Champions Cup: Munster show defensive grit in victory at Northampton Saints while Toulouse ease past Sale Sharks

Planet Rugby
Munster number eight Gavin Coombes scoring

Munster ground out a 17-6 victory at Northampton Saints as they put in a defensive masterclass at Franklin’s Gardens on Sunday.

Two first-half tries from Gavin Coombes were both converted by Joey Carbery, who added a couple of penalties before the break for the away outfit.

Fin Smith sent over two penalties of his own before half-time which meant the second half was ultimately scoreless, with Munster defending stoutly.

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Following a 46-12 thrashing at La Rochelle last weekend, Saints needed a response but despite a spirited performance they were taught a lesson in wet-weather rugby by the two-time European champions.

The defeat leaves Saints with no points from their opening two fixtures and with the reverse fixture in Limerick and a home game against reigning champions La Rochelle to come, their chances of qualifying for the knockout rounds look bleak.

In contrast, Munster look set to qualify with the four points picked up here adding to the losing bonus point obtained in their opening day 18-13 defeat at the hands of Toulouse.

Courtney Lawes was a late withdrawal for Saints with a glute-muscle problem and they suffered another setback when Munster opened the scoring.

The visitors had the better of the opening exchanges and were rewarded when Coombes finished off a succession of forward drives.

Carbery converted before Smith put Northampton on the scoreboard with a simple penalty to leave them trailing 7-3 at the end of a competitive first quarter.

The playing conditions worsened with steady rain falling and the hosts made a number of handling errors. Their opponents were also winning the battle at the breakdown where Saints gave away a number of penalties for not releasing.

Carbery kicked one of these to extend the lead but this was soon nullified by a second success from Smith.

Just before the interval, Munster scored a crucial second try when Coombes careered away from a line-out to crash over with Carbery’s conversion giving his side a deserved 17-6 half-time lead.

After the interval the miserable conditions continued to frustrate Saints’ efforts to play an expansive game, with the Munster half-backs enjoying the better of the kicking game.

The third quarter was meandering along in a featureless fashion until the feisty game erupted in the 53rd minute with a mass brawl involving most of the players and after TMO reviews flankers Jack O’Donoghue and Lewis Ludlam were both yellow-carded.

Four minutes later, the Irish were dealt a further blow when their replacement Craig Casey was sin-binned for taking out James Ramm in the air.

Northampton had to make their numerical advantage count but Munster’s defence was relentless and Casey was able to return with no damage done to the scoreboard.

However Carbery became the third Munster player to be sin-binned in 16 minutes as Saints continued their assault on the opposition line, but all their efforts were in vain as the second half finished scoreless.

Antoine Dupont scores twice in Toulouse win

Elsewhere, Toulouse backed up last weekend’s win at Munster by overcoming Sale Sharks 45-19 in their Champions Cup at the Stade Ernest Wallon.

Toulouse captain Antoine Dupont crossed for two tries as the five-time champions recorded a comfortable win and laid a marker down to all the teams in this season’s tournament.

Sale’s indiscipline cost them and they were down to 14 men for 30 minutes of the game, with hooker Akker van der Merwe, full-back Byron McGuigan and wing Tom O’Flaherty shown yellow cards.

But Toulouse full-back Thomas Ramos was shown a red card for a headbutt in the 80th minute when Sale thought they had scored a try.

The French giants, with scrum-half Dupont and his half-back partner Romain Ntamack pulling the strings, were at their imperious best as they crossed for seven tries and put the Sharks to the sword.

Sale were without England centre Manu Tuilagi, who was ruled out with concussion suffered in the English side’s comfortable 39-0 win over Ulster, for the trip to France.

Sale’s first try was a comedy of errors from the French side as Sharks prop Bevan Rodd pounced on the loose ball, with impressive footballing skills, to cross for the visitors after only three minutes.

Fly-half Rob Du Preez added the conversion but Toulouse hit back almost immediately when flanker Thibaud Flament hit a great line to split the Sharks defence and score under the posts. Full-back Ramos added the conversion to make it 7-7 after a chaotic four minutes from both sides.

Toulouse’s forward power really put the Sharks under pressure as they recovered their renowned composure in European competition and soon had the reward.

Prop Cyril Baille was awarded the try when he emerged from the bottom of a driving lineout after an impressive maul broke the visitors’ defence to give the home side a 12-7 lead.

Toulouse then played the kind of rugby that has seen them crowned European champions when Pita Ahki and Lucas Tauzin combined to allow Dupont to cross for their third try.

Ramos converted to make it 19-7 to Toulouse midway through the first half before Sale went down to 14 men when hooker Van der Merwe was yellow-carded for a tip tackle on Ramos.

Sale survived being down a man for 10 minutes and when Van der Merwe returned he scored the try after an 11-man maul from a lineout to make it 19-12 to Toulouse at half-time.

After the break, Toulouse were awarded a penalty try after a high tackle by full-back McGuigan, who was sent to the bin, stopping Ramos following his kick and chase, and the Sharks were back down to 14 men with the home side 26-12 ahead.

Toulouse turned on the style when they ran in their fifth try from their own line with skipper Dupont finishing it, winning the race for the touchdown after a grubber kick to make it 33-12.

Wing Lucas Tauzin, fly-half Ntamack and Sale’s Ben Curry all crossed for tries in the second half but this was a comfortable win for Toulouse.

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