Hat-trick: Simon Zebo
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Munster will be the number one seeds in the Heineken Cup quarter-final draw after beating Northampton 51-36 at stadium:mk on Saturday.
Despite conceding two penalty tries, the two-time champions secured a bonus point to finish the pool stages with an unassailable 25 pool points.
The scores were locked at 19-19 at the break but winger Simon Zebo bagged a second-half hat-trick to help the Irish side maintain their perfect record of six wins from as many starts in Europe this season - the only team to do so.
The result, combined with the Scarlets' win over Castres, means that the Welsh side beat Saints to a place in the Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-finals.
Munster needed a win to ensure a quarter-final tie on home soil, but they got off to a poor start as they were bullied by a dominant Saints pack.
Ryan Lamb knocked over two early penalties and Northampton assumed control on 13 minutes when referee Roman Poite awarded them a penalty try as the visitors' scrum buckled under pressure.
However, the metronomic Ronan O'Gara kicked kept the scoreboard ticking with a series of three-pointers to narrow the gap before a Lamb drop-goal opened up a seven-point advantage.
Prop BJ Botha powered over from close range for the visitors before the opposing fly-halves traded penalties.
Munster started the second half furiously and tries from Johne Murphy and Zebo put them in charge at 31-19, although another penalty try bought Saints to within five points.
A resulting scuffle saw half-backs Lee Dickson and Connor Murray sin-binned.
O'Gara and Lamb then traded penalties before the visiting fly-half extended their lead with another three-pointer.
Zebo went over twice in the last 10 minutes, although Scott Armstrong scampered across the whitewash for a consolation score.
The scorers:
For Northampton:
Tries: Penalty Try 2, Armstrong
Cons: Lamb 2, Myler
Pens: Lamb 3
Drop: Lamb
For Munster:
Tries: Botha, Murphy, Zebo 3
Cons: O'Gara 3, Keatley
Pens: O'Gara 6
Yellow cards: Murray (Munster -59th min - handbags); Dickson (Northampton - 59th min - handbags)
Northampton Saints: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Jamie Elliott, 13 George Pisi, 12 James Downey, 11 Vasily Artemyev, 10 Ryan Lamb, 9 Lee Dickson, 8 Roger Wilson, 7 Phil Dowson, 6 Calum Clark, 5 Mark Sorenson, 4 Samu Manoa, 3 Brian Mujati, 2 Dylan Hartley (c), 1 Soane Tonga'uiha.
Replacements: 16 Brett Sharman, 17 Alex Waller, 18 Paul Doran Jones, 19 Christian Day, 20 Ben Nutley, 21 Martin Roberts, 22 Stephen Myler, 23 Scott Armstrong.
Munster: 15 Denis Hurley, 14 Johne Murphy, 13 Keith Earls, 12 Lifeimi Mafi, 11 Simon Zebo, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Conor Murray, 8 James Coughlan, 7 Peter O'Mahony, 6 Donnacha Ryan, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 BJ Botha, 2 Damien Varley, 1 Wian du Preez.
Replacements: 16 Denis Fogarty, 17 Marcus Horan, 18 Stephen Archer, 19 Mick O'Driscoll, 20 Dave O'Callaghan, 21 Tomas O'Leary, 22 Ian Keatley, 23 Danny Barnes.
Venue: stadium:MK, Milton Keynes
Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Comments
papachinzo says...
Too bad they don't play like that for Ireland...
What's happening to English Rugby ???
Posted 22:35 21st January 2012
gauca says...
munster13
the best match of the w/end for sure, and your boys were epic everywhere except in the scrum, a thoroughly excellent performance but don't get too carried away,
'a league with less money, less attendances per match is far superior to both Aviva Prem and Top 14' - I think that is stretching it a bit!
Posted 22:31 21st January 2012
dannyc28 says...
Big problems with English rugby. We are not producing teams good enough to compete at the top of the club game. Not sure why this is? Too many teams in the top flight diluting the quality and lowering the standard? Relegation? Salary Cap? Just average players? Bit of all I reckons. I hope the powers that be are paying attention and looking to do something about it before we stop being competitive all together. I love English rugby but this is breaking my heart. We are simply not good enough at the moment at either Club or international level.......
Posted 22:10 21st January 2012
DBRowan says...
Simon Zebo looks like he could be Ireland's Chris Ashton. Cocky, fiery attitude, lots of pace, right place at the right time, scores often.
Saints backline has been off this year. It is basically Ben Foden versus whoever they are playing. Lamb's passing was off today, Pisi was invisible. Jamie Elliot was alright, made some decent tackles early on but was pulled out of position on various occasions while Artemiev continues to be very weak defensively. The Saints are (as people have already said) relying almost entirely on their forward dominance. If they had an O'Gara, or a Wilkinson (in prime) at 10 they would be a bit more successful, but they don't have the direction.
Feel the scoreline flattered just a tiny bit as it was 34-27 with just 10 minutes to go before I think it was Myler, threw the intercept.
I've been questioning Jim Mallinder for quite a while now. Northampton's resurgence was based off of the strengths of Tonga'uiha and Mujati, both of which he substituted with 15 minutes to go. He did the same in the reverse fixture, subbing off the likes of Lamb (who while not amazing is certainly stronger than Myler), Tiny, Mujati, Lawes, all while the game is still up in the air. He did the same in the Heineken Cup Final last year too. He packs in and calls it a day when the match is still undecided.
Fair play Munster today. They picked out the errors in Saints play and executed with efficiency. ROG on song, overlaps were exploited and line out was superb. Great compete at the breakdown. England should be concerned at the way that Ryan, O'Connell and Coughlan outplayed the two EPS members, Dowson and Clarke today. Clarke especially gave up soft penalties. Irish sides are ahead in this area for sure
Posted 21:10 21st January 2012
leinster_goy says...
now leinster get the easier QF against edinburgh, while you guys get a tough ulster team. thanks munster! ;)
Posted 20:37 21st January 2012
NHsaints says...
To be fair to saints the scoreline flatters munster, up front saints were all over munster from minute 1 to 80 but as usual our backs let us down big time...gotta say that although it pains me I get the feeling our pack has gone two steps forward and our backs have gone one step back from last season...let's face it...with a pack like ours you want either a solid flyhalf who will always kick the points and controls the field game well or an inspired one... Geraghty was inspired, Myler is solid...Lamb...Lamb is neither of these things I don't think he's got a long term place with the saints...Foden had a disspointingly quiet game (although he didn't have that much to work with), Artemyev and Elliot both showed their inexperience at the top level and Downey didn't step up to the plate (maybe he really is going home next season and this was the first part of his contract with munster :L )...
Posted 20:35 21st January 2012
munster13 says...
I all i want now is Munster, Ulster and Leinster inthe semis and a Munster-Leinster final. Good weeken for irish rugby. Bring on the six nations. Btw wat a relevation in ZEBO!! didnt think he had it in him, but boy was i wrong. It just goes to show that a league with less money, less attendances per match is far superior to both Aviva Prem and Top 14.
Posted 20:18 21st January 2012
Jediboy says...
As a Saints fan I'm very disappointed b the result. But hats off to Munster. Great 2nd half and a well deserved victory.
Munster looked really strong. I think that one of the keys to to this was the way they keep the phases going, keep possession and stifle teams out of the game. Well done. Saints had a lesson tonight.
Posted 20:17 21st January 2012
MunsterRedArmy says...
I have a feeling our ''good old'' Deccie didnt see the game thefore he wont see his mistake in not giving a call to James Coughlan (same story with loads of promising players who he should call!!). Simon Zebo is going places, well done Munster, never expected such a game from you considering the earlyer games were mediocre.
Posted 20:11 21st January 2012
marzie says...
Rugby... bloody hell... Epic day which shows just why the Heino's the premier event in rugby now. Who would've thought Munster had such a superb backline performance in them? Simon Zebo reminds me of the classic football goal-poacher - right place, right time. His excellent hat-trick took some of the attention off a barnstorming performance at 8 by Coughlan. Big question marks for Northampton though. Okay, they had a few injuries but so did Munster. How can a team that boasts a decent backline rely so heavily on their admittedly devastating scrum?
Posted 20:06 21st January 2012
sheridan says...
Wow!
Posted 20:05 21st January 2012
Louis77 says...
Just a thought but the standard of rugby in the English game is shocking. Their best teams manhandled by the irish over the last few weeks. Just shows the difference between premiership and pro 12. At least the French have manned up !!!
Posted 20:02 21st January 2012
liam2me says...
PRs wet dream team smashed out of Europe. OUCH. Munster are back on form, watch out Europe the Red Army is coming
Posted 19:57 21st January 2012