Peter Burke
The scene was set for an epic showdown for the Investec European Championship Cup semi final, Leinster versus the English premiership leaders The Northampton Saints with the winner meeting either Toulouse or Harlequins in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on the 25th of May.
It took just under 4 hours for a record breaking 82,300 tickets to sell out in Croke Park making this fixture enter the annals of European Cup history, and the added spice of The Northampton Saints being the first English club side to play in Croke Park, it had all the elements to be a fabulous day of rugby.
The Saints seemed shell shocked for the first 40 minutes and It showed with unforced errors, knock-ons and Leinster dominated the breakdown and Nienaber defensive line proved vital as the Saints scrumhalf, Mitchell, was hampered and struggled to get any forward momentum for the Saints.
The ever present and ever dangerous Gibson-Park took full advantage of a quick tap and go and with a pass straight out of the future YouTube video of ‘The best passes ever by a scrumhalf’ found Lowe unopposed on the touch line to score in the corner.
We had just settled down after cheering for the first than 4 minutes later Gibson-Parks pass found Lowe again in the same spot to cross the whitewash again.
The Saints had nowhere to hide and mistake followed mistake, ill-discipline was creeping into the Saints and they just didn’t look comfortable. Ross Byrne gladly took the opportunity to punish them further with a three pointer to increase Leinsters lead to 15
Signs of some sort of a performance by the Saints came about by a brilliant turnover by Lawes as it looked like a certain scoring opportunity by Leinster but the old jackal master Lawes was having none of it.
This effort by Lawes seemed to have a much needed positive effect on Northampton and for the first time in the game started to look like their old selves and play like it to.
A try was on the card for them when some slick passing put Ramm into space but he fumbled and couldn’t hold onto the ball, chance gone, but an advantage was being played and Smith converted to give the visitors their first points on the board.
It was clock red for the first half but Leinster were on the attack closing in on the Saints line but a huge tackle from Sam Graham knocked the ball out of Josh van der Flier’s hands and the Saints escaped, so into the sheds and Leinster had a 12 point lead at 15-3.
The second half began as the first ended, Leinster out of the blocks quickly and it looked ominous for the Saints. Ryan Baird broke through the Saints line, and a few passes later and some patient play by Leinster saw Lowe go over for his hatrick, it would seem at this stage that it was game over, but like all good teams the Saints were not backing down.
Northampton decided to have a go but a decent attack was blunted by a Joe McCarthy rip and that ended that effort.
The Saints kept probing the angles and a clever kick from winger Hendy wasn’t dealt with by Larmour or Porter allowing the Saints winger score their first try. Game on.
From then on it was both sides trying to wear down the defenses but they both cancelled eachother out.
Ross Byrne had the opportunity to extend Leinsters lead but ultimately missed from the tee.
The Saints badly needed something, the bounce of the ball, a clean line break, just something and Tommy Freeman nearly got it. A clever kick got the winger in-behind the Leinster defence, but it was well dealt with by Gibson-Park.
A bit of magic from the Saints pack drew in the Leinster defence, but it took a lovely pass from Smith to send Seabrook over in the corner.
The clock was Northamptons enemy and a final chance to snatch the win. A well worked attack had them into Leinster’s 22, but Caelan Doris came through with a crucial turnover and that was that, Leinster march on into another European Cup final and await the outcome of Toulouse v Harlequins.
Final score Leinster 20-17 Northamton Saints.
Decent overview PB. We had plenty of opportunities and it was always going to be a tough ride. Perhaps a lack of team “Cohesion” having not played together recently….. I always rue the fact that we draw in from the Wings too often, leaving an overlap which today Saints capitalised on twice and we were very lucky…..
A win is a win but remember we left 7 points from missed conversions and penalty.
In fairness to Saints, they were outstanding in D and played the full 80 minutes. They’ll rue their own multiple unenforced 1st half handling errors.
They’ll focus on the Premiership and we are off to seek our 5th **”””
Cheers BJS
Not good for the heart. But we’re into another final and a chance for the fifth star 💙💪🏼