Munster 12-9 Northampton

Read Tadhg's Peavoy's matchtracker on the bruising encounter at Thomond Park.

Munster survived an intense examination from Northampton at Thomond Park to book a 12th successive quarter-final appearance and leave Saints sweating on Heineken Cup survival.

Four Ronan O'Gara penalties guided Munster to top spot in Pool One and a home quarter-final, but Northampton could still progress with them.

Their hopes of qualifying as one of two best runners-up hinge on what happens tomorrow in games between the Ospreys and Leicester and London Irish versus reigning European champions Leinster.

But Saints' losing bonus point ended the quarter-final ambitions of teams in other groups like Sale Sharks, Cardiff Blues and the Scarlets.

Munster though, have no need to take an interest in the mathematics.

Despite a second-half yellow card for their captain Paul O'Connell, and being outmuscled by a dominant Northampton scrum, fly-half O'Gara's accuracy proved crucial.

He eclipsed the combined goalkicking efforts of Saints marksmen Bruce Reihana, Shane Geraghty and Stephen Myler, who each landed one penalty.

Northampton had their moments, yet try-hungry backs like Chris Ashton and Ben Foden were largely stopped at source, engulfed by Munster's red defensive blanket.

Munster's man-of-the-match flanker Alan Quinlan tackled himself to a standstill, and such was the home side's immense collective effort that Northampton could find no way through even when O'Connell was off the pitch.

Scotland prop Euan Murray and England lock Courtney Lawes, named at blindside flanker, were the only changes for Northampton following their 34-0 drubbing of French champions Perpignan last weekend.

Munster boss Tony McGahan, meanwhile, had hoped to retain the side which accounted for Treviso in bonus point fashion six days ago, but an enforced late change meant wing Ian Dowling starting instead of Denis Hurley.

The initial exchanges were nervous and hurried from both teams, although Munster edged ahead through an O'Gara penalty inside three minutes.

But solid work by the Saints pack, particularly in the lineouts through Juandre Kruger, meant Munster were unable to settle as a tense opening quarter concluded with Northampton relishing the physical combat.

Their appetite was also evident at scrum-time, where Murray made life distinctly uncomfortable for Munster loosehead Wiaan du Preez, and Saints drew level nine minutes before half-time.
Reihana rifled over a 48-metre penalty that rewarded Saints' set-piece efforts, but the visitors were then pinned inside their own 22 with half-time looming.

A second O'Gara penalty restored Munster's lead, yet there remained plenty of hope for Northampton that they could emulate Leicester's achievement of three years ago and win a Heineken tie in Limerick.

Reihana missed a long-range penalty chance to tie the score four minutes after the restart, but Saints had another opportunity five minutes later, this time wasted by Geraghty.

Geraghty, demoted from senior England duty to the Saxons squad ahead of this season's RBS 6 Nations Championship, looked short on confidence, and his scuffed kick provided little in the way of a boost.

He managed to find his range after 53 minutes, but Munster quickly regained a three-point advantage when O'Gara completed a penalty hat-trick.

It proved the cue though, for Northampton to storm back upfield as skipper Dylan Hartley charged down Munster scrum-half Tomas O'Leary's attempted clearance.

And Munster panicked under pressure, with O'Connell punished by French referee Romain Poite for hands in the ruck as Northampton attempted to turn the scrummaging screw.

A sin-binned O'Connell could only look on amid escalating Saints pressure, yet Munster somehow kept their shape - even with their New Zealand wing Doug Howlett pressed into emergency back-row scrum duty.

O'Gara and Myler then exchanged penalties during the final 10 minutes, but Munster's superior experience in high-octane European encounters saw them through as the mist descended on Thomond Park.