O’Connell wary as Saints thirsting for revenge

MUNSTER skipper Paul O’Connell isn’t fooled by the suggestion pride won’t be enough motivation for Northampton Saints.

Last year’s finalists are gunning for revenge following an opening day choker at Thomond Park when Ronan O’Gara’s injury-time drop goal secured a sensational 23-21 victory that sparked a tournament collapse by the Premiership side. The fact the Saints are only fighting for an Amlin Cup spot doesn’t ease O’Connell’s worries ahead of tomorrow’s game as he recalled Munster’s amazing 2003 victory over Gloucester.

“The year we beat Gloucester we didn’t think for an instant we’d qualify but we scored four tries and 27 points and qualified,” he said.

“We were playing for pride, so I think Northampton will be similar to us in that respect. They’ve a great tradition and pride in what they do. That was one of our biggest performances in the competition, thinking we’d have nothing to play for and I’m sure they’ll be thinking similarly. They won’t want to lose after the opening day close call, and I suppose it will be a test match in terms of intensity.”

However O’Connell felt Munster deserved to win their previous bout despite having to rely on O’Gara for the crucial score.

“You have to put the points on the board and we did. Maybe in the end there was a bit of luck with the amount of phases we went through and Rog’s long-range drop goal.

“But it was a good win for us and importantly set us on the road to where we are now. But it will be an incredibly tough game and a great one for the neutral,” he said.

In a week when Munster suffered more injury woe — Niall Ronan is for the season — O’Connell remained upbeat. “Injuries aren’t excuses, you have to have a squad that tolerates them and I think we have that now. It has been a difficult year, but we’ve always said it’s an opportunity for someone else and that’s what guys have been doing all year.

“Guys are gutted for Niall, but injuries happen and that’s why the staff have been preparing a squad, that’s why guys come through the academy.”

Munster’s biggest frustration in last week’s victory over Castres was a failure to take scoring chances and O’Connell admitted as much: “Maybe there’s a little over-enthusiasm when we create those half-chances but we are creating and that’s the important thing. We’re doing a lot of good stuff and there’s just a few things we need to happen but the confidence is there and the eagerness is there.

“We just want to keep winning games and that’s what we’ve done this year. We would love to have the icing on the cake because you’re going to need to be taking those opportunities later in the competition against better teams. You need to be taking points from those half-chances, whether it’s three or five or seven.”