A night for Saints and winners

AN OCCASION that every player dreams of! Ben Foden may be on the brink of a long and distinguished career as the England full-back but the star of Northampton’s victory over Perpignan last Sunday has only one thought in his mind right now – to be a member of the Saints side that beats Munster in tonight’s crunch Heineken Cup Pool One decider at Thomond Park.

Foden, man-of-the-match in the 34-0 drubbing of Perpignan, has looked a class act all season. So, too, has the Northampton team as a whole and even though Munster enjoy both home ground advantage and a two-point cushion at the head of the group, everything points to a memorable contest between two in-form teams this evening.

If only because of the venue, Munster are favourites but Northampton have travelled on the back of 10 straight wins in all competitions and with their confidence sky high. They desperately want to be the second team (after Leicester) to lower Munster’s colours in the Heineken Cup at Thomond Park and they believe they have the capacity to just do that.

“We are going there to win,” stresses coach Jim Mallinder, a wise and cool individual who has been banging home the message all week: “Above all, we must not be intimidated.”

He stressed: “We had a massive game against Munster in October but we will need to play even better this time. Many of the players are familiar from their exploits for Munster, Ireland and the Lions. But when the whistle blows it is just 15 men against 15 and if we play to our potential and stick to our game plan, there is no reason we can’t win. The atmosphere in the squad has been very positive all week and there is plenty of belief that we can come home with the points.”

The Saints are clearly coming in a positive frame of mind and expect to have 3,000 supporters to cheer them on. But Munster have confronted similarly competent English teams in much the same situation in the past and not been found wanting. The fabled ‘16th man’ has a massive role to play tonight with Donncha O’Callaghan appealing to “make the make the place as intimidating as possible.”

His captain and second-row partner Paul O’Connell hopes Munster will also be inspired by the Thomond Park atmosphere. The defeat to Leicester three years ago has been mentioned with O’Connell expecting that the “fear factor” of it happening again will drive his men on.

“While it can be crippling, if you don’t have it, certainly when we don’t have it, we tend not to perform so it’s a question of finding a balance”, he says.

Tony McGahan has kept faith with the team that began last week’s game at Treviso with David Wallace fit to resume at number eight having shaken off a calf strain. As expected, Marcus Horan is included in the replacement panel ahead of French man Julien Brugnaut.

Northampton, however, have made a few interesting alterations in the pack. Scotland and Lions prop Euan Murray resumes at tight head having missed the first meeting of the sides. Furthermore, Mallinder has chosen 20-year-old, 6’ 7” Courtney Lawes – widely regarded as a major second-row force of the future – at number six.

While this will surely make the Saints an even more formidable force at scrum time and in the line-out – with Ignacio Fernandez-Lobbe and Juande Kruger also outstanding operators in this area – it may also leave them short of a bit of pace around the pitch. Phil Dowson moves to number seven instead of Neil Best with another Ulsterman, Roger Wilson, retaining the number eight jersey.

This is clearly a Northampton line-up of considerable talent combined with a strong sense of self belief after those ten successive wins. Munster won’t need reminding of how Shane Geraghty teased and tormented them at Franklin’s Gardens last October and how Foden has the ability to turn defence into attack in the twinkle of an eye.

But Munster have a few aces of their own in the back line and indeed each and every one has been looking increasingly sharp in recent weeks. At the end of the day, though, the forward battle, as is invariably the case, may well decide the outcome.

The near certainty is that this will be a very tight affair between two talented teams with a huge amount to play for. Accordingly, the French referee Roman Poite could play a massive part in the outcome with Munster only too well aware that he gave them a hard time in the game against the All Blacks in November 2008. All O’Connell would admit to when the subject was raised during the week was that “the players were confused on a few occasions” but in reality it stretched a bit beyond that. Munster’s ability to operate within Monsieur Poite’s interpretation of the breakdown law could be all important.