Jim Mallinder admits his team cannot afford another defeat in Heineken Cup - Rugby News
Jim Mallinder, the Director of Northampton Rugby, has admitted that his side is left with no other option other than winning all pool matches to qualify for the knockout stages of the ongoing Heineken Cup 2011-12, after receiving a surprise defeat at the
hands of Munster. Northampton fell short to Munster in their opening clash of the event by a close margin of 23-21, ina match played on November 12. Northampton was set to secure a historic win over Munster until Ronan O’Gara scored a three pointer in the
last minute of the match.
Northampton has been placed in Pool 1 along with Munster, Scarlets and Casters and is currently ranked third on the point’s tables. They will take on Scarlets in their next clash of tournament which is a must win game for them. Furthermore, they are left
with two more pool matches including this coming Friday’s fixture and a single defeat will put them out of contest.
Northampton played really well in their opening match but unfortunately conceded a last minute drop-goal that deprived them from a hard fought victory. Earlier, Chris Ashton James Downey and Ryan Lamb had done a tremendous job for their team.
On the other hand, Munster trailed in the match for the most of the time and ended up the clash in a great fashion.
Talking to the Skysports on November 15, Jim Mallinder said that, Northampton has got a good side and he is hopeful to bounce back in the tournament. He added that, “We know we're a good team and we know that we can go away to places like Thomond
Park and compete with the best teams in Europe. I think we proved that last season and again we proved that on Saturday.”
Meanwhile, Ben Morgan, the number eight player of Scarlets has also rated the forthcoming clash against Northampton very high as they are in good spirits after defeating the Casters in the first match. The number eight said that, “Castres were probably one
of the biggest packs we have faced, but we had the upper hand in the contact area and went in with that bullying mentality and dominated that area of the game.”
The second round of Heineken Cup will kick off on Friday November 18.
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