Resurgent Munster getting energy from defence

ENERGISED: Munster defence coach Denis Leamy. Pic: INPHO/Ryan Byrne

Munster’s storied history in European cup rugby has often taken a memorable turn in the company of Saturday’s Heineken Champions Cup visitors to Thomond Park so it would be fitting if this latest brush with Northampton Saints were to mark another staging post in the current team’s development.

These two outfits have been locking horns on and off for 23 years now, dating back to both sides’ debuts in the Heineken Cup final, the 2000 decider at Twickenham that the English team edged 9-8 but Munster arguably took more from, their love affair with the competition and a quest to lift the trophy forged in the white heat of disappointment that late January day.