Getting down to business

IT has all the makings of another Munster European thriller, this evening’s final Heineken Cup Pool 1 clash with Northampton Saints, but this is a time when drama should be the last thing Tony McGahan’s side could do with.

The mix is a potent one, with Northampton still wounded from that night at Thomond Park when Ronan O’Gara’s drop-kick after 41 phases committed a grievous act of floodlit robbery. It haunted the Saints for the next two rounds and sealed their European fate before the Christmas trees had gone up.

Back in business now, Jim Mallinder’s side are on a roll, storming back up the English Premiership and gunning for an Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-final spot that victory in front of a sold-out crowd at stadiumMK will secure.