Myler pips Geraghty in battle to prove Saints' perfect 10

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If Northampton, the sole surviving English club in this season's Heineken Cup, were hoping to keep Munster guessing on the team selection front ahead of this weekend's sell-out quarter-final in Limerick, the coaches might have done well to explain the meaning of "omerta" to their players. According to more than one senior member of the side yesterday, Stephen Myler has won his personal duel with Shane Geraghty for ownership of the No 10 shirt on Saturday evening. Geraghty, it seems, will start the tie on the bench.

"I think Stephen controls a game really well, and it will be a good thing for us to bring on Shane, who has great flair and can turn a match on its head," said the captain, Dylan Hartley, letting an entire cattery of moggies out of the bag. As these words were spoken less than five minutes after a more neutral account of the situation from the head coach Dorian West – something along the lines of "whoever we choose will do a job for us" – there were plenty of raised eyebrows and knowing looks among Hartley's audience.

Geraghty, much the more adventurous of the two outside-halves, did not have the happiest of nights when the Midlanders lost narrowly to the same side at the same venue in January. Myler, meanwhile, is enjoying a hot streak, especially when it comes to landing the high-pressure penalties and drop goals that win tight contests. But it is only five months since Geraghty was a first-choice midfielder for England, and his fall from grace at club level will alarm him every bit as much as the one he has suffered internationally.

West indicated that two of his most potent forwards, Courtney Lawes and the increasingly impressive Phil Dowson, would be fit for selection, although neither played a full part in yesterday's training. The coach also predicted that the bad-tempered spat between Northampton and Saracens over the services of the in-form South Seas prop Soane Tonga'uiha would have no negative impact on the player. "It doesn't seem to have bothered him," West said. "Like most props, all he thinks about is scrummaging and his next meal."