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Leinster survive Saints fightback to reach final


The drive for five is still alive, but Leinster’s place in the Investec Champions Cup final went right down to the last breath.

On a day when James Lowe scored a hat-trick and Jamison Gibson-Park produced a performance for the ages, it was captain Caelan Doris who came up with the match-winning moment, his defensive turnover in the final 90 seconds giving Leinster a nervy 20-17 win over the Northampton Saints at a sold-out Croke Park.

This game looked all but over when Lowe cruised in for his third try just three minutes into the second half.

The Leinster wing was in prolific form, but all three trieswere inspired by those around him. Twice in the opening 15 minutes Gibson-Park’s remarkable rugby IQ laid on tries for Lowe, while his third came after a series of marvelous offloads by Tadhg Furlong, Jamie Osborne and Dan Sheehan.

Northampton’s only points by that stage came from the boot of Fin Smith, whose penalty in the dying stages of the first half had the scores at 20-3 with less than half an hour to play.

Leinster had three weeks to prepare for this game, but it was the Saints who looked battle-hardened, and grew better and better as the game wore on, with their array of exciting backs starting to find holes in what had been an aggressive and mean Leinster defence.

It helped their cause that Ross Byrne was struggling to find his radar. The out-half missed three of his five kicks at goal, the third coming just after Northampton had pegged things back to 20-10 through a George Hendy try.

His opposite number, Smith, was having no such trouble, and when he slotted a touchline conversion following Tom Seabrook’s try with seven minutes left to play, it left the game on a knife-edge.

In the end, Phil Dowson’s side just fell short, as Leinster held out for a nervy final few minutes to reach a third final in a row, where they will face either Toulouse or Harlequins.

The first seven minutes passed by without incident, and barely any rugby, in large part thanks to two knock-ons apiece which yielded four scrums.

When they did have the ball, Leinster were looking to go wide to Lowe, and after another venture down his wing, Gibson-Park’s delicate chip over the top led to another handling error, this time from George Hendy deep in his own 22.

Off the scrum, hard carries from Joe McCarthy and Tadhg Furlong brought Leinster in towards the posts, before a penalty arrived off Lawes who went off his feet. Gibson-Park was fast off the mark though, taking a quick-tap penalty and spraying the ball wide to Lowe, who ran inside two defenders to score the opening try of the game.

Byrne’s conversion made it 7-0 after 10 minutes, and the out-half’s defensive read provided the platform for their second try shortly after. On 13 minutes, he shot up in the line and intercepted a Smith pass in midfield, and while he was tackled on the 22, another penalty followed which Leinster sent into the corner.

Sheehan found Ryan Baird right at the tail of the lineout, as the maul moved towards the line. Doris was stopped just short of the whitewash, and as he popped the ball up after the tackle, Gibson-Park instinctively slapped it to his left, and right into the hands of Lowe who had the simplest of touchdowns. Byrne’s conversion struck the post, but the hosts were looking comfortable, 12-0 in front with a quarter of an hour played.

It took Northampton 25 minutes to force Leinster into any real defence, and even then it was well outside the 22. The hosts brought relentless linespeed; a double-tackle from Furlong and Sheehan, a dominant hit from Baird and snappy pressure from Gibson-Park led to an inevitable turnover, as Josh van der Flier got in over the ball at a breakdown to win a jackal penalty.

The penalty count was going against the Saints too, and when they conceded their fifth of the game off a scrum under the posts, Byrne called for the tee and nudged his side into a 15-0 advantage with 29 minutes played.

Northampton settled and started to control the ball a bit better, and came close to getting for a try just before the break when they finally got the ball to width, but the running pass to James Ramm was just behind the winger, who spilled forward.

The Saints had been playing with a penalty advantage at the time, when the ball was brought back to the edge of the 22, Smith decided the best option was to get his side on the board, tapping the ball between the posts to make it 15-3 at the interval.

Within three minutes of the restart, the lead was extended as Leinster and Lowe went in for their third try, a wondrous team score that was backed up by audacious rugby from three forwards

It started with a gorgeous out-the-back-door offload from Furlong, before a weaving run from Baird brought him from the wing, back infield and through a gap to the 22. Leinster moved to the right wing where the Northampton defence got back to cover, before coming back infield. An offload from Osborne kept the play alive, before Sheehan found Frawley with an equally deft flick, and he played in Lowe to finish off an incredible try. The only blemish was Byrne’s missed conversion, which kept things at 20-3.

The visitors needed some kind of inspiration, and the energetic Alex Mitchell tried to bring it, with his sniping break through the 22 getting the visitors within striking distance of the line, but a counter-ruck, led by Andrew Porter, saw the hosts force a penalty to relieve some pressure.

Five minutes later, the Leinster scrum came to the rescue under their own posts, and just as it looked like nothing was going to go Northampton’s way, they hit for their first try.

From a scrum penalty, Leinster lost control of the lineout as the Saints snaffled the loose ball. They moved wide to Hendy who was boxed in on the left wing, with little option but to chip over the top, and the bounce of the ball caught out Larmour and Porter, falling into the lap of Hendy who ran in to score.

Smith converted to leave just 10 between the teams at 20-10, and Croke Park started to feel some nerves on the hour mark when Byrne was off target with a penalty from 40 metres, his third miss from five attempts.

The game tightened up, with both sides peppering the 15 metre channels with contestable kicks looking to draw and error and a territorial gain.

Northampton’s kicking game was forcing errors, and when they harried Leinster into giving away a five-metre scrum on 42 minutes, they drew a penalty out of the hosts, which led to Seabrook running in unopposed in the corner.

Smith’s conversion from just off the left touchline was once again flawless, and suddenly, with just seven minutes to play, Leinster were left to protect a nervy 20-17 lead.

With just over two minutes left, 82,300 hearts were in mouths as Emmanual Iyogun stripped the ball to launch a Northampton counterattack down the right wing, as the Saints came close to pulling off one of the tournament’s greatest shocks.

But standing in their way was Doris, the Leinster captain saving his best to last as he came up with a priceless turnover, to seal his side’s place in the London final.

Leinster: Ciarán Frawley; Jordan Larmour, Robbie Henshaw, Jamie Osborne, James Lowe; Ross Byrne, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong; Ross Molony, Joe McCarthy; Ryan Baird, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris (capt).

Replacements: Rónan Kelleher, Cian Healy, Michael Ala’alatoa, Jason Jenkins, Jack Conan, Luke McGrath, Harry Byrne, Jimmy O’Brien.

Northampton Saints: George Furbank; James Ramm, Tommy Freeman, Fraser Dingwall, George Hendy; Fin Smith, Alex Mitchell; Alex Waller, Curtis Langdon, Trevor Davison; Alex Moon, Alex Coles; Courtney Lawes (capt), Sam Graham, Juarno Augustus.

Replacements: Sam Matavesi, Emmanuel Iyogun, Elliot Millar Mills, Temo Mayanavanua, Angus Scott-Young, Tom James, Tom Litchfield, Tom Seabrook.

Referee: Mathieu Raynal (FFR)




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