Saints’ European reputation must be salvaged, Mallinder warns Munster
They have already avenged their losses to Castres and the Scarlets with a 29-17 victory on the weekend. Now they are aiming for a victory over Paul O’Connell’s men to salvage their European reputation.
Saints director of rugby Jim Mallinder said: “We said we were disappointed with the manner of how we lost to the Scarlets up at Franklin’s Gardens and we wanted to put that straight.
“We didn’t think we played that badly up there but we thought we gifted the Scarlets too many tries and that was one of the differences on Saturday, we kept it tighter.
“We have got one back on the Scarlets but we were more disappointed to lose to Munster out there when we thought we probably should have won the game.
“We are at Stadium:MK, it’s a packed house and we will be looking to get our own back. We need to show we are a good team that can compete with the best teams in Europe — that’s our incentive.”
The Welsh region had looked on course for victory, to keep up the pressure on Munster in Pool One, after leading 14-6 at half-time thanks to the boot of Rhys Priestland and a Vili Iongi try.
But the Saints produced a second-half comeback, sparked by a close-range effort from Sione Tonga’huia, to take the lead. And to rub salt into Scarlets’ wound, Ben Foden intercepted Rhodri Williams’ loose pass to race clear for a last minute try.
The match also marked the first occasion Irish referee Alain Rolland returned to Wales to officiate since sending Sam Warburton off in the World Cup semi-final. The former Ireland scrum-half was loudly booed as he ran onto the pitch but completed the encounter without major incident.
Scorers for Scarlets: Try: V Iongi. Pens: R Priest land (4) .
Scorers for Saints: Tries: S Tonga’uiha, B Foden. Cons: S Myler, R Lamb. Pens: S Myler (5).
SCARLETS: L Williams; G North, S Williams (G Maule 73) J Davies, V Iongi (S Jones 57); R Priestland, G Davies (R Williams 73) ; I Thomas (P John 57), M Rees (K Owens 57), D Manu (R Jones 73), L Reed, D Day (J Edwards 65)4, A Shingler, R McCusker (J Turnbull 73), B Morgan.
NORTHAMPTON SAINTS: B Foden; C Ashton, G Pisi, T May (S Armstrong 73), V Artemyev; S Myler (R Lamb 73) , M Roberts (L Dickson 57); S Tonga’uiha (A Waller 70), D Hartley (capt) (M Heywood 70), B Mujati (P Doran-Jones 57), S Manoa, M Sorenson (C Day 62), C Clark (B Nutle 73), P Dowson, R Wilson.
Referee: Alain Rolland.
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