Following a thrilling 34-32 victory for Northampton Saints over Munster here are our five takeaways from the Investec Champions Cup encounter at Franklin’s Gardens on Saturday.
The top line
The Champions Cup sprung to life at Franklin’s Gardens as Northampton claimed top spot in Pool 3 with an epic triumph over Munster.
Both sides had already secured their passage into the next round but putting themselves in a better position going into the knockouts was crucial. And as a result, these two served up a veritable thriller.
In a see-saw encounter, the Irish province controlled much of the first half, despite Tom Seabrook’s opening try for Saints, as Calvin Nash crossed the whitewash twice to give them a 15-5 just shy of the interval advantage.
However, Gavin Coombes was sin-binned and efforts from Curtis Langdon and Seabrook went over to move Northampton back in front. James Ramm then made it a nine-point buffer before Diarmuid Kilgallen gave the visitors hope.
Kilgallen would complete his brace late in the encounter to give them hope, but Seabrook’s hat-trick try proved to be enough for Northampton.
Making a statement
With the Six Nations on the horizon, that’s what the players needed to do and Munster’s Ireland contingent were absolutely superb. Led by the ubiquitous Tadhg Beirne, whose presence was felt on both sides of the ball, they were crucial in them being competitive against the defending Premiership champions.
Beirne was key in both set-piece and the loose, with his sheer nuisance value disrupting the Saints’ ball and allowing the Irishmen to feast off turnovers. One such lineout steal enabled Conor Murray to kick the ball forward and give Nash a chase against England’s Alex Mitchell. Somehow, the scrum-half did not see the flyer coming and the wing nipped in ahead of Mitchell to touch down.
It rather summed up the performances of both teams. Munster were lively in attack, with Murray and Jack Crowley giving them nice structure, but it was matched by their work in defence. In contrast, Northampton were surprisingly, in the opening 35 minutes, meek as their key men failed to shine. There were good moments from Tommy Freeman, Fin Smith and even Mitchell, who in general had an underwhelming game, but the consistency, execution and intensity was lacking until Coombes was yellow-carded.
From there, they were much better with Smith improving after the interval. But really the charge was led by Langdon, Tarek Haffar, Ramm and Seabrook – the latter three far more unheralded than the likes of Mitchell, Smith and Freeman – who were the Northampton standouts in the narrow triumph.
Physicality and intensity
The Premiership sides have been, at times, decidedly passive without the ball, some would even say soft. That was certainly the case for Northampton last week at Stade Francais, although it was more understandable given the changes they made, but there was no excuse this weekend.
Considering what was at stake, they lost the gain line battle in defence in the first half with Munster finding it all too easy to find gaps. They were also slow to realign and get around the corner, giving the visiting half-backs plenty of options.
At 15-5 down just shy of the interval, Northampton’s boss was no doubt concerned, but to their credit they worked hard to eat into their lead, getting their reward through Landon, and that seemed to be the spur they needed.
The Saints were much better in the second period and, although they were helped by some poor Munster mistakes, it is also true that the pressure the hosts exerted played a big part in those errors.
The costly yellow
As mentioned, Munster were in control in the opening period, but they simply failed to keep their discipline at the key moments and when Gavin Coombes was yellow carded, Northampton took advantage, scoring two tries while he was off the field.
Coombes’ power was very much missed as Langdon firstly touched down from a driving maul to get the Saints back into the game but the excellent Seabrook crossed the whitewash to take the Englishmen into the lead.
They would not relinquish it from there, despite a late fightback from the Irish province, as the sin-binning ultimately swung the momentum in the home side’s favour. The number eight was the unfortunate one to cop the yellow with the visitors on a team warning, but he was a big player for them to lose for 10 minutes.
Munster spirit
It has been a trying season for the two-time European champions, who sacked their head coach Graham Rowntree and see themselves down in 11th position in the United Rugby Championship, but these last two weeks have been like the Munster of old. Granted, they didn’t get the result at Franklin’s Gardens and it makes it much tougher for them going into the knockout stages, but at least that spirit has been revived.
Europe has always been special for the province and in the past they have often pulled off the improbable, even when they did not have the individual quality of their opponents. On the evidence of Saturday, no one will want to face them in the last-16.
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/northampton-v-munster-five-takeaways-as-unheralded-saints-star-to-see-off-irish-side-who-revive-spirit-of-old
