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Saracens will be targeting a maximum point haul from their Heineken Cup double-header against Zebre beginning at Stadio XXV Aprile on Saturday. - 06/12/2013 00:37
Saracens will have heeded the lessons from Munster’s dramatic late win at Sale last weekend as they go in search of their first European win at Thomond Park in Round 2 of the European Rugby Champions Cup.
Ian Keatley grew up watching the master of late drop-goals Ronan O’Gara kick Munster to countless victories and that showed last week against the Sharks. Munster looked out of it when they trailed 23-7 at the AJ Bell Stadium having narrowly avoided conceding a penalty try that would surely have spelt ‘game over’.
See some great images from past clashes here
Yet if there is a team that simply do not know when they are beaten it's the men from Thomond Park, European champions in 2006 and 2008, who return home with a precious away victory under their belt thanks to Keatley’s late kick.
These side have previously met five times in 20 years of European club competition, the first in the pool stages of the 1999/2000 tournament. Munster did the double that year, edged the 2008 semi-final 18-16 at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry and won the home pool clash in the 2012/2013.
They shared the spoils over the home and away legs that season with Saracens funally getting a win at the fifth attempt with a 19-13 victory. So, Saracens will be only too aware that winning a cup tie in Limerick remains one of the toughest tasks in European rugby.
Captain Alistair Hargreaves said: “Thomond Park is one of iconic venues in rugby so playing a European game there will be a special experience. It’s vital we go there to win but it’s also important, as a player, to enjoy the spectacle. These are the games that in years to come you look back on. We have a big emphasis at Saracens about enjoying our rugby and making memories. I’m sure this will be one of them.”
Saracens have been dealt a blow with the loss of inspirational hooker Schalk Brits to a knee injury during an impressive display against Clermont-Auvergne.
David Strettle and Chris Ashton both crossed twice in the 30-23 win to wrap up a bonus point that could prove crucial in the final analysis.
Match Facts
- Munster have won four of the five matches between the clubs in Europe and in those five games, Munster (112) have scored just four points more than Saracens (108).
- The last time the two clubs met was in Pool 1 of the Heineken Cup in 2012/13 – both games were won by the home side by a margin of six points.
- This fixture will be Munster's 140th game in Europe's top flight – they have won 98 of the previous 139.
- CJ Stander was the only player to make over 100 metres in last weekend's Champions Cup games (105).
- After the opening weekend of fixtures, Saracens are the only club to have two players at the top of the try scoring charts with David Strettle and Chris Ashton joined by five other players on two tries.
- Ian Keatley's 12 points against Sale Sharks saw him become Munster Rugby's second highest point scorer in Europe with 123.
- Saracens conceded their 100th try in Europe's top flight last weekend against Clermont, but have scored 164 themselves.
- Chris Ashton's two tries last weekend pushed him up to equal 6th in the all-time top try scorers for Europe's leading club tournament with 25.
- Munster's 27 points last weekend against Sale Sharks took them over the 3,500 point mark in the top flight (3,517).
Munster underlined their European pedigree as they ground out a hard-fought 14-3 victory over Saracens at Thomond Park. - 24/10/2014 22:00
Munster underlined their European pedigree as they ground out a hard-fought 14-3 victory over Saracens at Thomond Park.
The Pool 1 contest was evenly-contested until Saracens's replacement prop Rhys Gill was sin-binned for an illegal clear-out on Munster back-rower Peter O'Mahony.
While the Wales international was off David Kilcoyne scored the crucial try for Munster from a powerful rolling maul. Fly-half Ian Keatley added a drop goal, and two penalties for the hosts, with Owen Farrell kicking the visitors' only points.
Both sides had won their opening games and it was a predictably feisty opening quarter which ended scoreless despite making for absorbing viewing. It was Keatley, who had earlier struck the post, who struck the opening blow, landing a straightforward penalty after a purposeful forward drive from the Irish province had put Saracens on the back foot.
Farrell, making just his second start of the season, was also off the target first up before making amends when Richard Barrington had won a scrum penalty for the English side. Keatley should have given Munster a half-time lead but he failed to land a straightforward penalty attempt at the end of a brutally physical first-half.
There remained little to choose between the sides at the start of the second half, although Keatley did restore Munster's lead with his second successful penalty of the night. But the game turned decisively when Gill was sin-binned in the 51st minute after lifting O'Mahony onto his head at a ruck.
Munster piled the pressure on and they thought outstanding scrum-half Conor Murray had put wing Andrew Conway over in the corner, only for the video referee to decide he had been brought down short of the line.
It proved a brief respite for Saracens as a controlled rolling maul from the Irish province resulted in Kilcoyne burrowing his way over.
An error from Alex Goode, while fielding Keatley's kick to the corner, then gave Munster field position once again and, as you would expect from two-time European champions, the error was punished. The hosts went through phase after phase of possession before Keatley, the last-gasp hero at Sale last weekend, chipped over a drop goal as Munster went top of the group and denied the visitors a losing bonus point.
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