Howlett, K Earls, J de Villiers, D Hurley; T O'Leary, R O'Gara (4 pens.); W du Preez, D Fogarty, J Hayes, D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell (yellow card ’58 (Capt.)); A Quinlan, N Ronan, D Wallace.
Replacements: D Varley (for Fogarty ’55), M Horan (for DuPreez ’67), T Buckley (for Hayes 78), D Ryan (for O’Callaghan ’55), J Coughlan, P Stringer, L Mafi, I Dowling.
Northampton Saints: B Foden, C Ashton, J Clarke, J Downey, B Reihana (1 pen.), S Geraghty (1 pen.), L Dickson, S Tongauiha, D Hartley [Capt.], E Murray, I Fernandez Lobbe, J Kruger, C Lawes, P Dowson, R Wilson.
Replacements: B Sharman, A Waller, B Mujati, C Day (for Fernandez Lobbe 57), N Best ( for Lawes 72), A Dickens, S Myler(1 pen (for Geraghty 72)), C Mayor
