Munster aiming for clean sweep
Munster have already qualified for the Heineken Cup quarterfinals and will be looking to keep their unbeaten record in this year’s tournament and to finish with a clean sweep of wins in Pool One.
The Irish province, who won the tournament in 2006 and 2008, have a played five, won five record so far in the pool stages and will be looking to extend that when they face the Northampton Saints.
The Pro12 outfit have already won the pool but need to get something out of their clash against the Saints to guarantee they have a home draw in this season’s quarterfinals.
Munster are only one of two sides to have already qualified for the last eight of the tournament before the final weekend of the pool stages but face a resurgent Saints in Milton Keynes.
The Saints, who have won their last two games in the pool against Castres and the Scarlets, and will be looking for revenge against a Munster side which beat last season’s finalists at Thomond Park.
The English Premiership side, who won the Amlin Challenge Cup in 2009, are still in the hunt for a place in that tournament if they get a bonus point victory against Munster.
Northampton Saints: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Jamie Elliott, 13 George Pisi, 12 James Downey, 11 Vasily Artemyev, 10 Ryan Lamb, 9 Lee Dickson, 8 Roger Wilson, 7 Phil Dowson, 6 Calum Clark, 5 Mark Sorenson, 4 Samu Manoa, 3 Brian Mujati, 2 Dylan Hartley (captain), 1 Soane Tonga’uiha.
Replacements: 16 Brett Sharman, 17 Alex Waller, 18 Paul Doran Jones, 19 Christian Day, 20 Ben Nutley, 21 Martin Roberts, 22 Stephen Myler, 23 Scott Armstrong.
Munster: 15 Denis Hurley, 14 Johne Murphy, 13 Keith Earls, 12 Lifeimi Mafi, 11 Simon Zebo, 10 Ronan O’Gara, 9 Conor Murray, 8 James Coughlan, 7 Peter O’Mahony, 6 Donnacha Ryan, 5 Paul O’Connell (captain), 4 Donncha O’Callaghan, 3 BJ Botha, 2 Damien Varley, 1 Wian du Preez.
Replacements: 16 Denis Fogarty, 17 Marcus Horan, 18 Stephen Archer, 19 Mick O’Driscoll, 20 Dave O’Callaghan, 21 Tomas O’Leary, 22 Ian Keatley, 23 Danny Barnes.
Date: Saturday, January 20
Venue: stadiumMK, Milton Keynes
Kick-off: 18.00 GMT
Referee: Romain Poite (France)
