Munster v Northampton:A SQUEAKY bum weekend continues this evening with another potentially epic Munster-Anglo affair in the Thomond Park bearpit. In three meetings between these two sides over the past decade, the margins have been one, four and three points. Cue another arm wrestle.
Most likely there’ll only be a kick or a bounce of the ball, or a refereeing decision or one mistake or moment of inspiration to decide it. A dollop of Lady Luck mightn’t go amiss either.
To great relief within and outside the camp, Paul O’Connell and Keith Earls return after recovering from their respective groin injuries while Dolphin number eight James Coughlan makes his first Heineken Cup start, with David Wallace reverting to his more favoured and familiar openside role. Although Mick O’Driscoll is an able deputy at lineouts and restarts, O’Connell’s Roy Keane-like presence appears to lift all those around him. For his part, Earls has become Munster’s main strike runner. Missing last week may be for the best. Their presence should be galvanising.
Although it’s his first start, Coughlan has appeared off the bench five times in this competition and this will be his 40th Munster appearance. He’s started four games in a row prior to last weekend and while Wallace may or may not have been the best number eight Ireland never had, he’s long since made himself into one of Ireland’s greatest ever opensides and is more effective there.
Preferring Coughlan over the ex-Auckland Blues number eight Nick Williams makes sense. Four of Williams’s eight appearances this season have been off the bench, and he looks best suited to an impact role a la Isitolo Maka, though the 6-2 split on the bench limits Munster’s backline options.
Defied by Alan Quinlan at lock and a seven-man scrum in January, once again Northampton arrive with a renowned scrum bedrocked by their imposing frontrow of Soane Tongauiha, Dylan Hartley and Euan Murray, and this will be another huge ask of Marcus Horan (absent that night along with Jerry Flannery) and John Hayes. In January the Saints arrived on the back of a 10-match winning run, and since have won nine out of 10, including their last five games in a row. That amounts to 19 wins out of 21. They are close-knit and supremely confident, with Thomond seemingly holding no fear for them.
Relishing the prospect of a sea of red, their ex-Ulster flanker Neil Best says: “Our travelling support is superb but I am not bothered if I am playing in front of one man in a flat cap with his dog or 80,000, though I accept the first 20 minutes will be crucial.”
Aside from recalling Best and restoring Courtney Laws to the secondrow, Northampton coach Jim Malinder has learned from the first meeting and opted for the more prosaic but dependable Stephen Myler ahead of Shane Geraghty at outhalf, presumably to carry out a game plan akin to the last meeting. The Saints kick plenty with an emphasis on field position from where they look to grind down sides. Their defensive scrambling is excellent and they boast big players who come up with big plays, and if there’s any loose kicking by Munster, Northampton have the counter-attacking of the nifty Ben Foden, Chris Ashton and Bruce Reihana to punish the home side.
With try-scoring chances again at a premium, field position and discipline will be king, while Munster’s set-pieces need to hold up and it would a timely game for their maul to rediscover its bite. But perhaps most of all Munster need to fight fire with fire and rip into their visitors with ferocious first-up tackling and as much double and triple teaming as possible, and equally ferocious carries along with aggressive and accurate support play. In short, induce a little of that old Thomond doubt in self-confident visitors, with a performance of disciplined intensity akin to the All Blacks game in November 2008. Coughlan made a rare start that night. At 29, he may be no spring chicken but he’s still the only non-thirtysomething in this pack of warriors. Can they go to the well a few more times?
They may not have sustained campaigns in them, but as long as they wear the Munster red on days like this then you’d have to believe they still have big games in them.
The defeat to Leinster may be no bad thing. Ditto Ronan O’Gara’s perceived sense of injustice and grievances with the Dublin “meejia”, for whenever he talks the talk, he invariably walks the walk. Coach Tony McGahan hopes to come up with “something special”. The old fears are in the air once more, but until proved otherwise the golden rule applies. Never back against Munster in the Heineken Cup at Thomond Park.
MUNSTER:P Warwick; D Howlett, K Earls, J de Villiers, I Dowling; R O'Gara, T OLeary; M Horan, J Flannery, J Hayes; D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell capt; A Quinlan, D Wallace, J Coughlan. Replacements:D Varley, J Brugnaut, T Buckley, M ODriscoll, N Williams, N Ronan, P Stringer, L Mafi.
NORTHAMPTON:B Foden, C Ashton, J Clarke, J Downey, B Reihana; S Myler, L Dickson; S Tongauiha, D Hartley (capt), E Murray, C Lawes, J Kruger, P Dowson, N Best, R Wilson. Replacements:B Sharman, R Dreyer, B Mujati, I Fernandez Lobbe, M Easter, A Dickens, S Geraghty, J Ansbro.
Referee:Nigel Owens (Wales).
Forecast:Munster to win.
