Saints lock Munga hoping it will be third time lucky in Premiership Rugby Cup

The lock has been speaking this week about the fact he has twice reached the final of England's domestic cup competition, only to end up on the losing side on both occasions.

Munga's London Irish lost to Worcester Warriors in 2022 before being beaten by Exeter Chiefs a year later.

And with Saints having won both of their pool matches so far this season, the 24-year-old is hoping his club can go all the way.

"The competition, I personally really enjoy it," said Munga ahead of Saturday's cup trip to Championship leaders Coventry (kick-off 3pm).

"I'm a double Prem Cup final loser, back-to-back years I lost it.

"Some people say this is the third competition but I do actually want to win this thing.

"Some of my mates who have gone to other places actually ended up winning it.

"I really do like the competition, not only because you play some rugby but because it gives the entire squad a chance to put their hand up.

"Coventry, we've spoken a bit about them this week, and we know they're going to be really excited to play us.

"They're top of the Championship, we obviously were Premiership champions last season and irrespective of who's on the field, if they beat Northampton Saints, it's going to be a really good win for them.

"On the flip side of that, we're going up to Cov with the mindset of 'we're going to face really good players'.

"We know they've got good physical players, and the forwards especially are really excited for the challenge."

Munga made 16 appearances, 10 of which were starts, last season after joining Saints in the summer of 2023.

He has already started six times in this campaign, helping the black, green and gold to make up for the loss of Alex Moon to French side Bayonne.

And Munga says not being able to play as much as he would have liked as Saints claimed Gallagher Premiership glory last time round really gave him extra motivation ahead of this campaign.

"This season starts with the back end of last season and seeing what everyone achieved but not necessarily being on the pitch at all times to do that," Munga said.

"The coaches were pretty honest with me as to why I wasn't playing and they told me the things I needed to be better at.

"Coming into pre-season, that gave me real motivation.

"Losing Courts (Courtney Lawes) and losing Moony gives you such a good chance to go and put your best foot forward. It's not to say there's not really good competition here, but it just opened doors.

"I'm just absolutely loving the start of this season. We've had some good, tough games and at home we've been pretty good.

"On the road, we've had Bath, Tigers and Bristol and I'm just loving it.

"We're rugby players, we want to play rugby and it's been enjoyable."

He added: "I've really enjoyed developing my own game within the system.

"Now I look back on it, it was probably a blessing in disguise with me having that period where I wasn't playing.

"It meant every week I had to turn up and just train really, really hard and try to be the player they wanted me to be within the system.

"When the opportunities of games came, it just meant I had that opportunity and being able to continue to develop is something these guys are really hot on.

"I'm really enjoying not worrying too much about what it has to look like, it's about 'are we getting better week on week?' and I find that really rewarding."

Such has been Munga's progress that not only is he a fixture in the starting line-up these days, but he was also recently given the chance to captain Saints in the Premiership Rugby Cup win against Leicester Tigers at cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens.

"Dows (Saints boss Phil Dowson) said to me 'we'd like you do start the game and we'd also like you to captain the side', and I was a bit taken aback because I didn't really think I'd get the opportunity to do that," Munga said.

"It was really good and being able to take charge of the group is recognition of some of the hard work you've been putting in.

"It was a real privilege and a good experience.

"I did the same things: game day minus one – same routine, game day I went for a walk, played a bit of Xbox, doing the same stuff.

"We have a lot of good quality players who are responsible for certain things so it makes your life easier.

"You put everything together and make sure everyone is on the same page.

"Being a second row, running the set piece, you're in conversation with refs and assistant referees anyway so it didn't change much about my game.

"But it was a cool opportunity, especially here at the Gardens."