Munster take on Northampton for the third time in this season’s European Cup when the two sides come head to head on Saturday evening.

Having previously met in the pool stages, the series score currently stands at one a piece with both sides emerging victorious in their home games which might suggest that Munster, at 4/11 with Skybet, should take this deciding fixture.  The games were tight affairs with Northampton taking the first game 31-27 before Munster triumphed 12-9 in the final round of group matches.

The greater European experience of Munster’s players could well see them through this tie and Bet365 offer 2/1 for Munster not to be behind at any stage in the game.  One man in particular who may be key to this is Ronan O’Gara.  The fly half is in superb kicking form at the moment having been the only man to come out of the 6 Nations with a 100% kicking record.  He also landed 5 kicks out of 5 in last week’s league game against Leinster and has the handy knack of keeping the scoreboard ticking over when it counts.

In contrast to Munster’s experience, Northampton may offer a more youthful exuberance through the likes of Shane Geraghty and England new boys Chris Ashton and Ben Foden.  Performances of these players will be key if the visitors are to cause an upset at odds of 5/2 (William Hill).

Although they were consigned to defeat by Leinster at Thomond Park last week, Munster rarely lose two in a row at home and will be keen to bounce back in front of their passionate fans.  Their collective big match know-how should be enough to account for Northampton, and just as the English football sides floundered in Europe this week the last remaining English side in this competition could well go the same way.  A Munster to win by 6-10 points is 9/2 with Blue Square.