Donal Lenihan: Another brick in Graham Rowntree's red wall

TRY TIME: Munster’s Gavin Coombes on his way to scoring his second try at Franklin’s Gardens. Pic: INPHO/Bryan Keane

When it comes to Europe, Munster’s storied history in Heineken Cup rugby only serves to increase the pressure on the current crop of the province’s hopefuls. Those images of times past, with massive travelling hordes swelling the attendances at grounds all over England and France, continues to ratchet up the expectation levels wherever they go.

It may be approaching 15 years since Munster last won the Heineken Cup but the reflections of England international George Furbank, when interviewed during the week in advance of this contest, confirmed that the lore and attraction surrounding a visit from the former champions still has the capacity to elicit a special response from opponents far and wide.

Bear in mind that Northampton have just come off the back of an embarrassing 46-12 thumping from the reigning European champions La Rochelle, yet appear more chuffed at the prospect of playing Munster.

That’s an indication of the pressure the current Munster crop are under heading into every Champions Cup clash, on the back of glories past, as Graham Rowntree attempts to fashion a vision for the future. So much of his plan revolves around constructing a different way to play. The physicality already brought to the fight by the top French and English clubs up front has been augmented by the addition of even bigger forward units from South Africa.

Munster are no longer capable of beating teams up and must find a way to play around teams rather than through them. New attack coach Mike Prendergast has been designing a blueprint far more in tune with the way Leinster and Ireland choose to play.

That’s good news for Andy Farrell. For that reason, the selection of Joey Carbery, Jack Crowley and Antoine Frisch at 10, 12 and 13 for this contest at Franklin’s Gardens was sure to have caught his attention.

Crowley made an immediate impact at inside centre when introduced into the role on 52 minutes against Toulouse last week. Starting with that combination Sunday was a brave call given that Crowley has little or no experience of playing there at any level in what marked only his eighth start in a Munster shirt.

As for Northampton, the six changes originally made, with the return of Fijian hooker Sam Matavesi and former Stormers No 8 Juarno Augustus up front added an element of steel that was missing in France last week. The announcement just before kick off, however, that England captain Courtney Lawes was ruled out came as a massive blow for the hosts.

In the absence of Lawes, Munster were always likely to flourish out of touch and ten line outs in the opening half alone offered the returning Conor Murray the chance to dictate where the game was played.

With John Ryan to the fore, Munster also got the better of the early scrum exchanges which was rewarded by French referee Pierre-Baptiste Nuchy. With so much time spent in the Northampton twenty two, powerhouse No 8 Gavin Coombes was always going to prove an influential figure. His two first-half tries from close-in drives not only afforded Munster a decent 6-17 lead at the break but gave them a cushion to navigate what transpired to be an extremely fraught and tense second half.

The excellence of Munster’s set piece, allied to very challenging conditions, meant that after some promising early signs, very little was seen of Munster’s new, attack-minded midfield realignment. Circumstances dictated that this promising experiment had to be postponed for another day, a decision confirmed by Rowntree’s decision to call Crowley ashore on 53 minutes to be replaced by Rory Scannell.

Northampton boast the best attack in the Gallagher Premiership in terms of tries scored, facilitated by also having the fastest ruck speed, meaning it was no surprise when Munster sought to negate their effectiveness by competing ferociously at the breakdown.

With ace poachers in Jack O'Donoghue, Peter O'Mahony and Tadhg Beirne adding to their breakdown woes, Northampton’s highly-rated scrum half Alex Mitchell had a nightmare and was constantly caught in possession. The frustration of the home side was heightened even further with an unedifying melee that saw O Donoghue and Saints captain Lewis Ludlum, two of the less guilty parties, being yellow carded by referee Nuchy.

If that call was dodgy, the French official's decision to brandish a yellow card to Craig Casey for an aerial tackle on Saints winger James Ramm, when he looked certain to score, was even more contentious. It could so easily have been a penalty try and a red card for the Munster scrum half.

After a decent opening half, the game descended into a total arm wrestle after the break. Such was the increased pressure the hosts were generating in attack, Munster spent vast periods on the back foot in their own 22. When the need was greatest O'Mahony and Beirne delivered two magnificent lineout steals when others would have concentrated their efforts on the ground so close to their line. That bravery in going for the big steal was rewarded to the full.

Despite all the pre-match hype surrounding the attacking potential of both sides, it was Munster’s unrelenting commitment in defence and refusal to have their try line breached that saw them home in the end.

Quite how they managed to keep Northampton tryless in the face of a constant second-half bombardment was quite amazing, especially when conceding 11 penalties and three yellow cards in that period alone.

Much of that was down to a complete failure of Northampton to recognise where the attacking space was and play in those areas. Munster squeezed the life out of a Saints team that ran out of ideas in the end and couldn’t cope with the visitor's refusal to yield.

This attritional affair may not have made for great viewing but you can be sure Rowntree and his coaching staff were bursting with pride on the flight home with the unrelenting commitment to the cause shown by his players.

Munster may not be serious contenders for Champions Cup honours just yet but with the improvement in attack, coupled with a stubbornness in defence and belligerence around the breakdown that would resonate with that famous Munster team of the noughties, they are developing a capacity to make life difficult for allcomers.