Munster 12 Northamtpon 9:Munster have guaranteed themselves a home quarter-final with a low-scoring but pulsating win over Northampton in their final Heineken Cup pool one game one game at Thomond Park. Ronan O'Gara kicked six points in each half to keep the homeside in front but the contest was won in the 10 minutes in which captain Paul O'Connell was off the pitch after being sin-binned on the hour.
After Romain Poite controversially gave the big lock some time off after hands in the ruck, it looked like Saints might capitalise in the scrum yards from the line but the men in red dug deep to win it against the head and eventually cleared their lines and the danger.
Tony McGahan's men will also be grateful for some wayward kicking from their opponents, with Shane Geraghty in particularly poor form with the boot. The visitors chopped and changed kickers and Geraghty eventuall combined with Bruce Reihana and Stephen Myler for their nine points.
Nevertheless, by securing a losing bonus point Saints have left themselves in with a shout of taking one of the two runners-up positions in the last eight and will be shouting for Leinster tomorrow when the champions meet London Irish at Twickenham.
However, they have done enough to end the quarter-final ambitions of Sale Sharks, Cardiff Blues and the Scarlets.
They had plenty of chances tonight, but try-hungry backs like Chris Ashton and Ben Foden were largely stopped at source, engulfed by Munster’s red defensive blanket.
Munster’s man-of-the-match flanker Alan Quinlan tackled himself to a standstill.
Scotland prop Euan Murray and England lock Courtney Lawes, named at blindside flanker, were the only changes for Northampton following their 34-0 drubbing of French champions Perpignan last weekend.
McGahan had hoped to retain the side which accounted for Treviso in bonus point fashion six days ago, but an enforced late change meant wing Ian Dowling starting instead of Denis Hurley.
The initial exchanges were nervous and hurried from both teams, although Munster edged ahead through an O’Gara penalty inside three minutes.
But solid work by the Saints pack, particularly in the lineouts through Juandre Kruger, meant Munster were unable to settle as a tense opening quarter concluded with Northampton relishing the physical combat.
Their appetite was also evident at scrum-time, where Murray made life distinctly uncomfortable for Munster loosehead Wiaan du Preez, and Saints drew level nine minutes before half-time.
Reihana rifled over a 48-metre penalty that rewarded Saints’ set-piece efforts, but the visitors were then pinned inside their own 22 with half-time looming.
A second O’Gara penalty restored Munster’s lead, yet there remained plenty of hope for Northampton that they could emulate Leicester’s achievement of three years ago and win a Heineken tie in Limerick.
Reihana missed a long-range penalty chance to tie the score four minutes after the restart, but Saints had another opportunity five minutes later, this time wasted by Geraghty.
Geraghty, demoted from senior England duty to the Saxons squad ahead of this season’s Six
ations Championship, looked short on confidence, and his scuffed kick provided little in the way of a boost.
He managed to find his range after 53 minutes, but Munster quickly regained a three-point advantage when O’Gara completed a penalty hat-trick.
It proved the cue though, for Northampton to storm back upfield as skipper Dylan Hartley charged down Munster scrum-half Tomas O’Leary’s attempted clearance.
And Munster panicked under pressure, with O’Connell punished by Poite for hands in the ruck as Northampton attempted to turn the scrummaging screw.
A sin-binned O’Connell could only look on amid escalating Saints pressure, yet Munster somehow kept their shape to win the scrum against the head with New Zealand wing Doug
Howlett pressed into emergency back-row duty.
O’Gara and Myler then exchanged penalties during the final 10 minutes, but Munster’s superior experience in high-octane European encounters saw them through as the mist descended on Thomond Park.
In the pool's dead rubber, Perpignan beat Benetton Treviso 27-6.