Ulster 16 Northampton 13
Northampton progressed to the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup despite suffering a 16-13 defeat to Ulster at Ravenhill tonight.
Ulster, champions in 1999, went into the game requiring to win by four clear tries to top the pool, might have pushed the Saints much closer had they made more use of the lion's share of possession they enjoyed in the first half.
They must now hope for a very unlikely victory for Cardiff away to Biarritz tomorrow in order to secure safe passage through to the quarter-finals.
A try by England star Ben Cohen early in the second half was enough to edge the 2000 champions through as Pool Six winners, despite finishing level on points with Ulster.
The Zurich Premiership side's superior try-count takes them through, while French champions Biarritz can now only hope for one of the two best placed runners-up places with a try-feast at home to Cardiff tomorrow.
Ulster began at a ferocious pace and their pack were able to prise opening from some effective mauling, with Andy Ward, Gary Longwell and Tony McWhirter prominent.
But strangely, given their desperate need for tries for their outside shot at qualifying for the quarter-finals, Humphreys close to kick two long-range penalties instead of going for attacking line-outs. To make matters worse, he missed both.
Ulster continued to dominate possession as they relentlessly turned the screw on the Saints' pack.
Something had to given and in the 22nd minute flanker Neil McMillan finally found the breakthrough, touching down under the posts after a sniping break from Neil Doak. Humphreys added the conversion.
Northampton, starved of possession, needed a foothold in the game and a mistake at an Ulster line-out allowed Matt Dawson to launch a series of raids which led to a penalty by Paul Grayson in the 26th minute.
Back came Ulster and if right wing James Topping had been able to hold a flat pass after some more thunderous driving play by his pack, they could have added a second try.
Ulster started the second period as they had done first.
But after Ryan Constable almost raced over from an intercept hack ahead, Northampton landed the killer blow.
Cohen showed tremendous pace and power to brush off the tackles of Sheldon Coulter and Bryn Cunningham on the narrow side to score in the 46th minute. Grayson added the conversion.
Cohen's try left Northampton knowing that they only needed to keep Ulster from scoring four tries to book a place in the last eight.
Ulster, to their credit, came storming back. Humphreys levelled the scores with a sweet drop-goal in the 51st minute and two minutes later the visitors were reduced to 14 men when Cohen was sent to the sin-bin for a professional foul.
Ulster continued to pressure but Humphreys was wide with two penalty efforts.
Then, on Cohen's return, Grayson edged the visitors in front again with his second penalty in the 68th minute.
Northampton were forced to play the final 10 minutes with 14 men when substitute prop Chris Budgen was yellow carded.
Fourteen became 13 when flanker Mark Soden was also sin-binned in the final minute for a high tackle on Humphreys in a bad-tempered finish.
Neil Doak knocked over the penalty to level the scores before Humphreys sealed the win with his second drop-goal deep into injury time.