Interim Munster boss Ian Costello has explained how the Irish province came from 3-9 behind to defeat Saracens 17-12 and all but guarantee themselves a place in the Investec Champions Cup round of 16.
The Gallagher Premiership visitors had the better of Saturday’s first half in Limerick, leading 3-6 at the break and then moving six points clear six minutes into the second half when Elliot Daly landed a penalty kick from near the halfway line.
However, rather than kicking on from there to take what would have been their first ever Thomond Park win, Mark McCall’s Londoners were overcome by two converted Munster tries in a four-minute spell around the hour mark and needed Alex Lozowski to kick his third penalty of the night to secure a losing bonus point.
Whereas Saracens are placed third in the Premiership with six wins from 10 matches, Munster are 11th in the URC with just four wins in nine games and they came into their round three Champions Cup tie surrounded by some gloomy outside noise following their Christmas period home league loss to Leinster.
However, despite trailing Saracens for an hour in Limerick, they held their nerve to help create a bottle neck at the top of Pool Three ahead of next weekend’s final fixtures.
Northampton, who were beaten at Stade Francais, have 11 points, Munster and Saracens are next on 10 points with Castres checking in on nine ahead of a denouement where Munster visit Saints and Sarries host Castres.
It makes for an intriguing photo finish, a situation that Costello believed Munster would be involved in despite being behind to Saracens for such a lengthy chunk of an arm wrestle contest.
“We stayed really true to what we said we would do,” he enthused when the dust settled and the Munster fans in the 22,030 attendance had headed away smiling. “At times we have gone away from that at key moments under pressure.
“We went 6-0 down and were disappointed with the two penalties but lads stayed really calm. I thought we were unlucky first half not to score from a maul; we felt we deserved that but we came in 6-3 down and everyone was really calm at half-time.
“We focused on two things, outworking them and having to win the physical battle and we set ourselves up to do that. Everything we did for the last 10 days was about that challenge and we made sure the lads were incredibly fresh and huge energy from the bench to really finish strong. That paid off tonight…
“In key moments we could feel the team were really in control and really calm and decisive in what we were trying to do. Especially when we made a few mistakes early.
“Aerially I thought we were beaten tonight, which was really unlike us, and we fumbled a few balls in the back field when they kicked along the ground. They have an outstanding kicking game but we stayed calm, stayed on plan and on task.”
A real feather was winning the try count 2-0. “They [Saracens] are a very difficult side to break down and they play the type of game where you don’t get a lot of opportunities because they kick so well and they have a strong set-piece, so if they went beyond (a lead of) seven it would have been difficult and I thought that was key.
“At 6-0 and 9-3 we had a couple of massive defensive sets and we didn’t concede a try tonight and it probably only once looked like them scoring which is very pleasing, so half-time we took a lot of reassurance in that.
“Everything was about freshness, so we set ourselves up the last 10 days for the type of battle that it really was and that probably came through in the end.”
