'I could barely walk' - 40 phases, Munster belief, and Leamy's 'Hail Mary' pass

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.