Chunya Munga has said that Northampton Saints are focused on building on their performances week-on-week as they bring the PREM Rugby Cup pool stages to a close.
Saints produced one of their most complete displays of the campaign so far on Friday, as they ran in seven tries to defeat Newcastle Red Bulls 21-49 on their home turf – with Luke Green, Tom James, Charlie Ulcoq, Toby Thame (2), George Hendy and Ollie Sleightholme all getting their names onto the scoresheet.
Despite still having one round to play, that result sealed Northampton’s spot in the competition’s semi-finals, a feat they have not managed since 2023. And for second row Munga, that success is a testament to the squad’s growing performances throughout this Cup block.
“In this block, we look at it as an opportunity for players to improve and put their hand up for some of the big games to come later in the season,” said Munga, who captained Northampton at Kingston Park.
“This block is about us doing us so it’s a good performance but it’s what we've been building over the last six to eight weeks.
“We spoke during the week about trying to come up to Newcastle and imposing ourselves physically.
“It’s such a tough place to come, they’re building a big resurgence up here, there’s a lot of emotional energy and we knew coming here would be tough.”
Munga continued: “I’m really pleased with how the lads went because we knew it was going to be tough.
“I spoke about even towards the end, yes we conceded, which wasn’t how we wanted to go out, but I said to the lads that if we’re going to go out, we’re going to go out swinging.
“Two yellow cards showed we did everything we could to stop them scoring.
“Hopefully we can go on to good things in this competition.”
Saints coaches have rotated their squad throughout this Cup campaign, handing out six debuts in the last month of rugby while also providing other members of Northampton’s squad with some invaluable gametime.
And as one of this group’s more senior heads, Munga knows just how important the whole squad effort is as Saints progress through the second half of their season.
He said: “For us, it’s so important because as we move into the back end of the season, it’s the squad that does things for you and we want to be successful in all competitions.
“Coming away with a win always makes it better and as we look forward to next week against Saracens at home, it’s going to be another big challenge.”
That clash against Saracens marks Saints’ final match in Pool B, when the North London side make the trip to cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens on Saturday 28 February (kick-off: 3.50pm).
And while Munga and his team have already secured a semi-final spot, they will want to finish the pool stages on a high to carry their winning momentum into the knockouts the following weekend.
“We know what a game against Saracens is, no matter what competition we’re playing in,” added Munga. “So, them coming to the Gardens is going to be another one where we're going to have to start fast and be physical.
“In order for us to get the win, we’re going to have to kick into another gear from what we saw in Newcastle.
“We take every game as it comes but we want to kick on and do as well as we can.
“We have a chance now to play a big game next week and we want to be in more and more knockout games as the season goes on.”