LONDON (AFP) - Saracens coach Alan Gaffney will renew acquaintance with his old club Munster in the European Cup semi-finals after his present outfit Saracens produced a remarkable display to beat the favourites Ospreys 19-10 here on Sunday.
Man of the match and 2003 World Cup winner Richard Hill, like Gaffney in his final season with the north London club, led by example as Saracens overcame the odds against an over confident Welsh side - leaving Cardiff to save Wales's honour later against Toulouse.
Saracens's march to their first European Cup semi-final was all the more impressive as only two weeks earlier they'd been thrashed 30-3 by the Ospreys in the last four of the Anglo-Welsh Cup at the Millennium Stadium.
But the 34-year-old blindside flanker Hill, who has battled his way back to senior rugby after two knee reconstruction operations, said: "We always had belief.
"We went out and proved that we had the belief, with an extraordinary defence and didn't allow them much time on the ball.
"This makes it all worthwhile."
For Ospreys captain Ryan Jones it was a marked contrast to a few weeks ago when he took the Six Nations Grand Slam with Wales.
"We came off second best," admitted Jones.
"We didn't generate any momentum.
"However, we were not complacent, absolutely not. Saracens simply played outstandingly well. We will learn from it."
The pivotal moment came in the 58th minute with Saracens leading 13-3, after they'd extended their half-time lead thanks to a try by Argentinian Francisco Leonelli, when Irish referee Alan Lewis yellow carded Lee Byrne for a deliberate knock-on and Glen Jackson converted the resultant penalty to make it 16-3.
The Welsh side, playing well below their best, fought back valiantly and got back into the match when Paul James broke the Saracens defence to touch down, James Hook converting to make it 16-10 with 10 minutes remaining.
However, the English outfit pulled away again when Jackson dropped a brilliant goal to make it 19-10 with just three minutes remaining.
The first-half had been a tight encounter with the two sides exchanging penalties, Saracens edging it 6-3 with James Hook giving the visitors the lead before Jackson slotted two penalties to give the hosts the advantage at the break.
Indeed Saracens could have gone in even further ahead had not Lewis denied veteran South African prop Cobus Visagie a try, and the video referee was to also deny Hugh Vyvyan a touch down early in the second-half.
They will now play Munster, the 2006 champions and now seven-times European Cup semi-finalists, at Coventry City football club's Ricoh Arena home ground in the English Midlands on the weekend of April 25-27, after the Irish giants beat Gloucester 16-3 on Saturday.
