Munster 23
Northampton 26
THIS WASN’T THE performance or the result Munster wanted to send them into the Champions Cup round of 16. It was the Saints who went marching in.
Graham Rowntree’s men are through, alright, but the reality is that they have limped into the knock-out stages with a losing bonus point in defeat at home to a Northampton team who played 40 minutes with 14 players and a further 10 minutes with only 13.
The reality is that Munster are through after just one win in their four games in Pool 3. It was an excellent victory in Toulon last weekend but they failed to back it up even when handed a numerical advantage against the Saints in Limerick.
Phil Dowson’s side continued their impressive season to make it four wins from four in this pool, with 21-year-old out-half Fin Smith key in steering them to a brilliant victory on the road, but Munster will have huge regrets.
They seemingly moved into control in the 10 minutes before half time, a yellow card for Saints captain George Furbank and a red for hooker Curtis Langdon arriving in swift succession as Munster moved 15-7 ahead for the break.
But Rowntree’s men were poor in the second-half rain, giving up cheap penalties that consistently allowed the visitors to keep in touch until they stunned the locals with a late winning try from sub back row Sam Graham from a close-range maul.
Munster had invited the pressure too easily and lacked a killer instinct when they were in a fine position in the second half.
It all means that they limp through in fourth place in the pool, meaning a difficult away tie in the Round of 16 against one of the pool winners.
On a wet and windy occasion in Limerick, this was a miserable night for Munster.
Munster started the game with some inaccurate kicking, Jack Crowley firing the opening kick-off dead and fullback Simon Zebo blasting one out on the full in the opening exchanges, setting a trend in which they struggled to get possession in the Saints half.
They had made a good start defensively with new Ireland captain Peter O’Mahony leading a counter-ruck turnover, while Jeremy Loughman and Gavin Coombes putting on pressure in the tackle, but there was a serious lapse in the 19th minute just after Loughman was pinged at scrum time.
Saints attached off the ensuing lineout and Munster left a big hole on the left fringe of a midfield ruck, inviting England scrum-half Alex Mitchell to dart through pass Niall Scannell before dummying to buy himself space to finish beyond Calvin Nash.
Munster slowly awoke in the wake of that setback. Alex Nankivell knocked on after their very first surge into the Saints 22, then Crowley through a loose pass that John Hodnett had to scramble to cover for, while there was an attacking lineout botch too.
But some fine kicking from Crowley positioned Munster to dominate the closing 12 minutes of the half. His long touchfinder and chase as the English side went quick and played into trouble helped to produced a turnover chance for Loughman over an O’Mahony tackle. Crowley slotted three points off that penalty in the 32nd minute.
He didn’t connect with a 48-metre penalty attempt soon after but Crowley’s lovely delayed inside pass to Nash off the goal line drop out sent Nash haring into the Saints 22 where he was tipped in the tackle by Northampton fullback George Furbank.
Munster initially played on, with Casey going close to score, but a TMO review confirmed the illegal tackle and referee Tual Trainini binned the Saints skipper.
Munster opted for a close range tap penalty and after a few carries in the tight, Casey swung the ball to the backs for Crowley to make a fine decision to hit Frisch at the front door as he shaped to pass out the back. Frisch barged over for a converted score and a first Munster lead.
It appeared they had messed up the restart as Coombes was turned over but Saints then lost Langdon as a TMO review showed he had kneed Tom Ahern twice in the head at a breakdown. The first was accidental, felt the officials, but they decided the second was reckless.
Ahern was helped off as Langdon trudged to the sideline and with the clock in the red, Munster scored their second try while Saints were down to 13. They started at a lineout on the halfway line, stretching the visitors from side to side, with O’Mahony carrying strongly, Casey sniping, and Frisch punching.
Wing Shane Daly then floated a pass wide right to Nash and though he passed a little early, O’Mahony finished strongly through two defenders for a 15-7 half time lead.
The rain was renewed for the start of the second half and frustratingly for Munster, they gave up a rather soft three points to the 13-man visitors in the opening minutes as they tried to counter-ruck and were penalised for playing Mitchell. Saints out-half Fin Smith brought it back to 15-10.
Crowley responded cleverly with a couple of cross-kicks and Munster soon gave themselves more breathing room when the out-half feigned to kick a penalty into the right corner and instead tapped. From close range, Coombes powered over to score with a latch from Scannell and Hodnett.
Smith soon reduced the deficit again when Scannell was penalised for failing to release from a tackle before jackaling and the away side were back within seven points at 20-13.
Suddenly, it was Munster who were playing themselves into bother down in their own half as Saints looked to use the brisk wind behind them. Smith used it to full advantage as he struck a brilliant 45-metre drop goal and the gap was just four points heading into the final quarter.
For that reason, a crowd-pleasing jackal turnover from Casey felt important, allowing Crowley to slot a 64th-minute penalty for 23-16, even if it felt like the time to go into the corner and go for a possible bonus-point try.
But another huge penalty kick from Smith, this time just inside his own half, kept 14-man Northampton firmly in the hunt as the rain strengthened once more.
And with O’Mahony having departed to a standing ovation, Munster seemed intent on putting themselves into trouble.
A seemingly routine lineout near their own 22 saw Rowntree’s men turned into a Saints penalty at the breakdown, they kicked into the right corner and replacement back row Sam Graham burst out of the maul to gleefully dive over.
Smith’s conversion sent Saints 26-23 ahead and with eight minutes to go, Munster fans in the stands were reeling and Dowson’s men saw it home there with a further show of steel.
Munster scorers:
Tries: Antoine Frisch, Peter O’Mahony, Gavin Coombes
Conversions: Jack Crowley [1 from 3]
Penalties: Jack Crowley [2 from 3]
Northampton scorers:
Tries: Alex Mitchell, Sam Graham
Conversions: Fin Smith [2 from 2]
Penalties: Fin Smith [3 from 3]
Drop goal: Fin Smith
MUNSTER: Simon Zebo (Seán O’Brien ’44); Calvin Nash, Antoine Frisch, Alex Nankivell (Joey Carbery ’76), Shane Daly; Jack Crowley, Craig Casey; Jeremy Loughman (Josh Wycherley ’68), Niall Scannell (Eoghan Clarke ’68), Oli Jager (John Ryan ’50); Tom Ahern (Brian Gleeson ’40), Tadhg Beirne (captain); Peter O’Mahony (Alex Kendellen ’66), John Hodnett, Gavin Coombes.
Replacement not used: Paddy Patterson.
NORTHAMPTON: George Furbank (captain) (yellow card ’38); Tommy Freeman, Fraser Dingwall, Rory Hutchinson (Burger Odendaal ’64), Ollie Sleightholme (Robbie Smith ’47); Fin Smith, Alex Mitchell; Alex Waller (Emmanuel Iyogun ’58), Curtis Langdon (red card ’40), Trevor Davison (Elliot Millar-Mills ’53); Temo Mayanavanua (Alex Moon ’58), Alex Coles; Courtney Lawes, Tom Pearson, Juarno Augustus (Sam Graham ’50).
Replacements not used: Tom James, Charlie Savala.
Referee: Tual Trainini [FFR].
