ASK JIM Mallinder what his Northampton Saints side have learned from their two Thomond Park experiences to date and he answers in the blink of an eye.

With the home side 9-6 in front after an hour of the Saints’ first Heineken Cup visit to Limerick, in January 2010, Paul O’Connell was despatched to the sin-bin by Romain Poite for using his hands on the deck.

Northampton kicked the resulting penalty to touch deep inside the Munster 22 and what happened next that evening still seems to bother the 45-year-old coach.

“When O’Connell gets sent to the sin-bin, you drive the ball at the next line-out, you don’t go off the top,” he answers in that Yorkshire drawl of his, still somewhat incredulous that the call was made to whip the ball wide from the throw, rather than have a go at a Munster pack containing seven men.

“At Thomond Park you learn lots of key little lessons like that.”

Munster, needless to say, snuffed out the threat from Northampton’s backs off that particularly ill-advised move, and fought like men possessed in the game’s final 20 minutes to earn a 12-9 victory, having largely been outplayed by their opponents that evening, but tonight, they need to beware.

Ever since that particular encounter, and indeed in the 33-19 defeat Tony McGahan’s side inflicted upon the Saints in Limerick in the quarter-final that same year, Mallinder’s men have been on something of a journey, one that has seen them develop both as individuals and as a collective, in double-quick time.

For example, since that first pool encounter between the sides at Thomond Park, the youthful trio of Chris Ashton, Ben Foden and Courtney Lawes have all gone on to earn international honours with England, and indeed ensconced themselves as regulars in the side, while captain Dylan Hartley has muscled his way in from the fringes of the international set-up to the very heart of the squad.

In a collective sense, the rise in fortunes has been just as marked.

That rather feeble exit at the hands of Munster in the 2010 Heineken Cup was followed up by qualification for last season’s memorable final at the Millennium Stadium. These boys sure are learning fast.

“Compared to our first visit to Limerick in 2010, our squad has a lot more experience under its belt,” says Mallinder.

“Not only have most of them now experienced Thomond Park twice, many of them have played international rugby and are used to playing big games every single week. Experience like that makes such a difference.

“For example, what our players have gone through in the past few years means that we should be able to cope with the passion of the Thomond Park crowd, because it is an unbelievable experience.

“And if we manage to deal with that, then it’s just 15 against 15.”

It’s admirably positive for Mallinder to suggest, as he seems to, that all experiences are good experiences, but that pays little heed to the very real possibility of his players picking up mental baggage along the way.

And nowhere were Northampton’s young stars more likely to pick that up than in the aftermath of May’s Heineken Cup final defeat to Leinster.

By half-time at the Millennium Stadium the Saints were 22-6 in front; 40 minutes later they had conceded 27 points without reply and were collecting silver medals, not gold.

Such a turnaround, or indeed a choke as is was widely labelled at the time, would affect the most unflappable of professionals, never mind a developing young side.

So how have they coped in the aftermath?

“How you deal with it is an individual thing,” says Mallinder. “Dylan Hartley has told me he’s still waking up in the middle of the night and thinking about it, and I do the same from time to time.

“You don’t get many chances as either a coach or a player to play in a Heineken Cup final, it’s a special event, and we had a great chance and in a way we blew it. And I suppose, in a way, that will never go away.”

Mallinder has no doubts as to the reasons why Northampton didn’t show up in the second half.

“We gave it our best shot. I was really proud of the way we played. The first half we were tremendous.

“The pack got on top, we took our opportunities out wide; defensively, Foden’s tackle on Brian O’Driscoll to save a try was outstanding, Dylan Hartley then scored before half time – it was unbelievable.

“Then we get in at half-time and I look around the dressingroom and we’re tired. We’ve given it absolutely everything in that 40 minutes and I knew there was trouble ahead.

“I’ve never known our changing room to be like that. Normally, we go out after half-time and pick up the tempo of how we play, but in that particular game, we were struggling.”

Mallinder knows well the source of Northampton’s tiredness that afternoon.

The “reward” for developing a group of talented young English, particularly over a short period of time as the Saints have, is they go off and play with England during the Six Nations.

That left Mallinder with a threadbare squad for Premiership duty in February and March, a period during which they won just one of their five league matches.

So when their international players returned to club duty after the rigours of a Six Nations campaign, they were needed back on the pitch as soon as possible to help the Saints pick up much-needed points.

“You need a squad, you need to be in good shape when you get to that final,” says Mallinder.

“If we reviewed our season, we didn’t win as many games through the Six Nations period as we should have done in the Premiership and that left us in a bit of trouble.

“It meant we had to win every single game towards the end of the season and it meant we really had to pick our best team every single week.

“We did that and by the time we got to the semi-final of the Premiership and then the final of the Heineken Cup, we were on our last legs.

“I think we’ve recruited well enough during the summer to ensure that it doesn’t happen again this season, but that hurt us last season.”

Because the Heineken Cup final was Northampton’s last game of the season, and their international players only arrived back from international duty a couple of weeks ago, they haven’t really sat down collectively to speak about the Leinster defeat.

“In terms of a group, we haven’t really had a chance to discuss it. But now that we’re all back together, we’ll talk about those experiences in the lead up to the game against Munster.”

It will be their motivation this season, just as it was for Munster when they came so close to winning the Heineken Cup before. Defeat suffered, lesson learned, time to move on.

Bet the Saints won’t allow their backs to touch the ball if Munster have a forward in the bin today.

Northampton's Irish epics

Munster 8-9 Northampton, Heineken Cup final

May 27th, 2000, Twickenham

Northampton’s narrow victory felt like the end of the world to Munster at the time. A David Wallace try looked to have set Declan Kidney’s side on the way to European glory, but Paul Grayson’s boot won it for the Saints, after Ronan O’Gara slid a late penalty just wide of the Twickenham posts.

Munster 12-9 Northampton

Heineken Cup Pool 1

Jan 22nd, 2010, Thomond Park

For Northampton, this was definitely the one that got away. Missed kicks from Shane Geraghty and Bruce Reihana ultimately cost them the game but as Jim Mallinder said this week, Northampton’s innocence allowed streetwise Munster to record a victory on account of four Ronan O’Gara penalties, despite performing well below form.

Leinster 33-22 Northampton

Heineken Cup final

May 21st, 2011, Cardiff

Leading 22-6 after a storming first half of quality rugby that seemed to take Leinster by surprise, the Saints then conceded 27 points without reply in the second period as Johnny Sexton inspired his side to complete the greatest turnaround in Heineken Cup final history.