Munster 27
Northampton Saints 23
JACK O’DONOGHUE SCORED a try and received a red card all within the opening 25 minutes as Munster clung onto a 27-23 victory over Northampton Saints at Thomond Park.
Munster built enough of an early lead to outlast their English Premiership opponents amid a stirring home atmosphere and under the gaze of Ireland head coach Andy Farrell, who took in the game from the East Stand.
Man of the match Gavin Coombes notched two tries to either side of that of O’Donoghue, whose shoulder to the head of Saints lock David Ribbons saw the blindside receive his marching orders from French referee Tual Tailini.
Joey Carbery, too, was spotless with the boot, albeit his second-half lapse in judgement could have proven terminal to Munster’s chances as the Saints began to march their tired hosts around Thomond.
Jack Crowley’s late penalty — Munster’s only score of the second half — proved a sufficient buffer as Graham Rowntree’s men shipped blow after blow from their opponents, being forced to defend for the most of the second 40 rather than pursue a try-bonus point.
Ultimately, Munster’s pack, their replacements, and manic scramble defence intervened enough to hold Northampton at bay as 22,295 fans watched on through their fingers. For the southern province, it’s onto Toulouse. For Northampton, it was a case of what might have been — just as it was on their last visit to Thomond.
The 22,295 fans in attendance were taken on an emotional rollercoaster in the second half, with excellent Saints out-half Fin Smith bringing them back to within a try of victory at the death only for Munster to seal the deal with a maul turnover.
Just 30 seconds after Joey Carbery kicked things off, he was given the opportunity to nudge Munster into the lead. The in-form Mike Haley’s slaloming run infield saw a Northampton tackler penalised for failing to release. Carbery, his face chilled by a stiff winter’s breeze, calmly stroked the ball home from 35 metres for 3-0.
On seven minutes, Munster won a scrum penalty in a similar position and went to the corner, the Thomond faithful rubbing their hands as Carbery booted them to within five. They got the lineout in quickly and Jack O’Donoghue almost knocked the door down off first phase before Saints infringed on the ground.
From a resulting tap, Munster built a couple of phases before hooker Niall Scannell slipped a lovely reverse pass inside to Coombes, who finished with a little help from his friends. Carbery added the extras. Moments later, he was in the wars.
After he cleared from Munster territory, the out-half was temporarily taken out by Saints hooker Mike Haywood whose forearm, and then shoulder, smashed into Carbery’s face during a late attempted chargedown. Haywood was rightly binned and, thankfully, Carbery had gotten back to his feet within seconds of shipping the heavy blow.
With a dry ball, Munster were going to width as quickly as possible in these opening exchanges, very conspicuously attempting to play at a tempo that would wear out Northampton.
The visitors, meanwhile, earned their first entry point and possession of note on 16 minutes as Antoine Frisch was pinged for holding on, but they soon coughed up the ball in the face of excellent Munster line-speed.
A spark by Frisch down the right-hand side and a couple of powerful carries by Roman Salanoa made for the origin story of their second try. Again, scrum-half Craig Casey whipped the ball wide and Gavin Coombes showed wonderful composure as the wide man on the left to carve a yard of space from himself with a sidestep infield. This allowed him to pop the ball back inside to O’Donoghue, who cruised over for Munster’s second. Carbery, again, brought the goods off the tee for 17-zip.
A huge jackal penalty won by Munster skipper O’Mahony soon followed but it was negated by an infringement earlier in play by O’Donoghue, whose evening was instantly transformed for the worse.
Replays showed he had crashed his shoulder into the head of Saints lock David Ribbans on an earlier phase. It looked far more careless than it did malicious, but the blindside was correctly red carded.
The crowd were hot and, when Munster produced a huge counter-ruck turnover to stop the Saints from marching in off the resulting penalty lineout, you could probably hear them in O’Donoghue’s home county of Waterford.
Indeed, it was the 14 men who were still making the greater attacking inroads into the second quarter and, just shy of the half-hour mark, Gavin Coombes barreled over for Munster’s third from close range which Carbery duly converted. That stretched their lead out to 24-0 and, even as the heavens opened above Thomond once more, a home bonus point looked like a near certainty.
Edging towards half-time, Northampton eventually gained their second opportunity to score as Craig Casey was found offside during some otherwise watertight Munster defence in their 22′. Fin Smith booted the visitors to within five but Haywood’s lineout throw was nuked by a wind which was beginning to swirl aimlessly around the ground.
Shane Daly broke the line shortly afterwards but the ensuing Munster attack dissolved, almost resulting in a Northampton 50/22 down the other end. The ball stayed fractionally infield, however, and Frisch poked the ball out for half-time with his side 24 points to the good.
Northampton began the second half like a team that had been read the riot act at the break and an early spell of pressure on Munster’s line paid off through left wing Tommy Freeman, who waltzed over as Saints exploited a three-man overlap. Fin Smith’s difficult conversion brought the deficit down to 17, enough for the Thomond faithful to immediately rally behind their 14 men.
The visitors, however, won their second scrum penalty in quick succession shortly afterwards. This time, Smith pointed towards the posts and took the score to 24-10.
Munster appeared to steady the ship with a huge jackal penalty won by replacement John Ryan in Northampton territory. The fact that a bonus-point try would likely dovetail as a security score left Peter O’Mahony in no doubt that his side should go to the corner, but the Saints fronted up brilliantly in defence and drove Munster off their own ball after Craig Casey was smothered in possession at the base of a ruck.
The visitors’ roared back into the game by way of a second which came from little other than James Ramm’s diligence: the right wing booted long into grass and chased his own kick with a vengeance, eventually blasting Joey Carbery as he scooped it off the floor. Northampton’s forwards piled in on the consequent ruck and turned the ball over instantly just yards from the Munster line. Off first phase, it was Ramm who ploughed over — and Smith, again, added the extras. Northampton were back to within a score at 24-17.
Carbery was replaced by Rory Scannell, with Jack Crowley shifting to out-half, before the restart.
Just after the hour mark, John Ryan combined with fellow sub Alex Kendellen to produce a massive turnover on the ground, deep in Northampton territory. The crowd erupted as the hosts were awarded a penalty. But again, Saints withstood the lineout maul and stuck the pin in the Thomond balloon with a massive turnover of their own, just a couple of yards shy of their line.
It was soon afterwards Munster’s turn to defend their line with their lives. A 12-phase stand was extraordinary for how likely it seemed Northampton would score every time they went wide only to be denied by full-stretch Munster tackles, beginning with that of replacement nine Paddy Patterson in the right-hand corner. The Premiership outfit were eventually pinged for a neck roll, and Munster somehow clung onto their lead.
Smith reduced the arrears to four points from a penalty on 70 minutes and, suddenly, we were on for a grandstand finish befitting of the dynamic between these two clubs in the 2000s and 2010s.
A harsh penalty against Ramm for not releasing offered Munster their first points of the second half with just five minutes remaining. Crowley kept his cool to stretch the lead back to seven, and Thomond took a breath.
Back came Northampton, only for Shane Daly to have other ideas: a brilliant read from his own 22′ and monstrous hit on inside centre Rory Hutchinson forced a knock-on and a moment’s reprieve.
Munster cleared their lines but didn’t get far, and Saints won another penalty on the 22′. With some 70 seconds remaining, Smith split the posts. 27-23, Munster restart, still a chance.
It came and went with an accidental Saints maul which, while it rolled from deep inside their own territory towards halfway, was eventually halted by the hosts. Rainini blew for game, and the home fans nearly blew a gasket such was the noise which greeted his whistle.
Scorers for Munster:
- Tries: Gavin Coombes (2), Jack O’Donoghue
- Pens: Joey Carbery (1/1), Jack Crowley (1/1)
- Cons: Joey Carbery (3/3)
Scorers for Northampton:
- Tries: Tommy Freeman, James Ramm
- Pens: Fin Smith (3/3)
- Cons: Fin Smith (2/2)
Red card: Jack O’Donoghue, Munster (22′)
MUNSTER
15. Mike Haley; 14. Calvin Nash, 13. Antoine Frisch, 12. Jack Crowley, 11. Shane Daly; 10. Joey Carbery, 9. Craig Casey; 1. Dave Kilcoyne, 2. Niall Scannell, 3. Roman Salanoa; 4. Jean Kleyn, 5. Tadhg Beirne; 6. Jack O’Donoghue, 7. Peter O’Mahony (Captain), 8. Gavin Coombes.
Replacements: 16. Scott Buckley, 17. Josh Wycherley, 18. John Ryan, 19. John Hodnett, 20. Alex Kendellen, 21. Paddy Patterson, 22. Rory Scannell, 23. Liam Coombes.
NORTHAMPTON SAINTS
15. George Furbank; 14. Tommy Freeman, 13. Matt Proctor, 12. Rory Hutchinson, 11. James Ramm; 10. Fin Smith, 9. Alex Mitchell; 1. Alex Waller, 2. Mike Haywood, 3. Paul Hill; 4. David Ribbans, 5. Alex Moon; 6. Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 7. Courtney Lawes, 8. Lewis Ludlam (Captain).
Replacements: 16. Robbie Smith, 17. Ethan Waller, 18. Alfie Petch, 19. Alex Coles, 20. Angus Scott-Young, 21. Callum Braley, 22. Fraser Dingwall, 23. Courtnall Skosan.
Match Officials
- Referee: Tual Trainini
- Assistant Referees: Adrien Descottes and Christophe Bultet
- TMO: Eric Gauzins
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- Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that Jack O’Donoghue had scored two tries. It was Gavin Coombes who scored a brace.