Hartley cool as Thomond loses fear for Saints

BEFORE Northampton Saints travelled to Thomond Park to play Munster in January Dylan Hartley, their captain, talked about the image he had in his mind of Paul O’Connell leading out a side of giants, breathing fire and using every trick in the book to win the game before the first whistle had even been blown.

Yet ahead of Saturday’s rematch, this time in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals, the England hooker’s demeanour has changed; the Munster myth, he feels, has been broken and Saints are heading to Limerick fully confident of claiming a spot in the last four.

“We know what to expect, and there’s no fear,” explains Hartley, whose side beat Munster 31-27 at Franklin’s Gardens before losing by just three points at Fortress Thomond in the pool stages. “Every one of the players is saying the same thing – we’ve been there, we know what Munster are about, and it’s not the unknown for us.

“The crowd aren’t just Munster’s 16th man, they are their 17th, 18th and 19th man, but Thomond Park is a place where you want to play. We’re confident and happy with the way we’ve been performing, and I think the occasion will bring out the best in every player.

“I think we are streetwise enough to win and what better motivation than a semi-final spot and taking a record like theirs, where they have lost one home European game in 15 years, away from them?”

Part of Hartley’s confidence comes from that fact that he knows Saints were close to joining Leicester in beating Munster at Thomond.

A series of scrums following O’Connell’s yellow card failed to yield a breakthrough for the visitors in January, and with the winning margin then just three points, the 24-year-old is well aware that if his side were more clinical, they could have won.

“We didn’t take our chances last time when we were camped on their line,” he adds.

“We have learnt from that, and hopefully this time we will make them pay the price. We need to be clear-headed in our decision-making.”

Yet Saints have extra pressure on them this weekend, being as they are the only Guinness Premiership side in the quarter-finals. Hartley even thinks that, for the sake of English rugby, local rivals Leicester will be cheering them on, although those cheers may stick in their throats if Jim Mallinder’s men go on to secure the treble. The LV Cup has already been secured, and with a top-two spot in the Premiership virtually assured, an astonishing end-of-season could be in store.

Just don’t expect Hartley to get too carried away.

“It is important for the Premiership that we go through, and it would be nice to know that England are behind us,” he explains.

“We are the underdogs, the new boys on the scene, so I think a few people out there will back us.

“As for winning everything, I’d love to be able to sit here at the end of the season and say winning the treble was amazing, but beating Munster is a big enough job and we can’t let ourselves think too far ahead.”