Jack O'Donoghue's mum told him off after Munster last played Northampton - and he insists the Reds won't react this time if the game turns old school again.
O'Donoghue got involved in a second half scuffle when the sides met at Franklin's Gardens in December
While the back row's sin-binning seemed harsh, it was the first of three for the Reds in 15 minutes that left the visitors scrambling.
READ MORE: Jack O'Donoghue says Munster are ready to 'cop on' if Saints come on heavy
Yet Munster still prevailed 17-6 after a brave backs to the wall display ensured a scoreless second half.
And the 28-year-old insists that keeping their heads is crucial to the province's hopes of getting the victory they need to make the Champions Cup last 16.
"Yeah, look, my mum wasn't too happy with me, she said, 'Listen, cop on!'
"But it wasn't something I went out of my way to look for or anything like that.
"After that I just tried to get on with my job because I knew not to let my team-mates down, should something happen to me.
"Yeah, I was annoyed with myself that I got sin-binned because I put my team on the back foot for 10 minutes so I took that on the chin, but it's not something I would like to encourage in young lads going forward."
Having said that, O'Donoghue had felt compelled to stand his ground after Northampton captain Lewis Ludlam - who was yellow carded alongside the Waterford man - sparked the brawl by pinning down John Ryan, with Saints lock Dave Ribbans on board for support.
Bizarrely, inexperienced ref Pierre-Baptiste Nuchy - a late call-up due to illness - brandished the yellow card in the direction of Ludlam and O'Donoghue, who had come to Ryan's aid.
"At the end of the day it's who initiates it and look, that's up to the interpretation of referees," said the diplomatic O'Donoghue.
"But you never want to see two lads on top of one player, so it's something where you'll stand up for your team mates. But at the end of the day, you don't go looking to be dirty in any way."
Munster boss Graham Rowntree was pleased that his side held their nerve in the aftermath.
"That's something that we've worked on in the past," O'Donoghue stressed.
"I go back to Saracens over there and there was a scuffle like that and that's a big turning point in a game where you can either get sidetracked and go after the fella who started it or you can be like, 'right, what's my next job'.
"You have to be able to stay composed and to come back to the present. You can't let your head go to where it sometimes wants to go where that red mist comes over you.
"We did extremely well, we all got pulled into a huddle and took a deep breath, and we spoke about what the next job is.
"We got a lot of confidence from that game from our defence, to go down 13 men at some stage and to hold them out and not concede a try - they hadn't not scored a try in Franklin's Gardens in 50 weeks or something.
"That's quite impressive and the learnings we got from that in terms of our discipline, number one, and not giving teams access, not finding ourselves in those situations...it's a lot easier to defend a team when they're 50m out from your goal line than five."
With next week's tough trip to Toulouse to come, victory tomorrow afternoon would cement a strong turnaround after Munster's slow start to the season as new coaches and new ideas bedded in.
"It wasn't that we were making excuses but we weren't proud of what we were putting out on the weekend," reflected O'Donoghue.
"Whereas the last few weeks, going back to the start of this block and the South Africa game, there were some incredible performances that we're extremely proud of.
"We can carry them forward into these next two games and finish off the block on a positive note."
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