Northampton’s Russian wing Artemyev on revenge mission
The Saints appeared to have earned a stunning victory in their Heineken Cup opener but were denied when O’Gara showed nerves of steel to win the match after a 41-phase move.
That set the tone for both sides’ European campaigns, with Munster having advanced into the last eight with a perfect record while Saints, who lost to Leinster in last season’s final, are scrambling to secure an Amlin Challenge Cup spot. To do so they will have to beat Tony McGahan’s men in Milton Keynes on Saturday — and Artemyev, a Russian winger who attended Blackrock College in Dublin and played for Ireland Schools, admits his side are still reeling from O’Gara’s moment of magic.
“Even now, it’s so difficult to take — you can’t help but think of what we should have done or wish we had done,” he said. “It’s so tough to lose in that fashion, but that’s Munster — you have to take your hat off to them. They have so much experience, especially in the forwards, and they know exactly what they’re doing — they have done it numerous times before and did it to us.
“Now we don’t have any chance of getting out of the Pool so we want to finish on a high and get into the Amlin Challenge Cup. The fact that it’s against Munster and will be in Milton Keynes in front of a really large crowd makes it even better.”
And having recovered their form to win five successive matches, Artemyev has warned Munster this is a very different Saints side to the team they beat at Thomond. “This is more like the Northampton we know,” he added. “We have had a good
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