GRAHAM ROWNTREE DESCRIBED Munster’s first Champions Cup win of the season as ‘a massive’ result for the province after watching his team dig deep to beat Northampton Saints 17-6.

The province did all their scoring in the first half as they left Franklin’s Gardens with a hard-earned 17-6 win, Gavin Coombes crossing for two first-half tries before the province summoned a massive defensive shift in the second period.

“Huge, huge win for us and in the manner that we did it, we dug in there,” Rowntree said.

“Most of the second-half, we were on our own goal-line, three yellow cards.

I’m proud of them, really proud of them. Our defensive effort there was exceptional. The lads have done a lot of good work there with Denis Leamy. He has been great for us, he’s really grown into a very good coach.

“So, the nature of the win, we would have liked for it to have been more glamorous, scoring tries, but to dig in like that, that’s massive for us going forward.”

Munster’s defensive effort was all the more impressive considering they lost three players to yellow cards in a heated second half.

“It says a lot about the club and our desire to get off the floor and help the man next to you. That’s Munster DNA anyway. We speak about it a lot, we train it in the week but that was a proper test for us.”

Midway through the second half, a melee broke out involving all 30 players after Jack O’Donoghue had been pinned to the ground by two Northampton players. Surprisingly, referee Pierre-Baptiste Nuchy only showed two yellow cards following the incident, booking O’Donoghue and Northampton’s Lewis Ludlum.

“I didn’t (see it)” Rowntree replied when asked to give his take on the flashpoint.

“We will have a look at that this week on review and look at our actions there. I’m not going to get into it now. We need to look at things calmly after the event.”

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