More than 11 years have passed since since the last time Northampton Saints visited Thomond Park, but Denis Leamy still remembers it vividly.
The province have played 192 games in Europe's premier competition across the last 27 years, and the 23-21 win against the Saints in 2011 ranks right up there with the most iconic.
Ronan O'Gara was the hero that night - as he often was - his dropgoal with the clock deep in the red sealing a famous comeback win, capping off a final passage of play in which Munster held the ball for 40 phases across six minutes, which felt like six hours.
Peter O'Mahony was man of the match on his Champions Cup debut, while Conor Murray was also appearing in the competition for the very first time, replaced by Tomás O'Leary by the time it got to the 40-phase stand.
But it wasn't the scrum-half who connected with O'Gara for one of the most famous dropgoals the competition has seen. It was Leamy.
And while those chaotic minutes may seem like a blur 11 years on, the Munster coach has an impressive recall of what he calls his "Hail Mary" pass.
"I just knew he'd be there, you play with a guy for 10 years, you've a fair idea where he's going to be," he says, as he looks back on that 2011 classic.
"With ROG, he didn't have to shout... I don't know where Tomás [O'Leary] was, he was probably doing my job.
"So, yeah, I flung out a 'Hail Mary' off my left, he just had to pop it over. I'd the hard job done for him."
The former back row laughs about how he "nearly had a conniption" on the sideline when the then Munster team manager Shaun Payne warned him to keep his discipline before he came on as a second half replacement, and was wound even tighter after an argument with O'Connell at a lineout a couple of minutes later.
He guesses that he carried the ball "about 10 times" during that period (it was actually 11), and nearly blew the comeback when he spilled the ball before regathering it just before it hit the deck.
"I could barely walk," he adds.
"How we controlled the ball for 40 phases I don't know, but there seemed to be that belief in that team.
"It was just play the moment in front of your face, get to where you're needed. Minding what I need to do now, 'do I need to hit a ruck or get on a ball?'.
"You look at the 40 phases, we ran out of shape and structure. There was no shape to us, we were all over the place but it was just about trying to eke out way up the pitch, finding a way to get O'Gara in front of the posts, that was the thing.
"We went back about three times, then forward, then back; we lost the ball, I think I actually dropped it at one stage and got a fingertip on it.
"You're one mistake away from it, you really are, but we kept control and the belief that you can get ROG in place was the great strength of that team.
"I used to work an awful lot on my passing for that sort of scenario, it was our culture. We needed forwards who were able to pass the ball.
"That was one example where we had to do it and thankfully I didn't mess it up."
"We get great energy from defending. Before I took the job and was in talks, someone in the group said that the boys love defending. I thought it was interesting, and that was always in the back of my mind over the last couple of months."
The Tipperary native spent his entire playing career with a Munster side who had that innate self belief when the game was in the fire, and now he's tasked with helping the current squad find that belief in themselves.
It's not something that can be discovered overnight, and this season has seen the province go on a journey of discovery, but the last eight weeks have provided more good days than bad. A Champions Cup defeat to Toulouse at Thomond Park put them on the back foot, while they lost a game they should have won against Leinster on St Stephen's Day.
They responded well a week later to win a game they probably should have lost against Ulster, before last Friday's victory versus the Lions brought them back to an even split of wins and defeats for the URC and Champions Cup this season.
"I think since the Bulls game, we've seen a lot of week-on-week improvement.
"We lost to Leinster, I'd like to think we were very close that night, and a bit of wizardry from Dan Sheehan on two tap penalties. We did an awful lot of things right that night. Northampton, Ulster, two very strong performances, so we're getting there.
"A big challenge again at the weekend, and we have to be right. A European Cup game, an English team coming to Thomond Park, hopefully we'll have a full house. We need all the fans to get out and get as many of them as we can, we really respect their support for us, and appreciate it."
December's meeting with Northampton at Franklin's Gardens showed the edge between the Premiership side and Munster hasn't blunted much in more than a decade since they last met, with Munster winning 17-6 and holding the Saints tryless, despite picking up three second half yellow cards.
And while he admits the province will have to be sharper in denying the English side the platform to attack this weekend, he's been hugely encouraged by their defence in recent weeks, which has seen them concede just four tries and 43 points across their last four games.
"We get great energy from defending. Before I took the job and was in talks, someone in the group said that the boys love defending. I thought it was interesting, and that was always in the back of my mind over the last couple of months.
"They do love defending, they get energised, they work really hard from that point of view. They get massive energy, against the Lions and against the Bulls, Northampton, when we shut out a really good attack, you get massive energy. We feed off it and hope we can bring it into other elements of our play.
"It's a massive part of our game, how we can rob a little bit from teams when they come at us, and take a bit off them, or demoralise them. That's the plan. It's growing, we're not perfect, we need to get better, but we're getting there."
Watch Munster v Northampton in the Champions Cup on Saturday from 2.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTE Player with live blog on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app. Listen to live commentary on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.
Listen to live commentary of La Rochelle v Ulster in the Champions Cup on Saturday from 5.30pm on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.
