Jim Mallinder banking on Northampton belief

Northampton boss Jim Mallinder insists the Saints will adopt a no-fear approach against Heineken Cup rivals Munster in Limerick on Friday night.

The winners are set for a quarter-final place, but the odds are stacked against Northampton.
Only one club - Saints' east midlands neighbours Leicester - have beaten Munster in a Heineken Cup clash at Thomond Park.

Northampton's 34-0 bonus point victory over Perpignan kept them firmly in Pool One contention, and Mallinder said: "We have a massive belief in ourselves as a squad.

"While this is going to be a huge challenge, we have beaten Munster already this season, and we go there without any fear."

England coaches John Wells, Jon Callard and Mike Ford witnessed a virtuoso performance by Saints full-back Ben Foden ahead of this season's RBS 6 Nations Championship.

Foden's attacking adventure set up his England squad colleague Chris Ashton's 16th try in 17 games, and signalled a second-half points blitz.
Northampton and Leicester look England's best quarter-final bets after London Irish blew a 12-point lead to lose 31-22 against Pool Six hosts the Scarlets.

The Exiles must now beat reigning European champions Leinster at Twickenham next Saturday, collect a bonus point and deny Brian O'Driscoll and company anything in defeat.

It is a tall order, although there could yet be a roundabout route into the last eight with two best runners-up spots available from the six qualifying pools.

The Scarlets followed up their Madejski Stadium victory over Irish three months ago by powering home through try doubles from centre Jonathan Davies and flanker Rob McCusker.

Irish, though, looked to have done enough when Tongan number eight Chris Hala'ufia posted a second-half try that complemented early touchdowns from wing Tom Homer and hooker David Paice.

"We are bitterly disappointed, but the good thing about this team is it likes uphill challenges," said Irish head coach Toby Booth.

"You live by the decisions you make. We had glorious opportunities to put that game to bed and didn't take them.

"Irrespective of the mathematics involved in the pools, any team that wants to be competitive in any competition has to bounce back from adversity.
"I have no problem getting this team up for big games. We have to prepare well for next weekend and try to heal some of the scars."

Toulouse, Heineken Cup winners in 1996, 2003 and 2005, booked a quarter-final spot one week inside the distance following a 33-21 success against Harlequins.

The result took Toulouse six points clear of Cardiff Blues and Sale Sharks in Pool Five - and left Quins coach John Kingston applauding their quality.

"They are such a difficult team to play against," said Kingston.

"We had looked at how we would kick to them all week, but in the end, we allowed them to get into broken field and some of their off-loading was fantastic.

"We could have lost by far more points than we did."