MK switch played into Munster hands
Pictures by Linda Dawson
You have to hand it to Munster, last year they did not make the quarter finals and many including me were predicting a lean time for them, an ageing team who looked like their halcyon days might be behind them.
I have to hold my hand up and say I got it wrong.
I thought Saints would have too much in the locker and the motivation to right the wrongs of Thomond Park earlier in the campaign, but Munster love to prove the doubters wrong, as their motto says ‘Stand up and Fight’.
I do think however that the result would have been very different had this game been a pool decider which it ought to have been.
It’s probably a good job it wasn’t, as the decision to play at Milton Keynes played right into Munster hands.
Officially there were around 2000 tickets sold to Munster fans, but there was a least double that amount in the stadium and they made some serious noise.
If you didn’t know better you would have said it was a Munster home game, which is something that would not have been in the plans of the Saints management when they decided on this move to Milton Keynes.
I hope that the experiment to move big games there is now dead and buried, it is not Franklin’s Gardens and never will be. If the management have the choice, then every game should be here in Northampton.
In terms of rattling Munster Saints had a superb start, putting them on the ropes early but as usual there was no panic in the Munster ranks when they went points down.
They soaked up the pressure and waited for their opponents to make the errors and there were plenty of those from Saints.
TV pundits are now describing restarts as the new set piece, and on the evidence of Saturday night Saints have some work to do in this area.
I have been concerned most of this season that Saints kick-offs are too deep and lacking height, which allows the receiving team to take the ball too easily.
But the biggest worry from Saturday was in Saints receiving the ball.
I counted 17 points that were conceded directly from not taking the ball cleanly at the restart, and that for me is where the game was won and lost.
You have to hand much of the credit to the kicking of the evergreen Ronan O’Gara and the chasing from Munster pack, however there were huge errors from Northampton and it has cost them.
At 13-3 up it was critical to keep playing the game in the Munster half where the scrum was powering its way through Irish defences, but Saints far too easily let Munster back into the contest, they hadn’t really earned it.
It was gifted to them and you simply cannot allow a side like Munster such easy points.
Saints were also very much second best at the breakdown, the Irish back row totally played Saints off the park in my view.
Their physicality was impressive and Saints really struggled to generate any quick ball. With the Munster defence flying out of the blocks, that pressure ensured Saints played on the back foot for most of the second half.
By the end of the clash I think the score flattered Munster to a degree as Saints were chasing the game, making multi-changes to the line up and probably opened up a little more than they would have done if this result really mattered to them.
You cannot take anything away from the Munstermen; they fully deserve their place in the quarter finals and the home tie against Ulster which will be a clash not to miss.
I don’t think they are strong enough to win it this year, I think out of all the Irish qualifiers Leinster are the team to beat and still the favourites to win.
Elsewhere the Heineken Cup did not fail to deliver tension and drama right up until the final minutes of the groups stages, the exact line up of the quarter finals went right down to the wire with Edinburgh and Cardiff trading the final home quarter final berth in the dying minutes of their respective games.
I was really chuffed for Edinburgh and my old Saints team mate Tom Smith who is now their forwards coach.
They have very limited resources up in Scotland, and to produce a side that not only made the quarter finals, but also topped their group and secured a home tie is probably one of the biggest achievements in domestic Scottish rugby.
They play a very positive brand of rugby and possess a reasonably solid set piece, with plenty of dangerous ball carriers they are a real threat.
There is every chance they could beat Toulouse at home, don’t count against it, they will have a very passionate home crowd behind them and a real motivating factor is that they have the rare opportunity to create some more history.
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