Rugby videos of tackles, tries, funny incidents and more: Munster and Northampton battle it out

Monday, January 25, 2010

Munster and Northampton battle it out

Munster beat Northampton 12-9 on Friday as they booked themselves a place in the quarter finals of this seasons Heineken Cup. It’s a 12th successive quarter final appearance for the Irish side.

It was a game of penalties at Thomond Park as Ronan O’Gara eased the pressure for the home side with four penalties, while Bruce Reihana, Shane Geraghty, and Stephen Myler kicked a penalty each for the Saints.

"They were excellent tonight, the lads showed what it means for them to play for Munster, to dig in and find a way out like that," Munster coach Tony McGahan said after the tough encounter.

"It was a real battle out there this evening with every metre, every kick, everything meaning something. Northampton are an excellent side and a well coached piece, we had to fight for everything.

"We were under severe pressure at that stage in the second half. We kicked the ball out on the full. We had a few issues in the scrum and Paul O'Connell was off for 10 minutes.

"To dog it out and find a way out... We worked extremely hard on the floor. We got turnover ball, were lucky enough to get it down field and then get three points.

"We always had belief. We have said that many a time that we are always able to come back from any situation,” he said.

They’ve earned themselves a home quarter final as a result, ironically up against the same team once again, as Saints also qualified, thanks to their losing bonus point and the results of other matches.

Northampton advanced as one of the two best runners-up and are the only English Premiership side in the last eight.

Time: 05:00
Note: Better highlights will be posted later in the week if possible

tough match. boring score

By Leinster, at January 25, 2010 12:52 pm
The video doesn't give the intensity and tension in this game justice. Was great to watch.

By Anonymous, at January 25, 2010 12:56 pm
thought saints deserved to win this one much the better team in the 2nd half

By b foden, at January 25, 2010 1:05 pm
might sound bit odd but writing from america....who r the top 8 getting through tis year?

By Anonymous, at January 25, 2010 1:20 pm
Boring match.

By Anonymous, at January 25, 2010 1:41 pm
These highlights are terrible. Didn't show d scrum after O'Connell was sin-binned, most pivotal part of the match!! Also Howlett's chase and tackle which led to Munster's 4th penalty goal. Please post a better clip of this match. Also Romain Poite and the touch judges were absolutely shocking. Some awful decisions.

Tough match, Saints didn't take their chances. Quarter final will be close match

By MCB, at January 25, 2010 1:44 pm
The beautiful game

By Anonymous, at January 25, 2010 2:13 pm
very poor highlights. it was truly a "defences on top" match, but that doesnt mean to say the quarter final will be different, northampton realised munster have no scrum which wont be sorted out for the quarter, and their game plan which was simply to hack the ball back into our half and trust their defences, they pinned munster back and we had no lineout, all you have t do is look at hartleys lineouts, they are like bullets, very hard for defenses to get to terms with, very much like flannerys. you have to remember while munster were playing for a home quarter final, they already had a last 8 spot in the bag, it wasnt a do or die match that it was for northampton, id like also like to point out that munsters defence without o connell in those epic scrums was the highlight of the tournament, and i predict an all ireland final in stade de france, the thought of losing to leinster in a final of a heineken cup makes me feel ill at best, as it does im sure most munster fans, so 2010, COULD eclipse the grounbreaking season of 2009 for ireland.

By Paul Gormley, at January 25, 2010 2:30 pm
that wasnt a go at northampton, they totally outplayed us, but i mean they wont reach the semis, fact.

By Paul Gormley, at January 25, 2010 2:31 pm
Its pretty bloody soon to predict an all-Ireland Heineken final...sure, there's a six nations to play between now and then and you can't possibly predict who's going to be fit/injured/on form/out of form between now and them.

Clermont alone would have a huge issue with what you've said.

Congrats to Munster & Leinster though - great to see both through with home draws.

I thought the Munster-N'hampton match was a bloody good physical contest. Way to go Munster x factor - that tighthead scrum turnover was just ridiculous...but classic Munster.

By Eoghan, at January 25, 2010 2:45 pm
that paul gormely fella is spot on, an all ireland final is a very good chance of winning.. leinster by 30+ haha

By Anonymous, at January 25, 2010 2:50 pm
granted leinster have the toughest draws but they are more than capable of beating any team, but munster will win it, sorry dude

By Paul Gormley, at January 25, 2010 2:51 pm
I am seriously suprized that there was 5minutes worth of highlights from this match. I had to bare the whole 80minutes, bar a 2minute tea making assignment, not a single is worthy of my rugby archive, pity I just delete that memory just like a computer. On the plus side, the reply can only be better!:D

By Nicky07, at January 25, 2010 3:20 pm
O conell is a fukin cheat

By Anonymous, at January 25, 2010 3:45 pm
Haven't seen the match so I don't know the context of this penalty but when O'Connell is sin-binned, i'd rather have sent off Munster n°6 for being offside during at least 10 good seconds (from 3'30 to 3'40) and slapping a Saint once the ref whistles!

By Maximus, at January 25, 2010 3:54 pm
Even though I'm a Munster fan I'll always support Leinster when Munster aren't playing. But, I've got to admit, I was hoping Sexton would miss that drop and Munster'd get Irish instead of Saints. 1 Plus is that Munster won't be this bad again.

If Saints pick Gerrathy for 1/4 they have to go for it. He's not a percentage player. He's an incredible talent who should be told to play whats infront of him.

Agree about Hartley's darts, just like Flannery's (who played 80min for Shannon on Sat and needs to get back double time).

Leinster also messed up when not winning. The four French teams were drawn against each other until Malone scored that try.

On another point. The kick Gerrathy put out on the full was from his 10m line. The resulting scrum was set on the halfway, Munster won the pen at the scrum and O'Gara's pen dropped just short. Munster were on top at this stage and had O'Gara's pen been from the correct position its possible Munster could've had a bigger unsurmountable lead at half time.

To the Irish fans, this is the same ref for the Ire-It game in 2 weeks, yay!!!

Quarter finals look good though.

By Huh!! the 3rd, at January 25, 2010 5:32 pm
POC needs to shut up and just play. Good game, agree the highlights are poor, the Munster stand after POC was carded was the turning point of the game. Though I'm not sure that the scrums were properly referred, how Northhampton could dominate the scrums and then lose several in a row against 7 men is beyond me.

By Canadian Content, at January 25, 2010 6:01 pm
as a scot i would be interested to know if euan murray had good game or not?

overall very tough physical game, just the kind that sound boring but are actually anything but .

By Hooker_, at January 25, 2010 6:14 pm
agree with MCB,roman poite was awful.also he's the ref for the ireland-italy match next month,and he's definitely going to be tough on ireland,because he took a real dislking to paul o connell(although,in fairness,o connell was fairly irritating)

By Ireland for WC 2011, at January 25, 2010 6:29 pm
If Munster don't sort out their Scrum they won't get out of the quarters. Also it's time to start blooding young players NOW regardless of the results or else they're going to get a post WC Englisg team situation. The average age of Munster's forwards is 33, that's ridiculous.

By Anonymous, at January 25, 2010 7:21 pm
munster performed poorly but were still too strong for saints! d lads above are right about the turning point....after poc went off munster showed what they`re all about!

and foden was a massive let down! for a guy who is hyped up so much he was shocking....afraid to run at munster! just shows the poor poor standard of the premiership at the moment!

By Class Act, at January 25, 2010 7:38 pm
^Hooker: Murray was excellent. Dominated the front row, and looked to be enjoying the game.

That on the line scrum by Munster was something else, and was _the_ single biggest highlight of the match:
With O Connell in the bin, Quinlan was in at lock, Howlett in at 6 for the scrum, and they feckin turned it. Incredible. After being dominated completely in the scrum up to that point. Only Munster can do those kind of things.

A more expansive and less conservative game might suit Munster too: get De Villiers and Earls running lines, from fast lineout ball.

By mise, at January 25, 2010 7:58 pm
I pray the world of rugby reconsider ever leting Poite ever referee again. That was an absolute disgrace in the profession of refereeing. The ref didnt call no hands and thats what he sent O 'Connell off for.

If he policed the breakdown properly he would have sent of Hartley. Hartley had his hands on the ball at 4 consecutive rucks where he shouldnt have and all Poite did was give a penalty. Ludacris.

O'Connell was going after him when he came back on because it was an absolutly ridiculous call.

On a side note. Can the french be made look even bigger cheats and dirty players?

Henry cheats his way to the world cup.
Attoub gets 70 weeks
Dupuy gets 23
Ill eat my jersey if the Heineken cup semis werent rigged.
How 2 french teams get home draws with the cameras turned off and all officiates were french
And now this guy is gonna ref the IRE-ITA game???

God help us is all i can say

By Frontrowmaster, at January 25, 2010 9:21 pm
I think the reason that game was a mess was mostly due to Referee Poite allowing almost anything in rucks - neither team could get quick attacking ball. Poite is getting credit in some quarters for allowing the scrum to be contested, but he destroyed the game with this other decisions (or lack of). That is why O'Connell was moaning so much I think.

Poite also refereed London Irish vs Leinster in Dublin and that game was terrible too, no tries scored either. I don't think it's coincidence. I don't think he should referee outside France - his style may work there where they are used to it, but he seems to kill games everywhere else.

By Mike, at January 25, 2010 9:30 pm
i agree with pretty much everything huh the third said except, it was marcus who completed 80 mins for shannon on saturday, flannery only played the first half :D

on another sidenote, im hating the fact the press outside of ireland, the english in particular, are bemoaning about the amount of backchat o connell is giving to referees, when people like johnson and dallagio were so effective at doing the same thing! i remember munster vs wasps in 2004 in landsdowne when dallagio was in the refs ear all day long and it had an impact, consequently iv heard about o connell saying 2 years ago that its something "they" would look into, ie munster, and it looks like hes taking it upon himself to do it, and i know people might say, its irritating and im not biased when i say this, but every point he made to the ref was correct was it not? sin bin was a joke.

By Paul Gormley, at January 25, 2010 10:42 pm
The sin binning was strange because the referee was saying 'hands off' (at least, that is what Poite said he was saying), but O'Connell was on his feet and was perfectly entitled to go for the ball as far as I could see. Did anyone else see anything different?

By Gavin, at January 25, 2010 11:15 pm
Funny how some people moan about a referee who penalize irish teams into the rucks... is it forbidden?..
But ur right, an harmonization of referring is necessarly, maybe special h-cup rules

But i don't see the point with some usual anti-french comments.

Guillotine attoub, dupuy, or thierry henry (wtf..?) seem to be the national sport of some sour irish fans here. Furthermore, if u imagine that there is a plot to help french teams win this H-cup. I'd really advise some to re-watch the 1st round matches.

Munster vs Toulouse could be an interesting final

By Ben, at January 25, 2010 11:23 pm
French clubs helped by ERC..
Some people have a good sense of humor...

hm, were u serious?

By SF, at January 25, 2010 11:28 pm
Hi Ben - I'm not saying that it was a problem that Munster were penalised, I'm saying the problem was that NEITHER team was penalised, so that neither team got quick ball, so there were no tries. Did you see the Munster-Perpignan game in Thomond Park? There, Perpignan did the same thing as both Munster and Northampton in this recent game, but that time the referee gave penalties so Munster stopped slowing down the ball, but Perpignan continued. Munster were unable to score any tries because of Perpignan slowing the ball, but they won because they were awarded penalties.

Teams will always try to adapt the way they play to the referee, and if the referee allows hands in the ruck, then the teams HAVE to do it, or the other team will murder them.
So the lesson is - referee, please stop teams slowing down the ball illegally, so teams can attack and score tries! Otherwise we get Munster 12 Northampton 6, and Leinster 6 London Irish 9 zzzzzzzz :(

By Mike, at January 26, 2010 12:20 am
Having watched the entire game, it seems to me that O'Connell's sin-binning was purely personal from Poite, and as such disgraceful.

O'Connell had been asking him for explanations of penalties (which Poite wouldn't provide and is the job of a captain so he can relay to his team what the ref is seeing) and for Poite to give attention to the Saints scrummaging technique. He literally said something like "they're tight head is scrummaging on my head" and Poite didn't even acknowledge it. Disgraceful.

On a side note, Poite ref'ed the epic Munster-All Blacks game last November, and was awful then too.

By Luke, at January 26, 2010 12:42 am
Well said Mike (comment above mine)

By Luke, at January 26, 2010 12:43 am
I agree that the sin-binning was a bit harsh. I mean he called 'ruck', then said nothing for about ten seconds, then just gave O'Connell a yellow card. What the hell is that? He didn't say 'hands off' or anything, and O'Connell had his hands on the ball and was on his feet and so was entitled to play the ball. They need to get Joel Jutge out of retirement A.S.A.P.

By Kearney for tests, at January 26, 2010 1:05 am
ppl who think captains talk too much have had their minds corrupted by soccer.
They can't conceptualise a conversation on the pitch, as soccer dialog turns into 5 lads chasing the ref into the hoardings.

POC was entitled to say what he was saying, and the ref didn't get it.

By mise, at January 26, 2010 2:13 am
o connell never deserved to be sin binned,an absolutly stupid call by the ref and when o connell was entitled to ask what certain penalties were given for the ref refused to answer,thats just ridiculos.I was delighted to see a 7man scrum drive northampton off the ball after this.

By Anonymous, at January 26, 2010 9:14 am
The ref doesn't have to justify himself to O'Connell, he probably should, but he doesn't have to.
That was a terrible match though, jesus christ, who'd pay money for that?

By Anonymous, at January 26, 2010 12:33 pm
Turnover of the scrum when O'Connell got binned and Howlett went in flanker was epic, one of the best things that iv seen in the Heineken Cup, shear determination on their own 5m line.

By Westerner, at January 26, 2010 12:49 pm
Yes they won..sure...
Maybe a lot of intensity...but not really a beautiful match. More a boring type of game. The final score says it all. 21 points in 80 minutes for both sides.

let's reduce the number of points for a penalty. Maybe we'll see more offensive game

Geoff'

By Geoff', at January 26, 2010 1:47 pm
Geoff, if you reduce the points for a penalty, there will be more penalties and less attacking, because giving away a penalty hurts less. The law of unintended consequences!

If you reduced the points for a try to 4 again, guys would take less risks in illegally slowing down the ball because the risk/reward ratio has changed. Game theory and all that.

But you are right, the game wasn't a spectacle because there was no quick ball for either team (which is the referee's responsibility).

By Mike, at January 26, 2010 2:05 pm
SAINTS!!!!

By Anonymous, at January 26, 2010 5:12 pm
aha, thats good that murray had a good game, also ; i think that it is good that o'connell talks to the ref as he is the captain and that is his job! it maybe annoying but it is just because he wants to let his teamates know what they are doin wrong! AAARGH!!

i feel much better now lol

By Hooker_, at January 26, 2010 8:26 pm
Paul O'Connell is a whiny bitch.

That being said...

Come on Munster!!

By keogh, at January 27, 2010 4:24 am
Oh, and O'Gara had a pretty good match, eh?

I'm hoping he gets to start most of the 6N matches (though it's pretty clear Sexton is moving in...).

By keogh, at January 27, 2010 4:29 am