No rest for Mallinder's men after Perpignan rout

The winners of that game will top Pool 1 and be guaranteed a place in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals and Saints coach Jim Mallinder said he was forced to make so many substitutions in the second half because of the five day turn around before the final Pool round.

"We were disappointed at only having five days between our last two games, especially as Munster got six. It was because of the short turn around time that we made some of the substitutions in the second half," explained Mallinder.

"We wrote to ERC to explain why we were unhappy at the decision and Premier Rugby backed us up. But now we have to get on with it and we will go to Munster on the back of 10 wins in a row.

"The team have shown over the last few games that they have massive belief in themselves and we are on a good run. We will be going to Thomond Park looking for a victory and we have the belief we can win there.

"We have a pack who are competitive and we showed that when we beat Munster in the first round. You can't afford to be intimidated going to a place like Thomond Park and you have to stand toe-to-toe with a side like Munster."

While a victory in Limerick will guarantee last season's Amlin Challenge Cup winners a quarter-final spot, their overtime bonus point try from Jon Clarke could yet prove enough to give them one of the two best runners-up positions if they fail to pick up anything in Ireland.

Yet it was a bonus point try that Malliner feared might not actually come.

"It was a twitchy final few minutes and we were wondering if the bonus point would come. The players knew the significance of it and that a win was good, but a bonus point victory would be even better," said Mallinder.

"We were disappointing in the first-half, but we certainly got on top of Perpignan after that. We got there in the end and now there is everything to play for in Limerick."