Back in January Munster were stunned when on a rainy night in Thomond Park a 14-man Northampton Saints won 26-23 thanks to a late Sam Graham try.
That night Northampton joined an exclusive list of six sides to beat Munster at Thomond in Europe since the competition began in 1995. It was a statement of intent from the Saints who have been high-flying in the English Premiership this season, sitting atop of the table after 14 rounds.
They now have a chance to beat Munster again this weekend in the first knockout round of the Champions Cup this Sunday, but this time back home at Franklin Gardens. It's one of an number of rematches from the pool stage and Munster will be looking for revenge for that defeat in January.
Northampton Star Believes Munster's Hunger Will Be No Match To The Saints'
Speaking ahead of the round of 16 tie Northampton scrum-half Tom James spoke about the victory in Thomond and how special winning that night was to the squad.
Given the history and tradition they have in this competition… to go over there and not only to do it but to do it in the circumstances, you know, pretty horrible conditions and the fact we went down to 14 men and still managed to win, it was pretty special,
James talked about the likelihood of Munster using their previous meeting as motivation. The prospect of a more fired up Munster didn't phase James and he put doubt to the idea that Munster would be more motivated than the Saints.
We spoke about it today, they’re going to be hurting and they’re going to come out firing with heaps of energy and intensity because of that loss at Thomond Park but nothing really changes for us.
We said, there’s no chance that these guys are going to be more desperate to win than we are. We’ve got so much to go out and prove and it’s a big focus on us this week.
We know they’re going to come out firing because they’re hurt but it’s our job to bring that energy and intensity to match, if not better.
Ahead of the match Simon Lewis of the Irish Examiner reported that if Munster reach the semi-finals of the Champions Cup and host the tie it will be played at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Munster have played there on two previous occasions, most recently a 21-19 victory over Super Rugby Pacific champions Crusaders.
With the way the seedings have worked out for the Champions Cup Munster will only host a semi-final if they are ranked higher than their opposition and the two teams they can face in that scenario are Leicester Tigers, who face Leinster this Saturday and more intriguingly La Rochelle. If the back-to-back champions win away in South Africa this weekend and then beat the winner of Leinster-Leicester we could see the return of Ronan O'Gara to Cork for a European semi-final.
There is still a long way to go however and Munster have to beat the hot firing Saints this Sunday.
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