Dowson reacts to Saints loss and confirms Courtney Lawes 'annoyed'

Northampton director of rugby Phil Dowson bemoaned his side’s inability to take their chances after a 17-6 defeat to Munster virtually extinguished any hopes they had of progressing to the Champions Cup knockout stages.

Following on from last week’s 46-12 defeat at reigning champions La Rochelle, Saints again finished pointless and it will require a remarkable turnaround in the reverse fixtures for them to qualify.

Munster are in a far healthier position with five points already on the board and the two-time European champions look set for a place in the next round.

Their number eight Gavin Coombes scored the only tries of a dour game with Joey Carbery converting both and adding a penalty, while Fin Smith kicked all of Northampton’s points.

Dowson said: “We did everything but score as we just couldn’t get the ball over the line despite having massive opportunities.

“We said at half-time that territory and pressure was massive and we certainly took that on board in the second half.

“Last week we lacked accuracy and physicality but we certainly had physicality this week although we gave away too many penalties in the first half, which they were able to convert.

“We have Christmas off and that’s a rarity but it’s an ideal opportunity for us to refresh and fill up our batteries as we have been under pressure for the past few weeks.

“Courtney (Lawes) missed the game today and he’s annoyed and frustrated as he picked up a little glute problem which is not serious.”

Munster director of rugby Graham Rowntree said: “There was a lot riding on this game and it’s a huge win for us and the manner in which we achieved it.

“We picked up three yellow cards and we had to dig in but our defensive effort was exceptional with players getting up off the floor to help the man next to them.

“We can’t have players in the sin-bin like that so we will need to review that.

“We’d like to have been more glamorous but it’s a massive win for us going forward.”

Munster looked firmly in the driving seat when they led 17-6 at half-time, but it was one-way traffic in Saints’ favour in a scoreless second half.

Rowntree added: “Despite leading at half-time, we were never in control and we stressed that at the interval but I didn’t expect the second half to be played constantly on our line.

“We could have done with one more try before the interval but our try just before the interval was crucial.”