Tom Seabrook scored a stunning hat-trick as Northampton Saints edged a thriller with Munster to clinch top spot in Pool 3 and a home tie in the Investec Champions Cup last 16.
On only his second consecutive Saints start in over a year, the winger scored the opening try out wide after some neat hands by the hosts.
In a game dominated by wingers with finishing prowess, Munster hit back through Calvin Nash, who sprinted past an unaware Alex Mitchell to claim Conor Murray’s box-kick for a fine try.
Nash doubled his tally moments later after Munster threw the ball through the hands and the wing was off his touchline to dive over, before Jack Crowley’s penalty stretched the visitors’ advantage.
Saints looked to wrestle back momentum before the interval and Munster had to succumb after Gavin Coombes was sent to the sin-bin, allowing Curtis Langdon the opportunity to dot down from the bottom of the rolling maul.
The hosts still trailed by three at the break, but Seabrook collected James Ramm’s excellent looping pass to cross for his second try.
Full-back Ramm then turned from provider to finisher as he burst through the Munster defence following Fin Smith’s clever tip pass to seal the bonus.
Munster were not done there, however, as winger Diarmuid Kilgallen latched on to a sublime no-look round-the-back pass by Murray to open his account for the Irish province.
With the game finely poised, Saints took command again when Seabrook wrapped up his treble after a first-phase attack from the line-out freed him on the inside.
But Munster retained their belief and Kilgallen doubled his tally down the other end, before Crowley’s superb conversion from out on the left dragged the visitors to within just two points.
In search of the victory to leapfrog Northampton in the table and seal home advantage in the last 16 and the quarter-final, should they progress, Munster poured forward in the tense finale and rolled through the phases following a Crowley break as Saints stood firm.
The hosts claimed a crucial turnover inside their own half through Henry Pollock’s efforts and there was a huge sigh of relief at a partisan Franklin’s Gardens as the ball was kicked dead to confirm a Saints success as pool winners.
