14-man Munster hold off second-half Northampton fightback
Fourteen-man Munster hung on to claim a Heineken Champions Cup double over Northampton, with Gavin Coombes scoring two first-half tries to help set up a 27-23 win at Thomond Park. Munster were leading by 17 points when Jack O’Donoghue was sent off for a high tackle on David Ribbans in the 23rd minute, although Coombes’ second try of the game made it 24-0 at half-time.
O’Donoghue had also touched down at that stage for Munster, with Joey Carbery booting nine points, but Northampton awoke from their slumber after the interval and will be kicking themselves that they fell short of victory.
Fin Smith converted tries from Tommy Freeman and James Ramm and kicked three penalties, his last strike following Jack Crowley’s 75th-minute penalty which proved enough for Munster.
Mike Haley’s opening run allowed Carbery to kick the Irish province – 17-6 winners at cinch Stadium before Christmas – into a second-minute lead. Northampton’s early indiscipline then cost them again as the hosts quickly plundered a try. O’Donoghue sniped down the touchline from a lineout move and then, from another penalty, Niall Scannell’s inviting pass sent Coombes crashing over in the ninth minute.
Carbery converted and was then hit by a high tackle from Saints hooker Mikey Haywood, who first made contact with the fly-half’s chest. With 19 minutes on the clock, Haley flung a long pass wide to Coombes who stepped inside, sucked in two defenders and fed O’Donoghue to touch down. Carbery’s conversion made it 17-0 but the fast-starting hosts were soon down to 14 men.
O’Donoghue’s shoulder caught Ribbans in the head, with referee Tual Trainini reaching for his red card following a TMO review of the tackle. Instead of Saints seizing control, Munster dug in and from Scannell’s tapped penalty, a well-supported Coombes drove over to complete his brace.
A crooked Haywood throw blew a late Northampton chance at the end of the first half, following a Lewis Ludlam break, but their direct play on the resumption was duly rewarded. Smith and Matt Proctor worked the ball wide for winger Freeman to score in the 44th minute, the 20-year-old stand-off adding the conversion and a subsequent penalty to pull it back to 24-10.
The visitors chalked up another seven points before the hour mark, cutting loose from their own half with Rory Hutchinson launching a kick chase. The centre’s counter-ruck allowed Ramm to power his way over, with Smith converting.
Turnovers led to frustration for both teams, with Northampton also left to rue a neck roll on Antoine Frisch when a try looked very likely. Smith did punish Alex Kendellen for not rolling away, making it 24-20.
Replacement Crowley then cancelled out that kick and despite Smith’s best efforts, Saints ran out of time. Fittingly it was Coombes, the Heineken star of the match, who forced the clinching turnover from Lukhan Salakaia-Loto.
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
26 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
26 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
26 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
26 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
26 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments