Champions Cup semi-final: Leinster 34 Northampton 37
Leinster’s magnificent obsession for that elusive fifth star remains unfulfilled. And so, long after the final whistle an elated contingent of Northampton fans had the ground to themselves and could be heard celebrating a famous win. It is they who will head to the final in Cardiff three weeks’ hence for the Champions Cup final, and not Leinster. Nor could Leinster have too many complaints really.
Leinster’s defence, which had been fairly watertight in their last two knock-out wins to reach this semi-final, was penetrated like a sieve and also outflanked by the brilliance of the Saints’ attack.
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In addition, the home side’s power game bore little fruit, as they failed to get much traction from their lineout maul and the collisions.
Whether or not there was a hint of complacency in Leinster’s performance is hard to tell but this was arguably more damaging than any of the last three final defeats. The post-match inquisitions will be unpleasant, not least the decision not to start the quarter-final Man of the Match Jordie Barrett, as he made a huge impact in the last half-hour off the bench, for this was a golden opportunity − and they also had chances to go for the draw and take the game into extra time.
As is the way of these things, after reaching this semi-final on the back of two handsome 80-minute shut-outs, Leinster’s defence was undone early on, by the eighth minute. Leinster’s first attempted lineout drive had been repelled before Sam Prendergast led a poor chase to his own kick. James Ramm countered infield from outside his own 22 and Fin Smith sped onto his pass with an outside-in line to break clear and, faced by a two-on-two, grubbered deftly for Freeman to run on, gather and score.
Smith converted, and there would be plenty more where that came from.
A sly, deliberate shoulder into the back of Prendergast by Henry Pollock led to the former opening Leinster’s account. Although two more lineout drives again gained little traction, Jamison Gibson-Park’s quick tap and pass to Prendergast from an indirect penalty saw the outhalf throw a wonderful left to right pass for Tommy O’Brien to finish, with Freeman too narrow.
Some entertaining end-to-end exchanges were typical of the first-half’s wild flow, as Prendergast nailed a penalty to the corner only for it to be picked off and Freeman to break up field through a thicket of defenders. This led to Smith kicking Northampton in front with a penalty against Prendergast for offside.
Gibson-Park sparked Leinster into life again with a clever blindside snipe to link with Hugo Keenan before James Lowe‘s quick tap led to another wondrous left to right pass to Max Deegan, who cleverly offloaded one-handed off the deck for Josh van der Flier to finish well.
Prendergast converted for a 15-10 lead but Leinster were never comfortable and Northampton responded with three tries and 17 unanswered points by the break.
Van der Flier had been the more eye-catching of the two Lions openside contenders on show, whereupon Pollock exploded into life, as he does, when speeding onto Alex Mitchell‘s short pass through a gap on the fringes between Tadhg Furlong and RG Snyman, who was too wide, and accelerated around Prendergast with ease. Smith converted.
There then followed a quickfire double whammy by Freeman. First Northampton manipulated the Leinster rush defence on the edge, Pollock pulling the ball back for Smith and quick hands releasing the winger for his second try.
Freeman then chased Mitchell‘s box kick to beat Keenan in the air, Juarno Augustus snaffling the loose ball and then manufacturing a basketball-type pass to release Freeman for his hat-trick.
It certainly stung the home team and crowd alike, and a strong Northampton defensive set closed out the first half for a 27-15 interval lead.
At least Northampton’s performance had managed to galvanise the home crowd of 42,207 into life, as did Lowe‘s brilliantly executed 50-22 with the outside of his left boot. Northampton drove too early at the lineout and after Dan Sheehan addressed the tap penalty only to step away, van der Flier stepped forward to hit Caelan Doris with a long pass, the Leinster captain crashing through Pollock’s tackle to score. Prendergast converted, and an equally thunderous roar greeted the immediate, 50th minute arrival of Jordie Barrett.
But Leinster failed to translate another 50-22, this time a left-footed effort from Doris, Andrew Porter being pinged for obstruction at the lineout. Another close-range lineout went abegging after a superb chip and catch by O’Brien.
Instead, a Smith penalty against Porter at the breakdown made it 30-22 before Ryan Baird replaced Doris and immediately won a penalty which was kicked to the corner. Sheehan hit Baird and van der Flier was at the heart of the drive to score, although Prendergast missed the conversion to leave it 30-27 to the Saints.
They increased that to a 10-point lead when again outflanking the Leinster defence, Alex Coles passing out the back and Fraser Dingwall flipping a pass for Ramm to score. Smith converted.
A huge break by O’Brien through the middle led to another clever tap penalty routine, Jack Conan stepping forward at the last to hit Gibson-Park on the switch and Keenan’s pass led to Lowe scoring a slick try in the corner, Prendergast converting from the touchline.
When Barrett released O’Brien off a turnover from deep and he was caught late by Augustus it led to a penalty, Leinster opting for the corner only for the attack to be repelled and, with Ross Byrne on, they also kept pushing for the try rather than an equalising drop goal.
In a thunderous finale, it looked like Byrne had dotted down a loose ball after van der Flier had been tackled short by Freeman. But the referee and officials adjudged the ball had been knocked on before it came off Coles’ knee.
He was binned for an illegal rip but one last tap penalty move came to nought when Conan carried into contact and the ball was turned over and Northampton could run the clock down to an extraordinary win.
Scoring sequence − 8 mins: Freeman try, Smith con 0-7; 14 mins: Prendergast pen 3-7; 18 mins: O’Brien try 8-7; 23 mins: Smith pen 8-10; 25 mins: van der Flier try, Prendergast con 15-10; 29 mins: Pollock try, Smith con 15-17; 36 mins: Freeman try 15-22; 38 mins: Freeman hat-trick 15-27; (half-time 15-27); 48 mins: Doris try, Prendergast con 22-27; 56 mins: Smith pen 22-30; 59 mins: van der Flier try 27-30; 63 mins: Ramm try, Smith con 27-37; 70 mins: Lowe try, Prendergast con 34-37.
Leinster: Hugo Keenan; Tommy O’Brien, Garry Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw, James Lowe; Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park; Cian Healy, Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong, Joe McCarthy, RG Snyman, Max Deegan, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris. Replacements: Andrew Porter for Healy (20 mins), Jack Conan for Deegan (44 mins), Jordie Barrett for Henshaw (50 mins), Rabah Slimani for Furlong (53 mins), Ryan Baird for Doris (57 mins), Ronan Kelleher for Sheehan (64 mins), Ross Byrne for Prendergast (77 mins), Prendergast for Ryan (79 mins).
Northampton: James Ramm; Tommy Freeman, Fraser Dingwall (capt), Rory Hutchinson, Tom Litchfield; Fin Smith, Alex Mitchell; Emmanuel Iyogun, Curtis Langdon, Trevor Davison, Temo Mayanavanua, Alex Coles, Josh Kemeny, Henry Pollock, Juarno Augustus. Replacements: Henry Walker for Litchfield (31-35 mins), Elliot Millar-Mills for Davison (48 mins), Tom West for Iyogun (61 mins), Tom James for Mitchell (64 mins), Tom Lockett for Mayanavanua (65 mins), Angus Scott-Young for Litchfield (68 mins). Sinbinned: Langdon (26-36 mins), Kemeny (68 mins), Coles (79 mins).
Referee: Pierre Brousset (Fra).
