Northampton are going to Cardiff. Bordeaux-Begles and reigning champions Toulouse meet tomorrow to decide who is going to join the English club. For Leinster it is back to the URC, try to put aside the crushing disappointment and find a way to use it as a motivation to win some silverware. That won’t be easy. Thank you for your company.
The Ross Byrne disallowed try.
Law 13.3: A player on the ground in the field of play, without the ball is out of the game and must:
Allow opponents who are not on the ground to play or gain possession of the ball. Saction: Penalty.
b. Not play the game. Sanction: Penalty.
c. Not tackle or attempt to tackle an opponents. Sanction: Penalty
[ Gerry Thornley says that Leinster undone by Saints attack prowessOpens in new window ]
The Ross Byrne disallowed try.
Law 13.3: A player on the ground in the field of play, without the ball is out of the game and must:
Allow opponents who are not on the ground to play or gain possession of the ball. Saction: Penalty.
b. Not play the game. Sanction: Penalty.
c. Not tackle or attempt to tackle an opponents. Sanction: Penalty.
It won’t be a consolation for him given that he is very much a team player but a word on Tommy O’Brien’s performance. He was outstanding in everything he did and produced an all-round display that thoroughly vindicated his selection. The try was the cherry on top.
[ Johnny Watterson hands out the marks for Leinster Opens in new window ]
Tommy Freeman: “We probably came in as the underdogs but the fight we showed, the squad we’ve got, we know we can do this performance. We know if we can get our game on the pitch we can take anyone on. They said Leinster by 30 but here we are.
“When we put our game on the pitch, things start to happen, we stretch defences. Down to 13 (players) we’ve got to show heart, we’ve got to show love for each other, and I thought we did that for 80 minutes and we got the result.”
Just to go back to the TMO review at the end of the game. When Ross Byrne touches the ball down after it goes lose, he is lying on the ground and hasn’t got to his feet. Having checked with a former referee, he is not entitled to play the ball unless he gets to his feet. Referee Pierre Brousset doesn’t disallow the try for that reason but in a roundabout way justice was served in not awarding the try.
Obviously there will be lots of chat about not starting Jordie Barrett and whether that was IRFU enforced or otherwise but it’s not just hindsight that suggests it was a curious decision unless there was an edict from on high.
Saints deserve all the plaudits after a performance of that ilk underpinned by a remarkable self belief, aggression, intensity and togetherness in defence, superb work in defending the Leinster maul and the the Saints’ were masterful at the breakdown. They were lethal in attack, worked the space and finished ruthlessly.
Leinster. Well where do you start.
Here’s Leinster head coach Leo Cullen: “It’s bitterly disappointing. I thought Northampton Saints were exceptional. They were just hungry, they chased hard. We had some chances that we didn’t quite execute at various stages. We were a little bit too anxious in chasing the game. We lose a bit of that accuracy that we would normally would have. Unfortunately we weren’t good enough on the day.” Cullen used the expression that it will “haunt us.”
He continued: “When you get those moments you need that composure and killer instinct, we didn’t have it.
So Saints get revenge for 2011 when Leinster beat them in the final. That’s four finals defeats, two semi-finals and a quarter-final since they last won the Champions Cup in 2018.
Alex Mitchell (Saints scrumhalf): “We showed up today, fearless. The first 20-minutes we punched them in the face (so to speak). We play with so much confidence because that is what the coaches give us.”
What a game. First, massive credit to the Saints. That was a superb attacking performance, chapeau tip to backs’ coach Sam Vesty. The fought and scrapped when it looked like Leinster would pick their pockets at the very end following a TMO review.
The chat for Leinster will be not taking the points with two late penalties and instead opted for tap penalties. The outcome informs the decision-making process. Leinster will have to unpack so much. A poor first half display that permeated all aspects of the their patterns, a lack of composure, accuracy at times and too often caught static in possession or embarking on solo runs. They panicked at times. But Northampton brought that pressure in spades, their maul defence was outstanding, their work on the counter-attack sublime. Tommy Freeman chipped in with three tries and won the match of the match award but it could just as easily have gone to the brilliant Pollock or Josh Kemeny.
Man of the match Tommy Freeman: “It was a bit surreal, two of them were walk-ins.” 15 tries in his last nine games.
Fraser Dingwall (capt): We turned up today wanting to be aggressors and inflict our game and we did that today. We’re buzzing.
Caelan Doris (Leinster captain): Gutted, don’t know what to say. Credit to Saints. We weren’t good enough. We weren’t accurate enough with our stuff. Credit to them they stuck in it and it went down to the wire. There’s plenty to unpack in that game. It’s gutting."
NORTHAMPTON WIN.
Northampton Saints 37 Leinster 34
Right after TMO review. Leinster are awarded a penalty. Saints secondrow Coles gets a yellow card. Leinster tap the penalty five metres from the Saints’ line. Northampton turn it over.
TMO REVIEW. NO TRY RULING FOR LEINSTER. BUT BUT BUT
76 mins: Pollock with a brilliant turnover eight metres from his line. Saints, a man down clear their lines. Stunning defence. Leinster back on the attack after Baird breaks down the touchline. Deep inside the Saints 22. Wave after wave of attacks from Leinster, tackle after tackle from Northampton.
75 mins: O’Brien hit marginally late by Augustus and the Saints number eight is pinged. Prendergast punts to the corner rather than at the posts. This is the game, Snyman takes the throw. TURNOVER Northampton.
71 mins: Lowe scored three tries in last year’s semi-final and his latest one brings it back to a one-score match. The wing is then put under huge pressure with a high ball that he can’t collect under pressure. Saints have a scrum on the Leinster 22.
Leinster 34 Saints 37
YELLOW CARD: Kemeny. Saints will be a man down for all but the last two minutes of the game. Brilliant run from O’Brien cuts open the Saints defence, links with Lowe who steps inside. Leinster recalibrate inside the Saints 22 and launch a wave of attacks. Visitors penalised at a ruck. Leinster opt for a tap penalty, Kelleher to Conan, switch back, Keenan gives Lowe a try scoring pass.
69 mins: TRY LOWE. Prendergast kicks a brilliant touchline conversion.
Leinster 34 Saints 37
65 mins: Leinster concede a scrum penalty. Stepping around. Porter penalised. Saints penalised for a dummy throw at the lineout. Leinster counter-attack and Lowe kicks out on the full. It’s been that kind of day.
Kemeny, who’s been brilliant, is in trouble. High hit on Slimani. Only discussion is card colour. Brousset goes with a yellow. Says first contact on the chest.
64 mins: Tom James is on for Mitchell (blood), Tom Lockett for Mayanavanua.
62 mins: TRY RAMM. Brilliant try. Saints win gain-line after gain-line and eventually the visitors force the opening finished by the fullback. Lovely flick pass by Dingwall. That’s Northampton’s fifth try. Leinster conceded just seven in the whole tournament to date. Smith converts.
Leinster 27 Saints 37
59 mins: TRY VAN DER FLIER (his second of the game). Ryan Baird with a penalty turnover at a ruck, Leinster kick to the corner, the maul is well constructed and van der Flier gets a second try. Prendergast misses the conversion.
Leinster 27 Saints 30
53 mins: Rabah Slimani is on for Furlong. A bit of kick tennis and then Porter is penalised for putting his hands on the ground ahead of trying to poach.
55 mins: PENALTY. Smith makes no mistake. Baird for Doris (HIA)
Leinster 22 Saints 30
51 mins: O’Brien is having the game of his life. A brilliant chip and chase and tackle all of which leads to a Leinster penalty.
Leinster 22 Saints 27
49 mins: Doris with a brilliant turnover and kick that wins a 50/22 but then Furlong is penalised for blocking in the subsequent lineout. Jordie Barrett is on for Henshaw.
Leinster 22 Saints 27
46 mins: TRY DORIS. Leinster opt for a tap penalty and Doris takes responsibility and with help from a few friends, Furlong, Porter and McCarthy he is driven over. Prendergast adds the conversion. Elliot Millar Mills is on for Davison.
Leinster 22 Saints 27
43 mins: Great tackle and turnover from O’Brien but the move peters out when Doris knocks on. Prendergast then gets a handling error. Jack Conan on for Deegan. Lowe a superb kick on the run. 50/22. Leinster go wide, it’s not slick but play is called back for a Leinster penalty.
We’re underway. Big 40 for Leinster and right from the off they make a mistake. Lowe late on to a throw over the top at a lineout and knocks on. Saints scrum. No changes at half-time for the home side. Doubled down on the starting team, minus the one first half change with Porter replacing Healy.
Leinster going to have to make wholesale changes one feels at the interval. There’s subtlety in what they have been doing with the ball, no footwork, static on the line and doing things in ones.
Saints are full value for that lead based on their work in attack. Tommy Freeman with a hat-trick, the outstanding Pollock with the other. Leinster’s defence has had a real off colour 40-minutes though and some of the line-breaks were very soft, compounded by missed tackles. It should also be pointed out that the Saints were a man down for 10-minutes when Curtis Langdon received a yellow card. Northampton have been so focused and played some cracking rugby.
Leinster, well missed tackles (several basic), free-kicks at scrum, some slow re-alignment and poor co-ordination in the fringe ruck defence has been so costly for the hoe side. They’ve been caught ball watching at times. Tries for O’Brien and van der Flier have given a shell-shocked home side a chance in the second half but their performance levels are going to have to go up by 50 or 60 percent, individually and collectively.
Pollock, who else, wins a penalty inside his own 22. And that’s half-time. Saints have been lethal in attack, Leinster ripped to shreds and have a 12-point mountain to climb in the second half. In the 2011 final it was 16 at the interval.
Half-time: Leinster 15 Northampton 27
38 mins: TRY FREEMAN. A hat-trick for the Saints right wing. Prendergast and Ringrose miss tackles, Augustus with a brilliant offload and Freeman has the wheels to make the line despite O’Brien and Lowe getting back to him. Smith misses the conversion but the Saints are set fair coming up to the interval.
Leinster 15 Saints 27
35 mins: TRY FREEMAN. Leinster again penalised at a scrum, another free-kick for an early engage. The home side are a man up and were when the Saints grabbed their second try. It’s been very patchy from the home side. Northampton are value for their lead on the basis of making something out of nothing per se. Right on cue the Saints crash it up and then produce a brilliant flowing attack that sees Freeman cross for his second try and Northampton’s third. Smith fails with the conversion.
Leinster 15 Saints 22
The van der Flier try.
28 mins: TRY POLLOCK. Stunning individual effort from the 20-year-old openside who took a great line onto the ball, stood up Prendergast and left the Leinster outhalf for dead on the outside to cross for a try. Poor defending but that shouldn’t take away from Pollock’s brilliance. Smith converts. Henry Walker is on Litchfield as Langdon is in the bin.
Leinster 15 Saints 17
25 mins: TRY VAN DER FLIER. Gibson-Park, O’Brien and Ringrose made the line-breaks in quick succession, Lowe takes a quick tap from a penalty, Deegan holds onto the ball after a tackle.........well for a long time.......and his pass off the deck goes to the supporting van der Flier to barges over. Brousset has no issue with the delay on the pass. On another day he might. Prendergast kicks the conversion. Saints’ hooker Curtis Langdon receives a yellow card after the visitors conceded two penalties in quick succession.
Leinster 15 Saints 10.
21 mins: PENALTY SAINTS. Andrew Porter is on for Healy. Leinster kick a penalty into the Saints’ 22 but lose the lineout, Josh Kemeny with the turnover, Freeman gallops away and although stopped by Hugo Keenan, Smith’s kick through forces O’Brien into touch. Leinster are penalised and Smith kicks the visitors in front.
Leinster 8 Saints 10
18 mins: TRY LEINSTER. Tommy O’Brien crosses unopposed. Leinster win a free-kick at the scrum, Jamison Gibson-Park is sharp to get the ball away instantly and Prendergast hit O’Brien with a long pass allowing the wing to stroll over the line. Prendergast missed the conversion.
Leinster 8 Saints 7
17 mins: Leinster have a scrum seven metres from the Saints line in the centre of the pitch.
15 mins: Superb kick and chase from Tommy O’Brien initially and then Ringrose to snare Mitchell six metres from the Saints’ line. Leinster win a penalty. The home side kick to the corner. Northampton concede a penalty at the maul. Brousset rather surprisingly warns captain Fraser Dingwall. Only two penalties conceded. Saints defend again with fierce tackling. Leinster hooker Dan Sheehan is receiving attention. Looks like ankle.
Leinster 3 Northampton 7
13 mins: PENALTY. Northampton have settled brilliantly. They are playing with confidence and flair. Short goal-line drop-out re-gathered. Pollock is penalised. Prendergast points to the posts. It just about sneaks over.
Leinster 3 Northampton 7
TRY SAINTS: Tommy Freeman finishes off a brilliant counter-attack. Jon Ramm runs the ball back after a Prendergast kick. Fin Smith takes a gorgeous line to make the definitive line-break and his diagonal grubber kick is picked up by Freeman who crosses for the try, the first that Leinster have conceded in 208 minutes of Champions Cup rugby. Smith kicks a superb conversion.
First blood to the Saints.
Leinster 0 Saints 7
7 mins: Leinster get through their first defensive set which ends with a Garry Ringrose turnover, the centre sharp to win the race for a loose ball.
Leinster 0 Saints 0
5 mins: Deegan wins the lineout but Saints force a scrum turnover. Leinster penalised for an early engage and concede free-kick. The home side have had their scrum travails with Pierre Brousset in the two matches he reffed them previously in the tournament.
Leinster 0 Northampton 0
1 min: Sam Prendergast gets the game underway. Alex Mitchell with a box-kick but Saints give a penalty away after Leinster recover the kick. Prendergast thumps the penalty into the Northampton 22.
Leinster 0 Northampton Saints 0
Teams are about to emerge. Two minutes to kickoff.
General consensus is that Leinster are stronger than last year, the Saints maybe not quite so up front and missing a couple of game-breakers behind the scrum. We’re about to find out whether that’s accurate or wide of the mark.
Half an hour to go. The general consensus in the media room is delivered through a hefty inhale of breath.....and starts ‘if Northampton get off to a good start’...........
[ Nathan Johns has a look at the Leinster attackOpens in new window ]
THE TEAMS
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: Rónan Kelleher, Andrew Porter, Rabah Slimani, Ryan Baird, Jack Conan, Luke McGrath, Ross Byrne, Jordie Barrett.
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, Tom West, Elliot Millar-Mills, Tom Lockett, Chunya Munga, Angus Scott-Young, Tom James, Tom Seabrook.
Referee: Pierre Brousset (France)
[ Northampton Saints dangerman Tommy FreemanOpens in new window ]
Some statistics to bedazzle your friends.
Northampton wing Tommy Freeman has made the second highest number of line breaks (16) behind Damian Penaud (20). Perhaps a little surprisingly openside Josh van der Flier leads the way with nine for Leinster.
Saints’ fullback Jon Ramm has beaten 23 defenders, young flanker Henry Pollock, 19.
Leinster captain Caelan Doris has made more tackles, 85, than any other player.
Pollock has pinched more turnover ball than anyone else, 16, with Doris in second place, 12.
[ Gerry Thornley's previewOpens in new window ]
Very interesting from Brett Igoe
Leinster attack coach Tyler Bleyendaal: “Northampton don’t die wondering, it’s nice to watch their backline. Even from very early in the pre-season you see the attacking stuff that they do, which they still do, which is a testament to them. Whether it’s their strikes off the lineouts or if it’s their second or third phase, they do stuff well. They’ve got a lot of sometimes simple, sometimes intricate plays, but the way they do them is quite deliberate and it’s challenging to defend. I love how they kind of build on that and then they also have good athletes. I think they enjoy playing that way. They challenge you in the nine/10 channel, they’ve got wingers that can work. They can play with the ball or just play the power game. Sometimes you enjoy watching other teams play and I enjoy watching them play.”
Saints director of rugby Phil Dowson: “We said playing in Europe is enjoyable because you get great experiences. Playing at Croke Park was unbelievable. We had an Irish strength and conditioning coach who spoke about the history of Croke Park, so that hit different in terms of the history and magnitude of that occasion. We also wanted to play against the best players, so going to Pretoria (to face the Bulls in December) and playing against a lot of South African internationals, playing Munster here and away, you find out where you measure up. I appreciate it’s a big challenge, but that’s what we want - we want the biggest of challenges. We maybe haven’t stepped up to the plate with regards to the Premiership so this challenge is one we’re excited about, one that will test us and a great measure to see where we’re at.”
A Key player for the Saints.
Leinster are 20-point favourites with the bookmakers……………….in a European semi-final. Northampton won’t care one iota and now should they. If sport fully subscribed to the formbook it would be very boring.
Hello and welcome to the Champions Cup semi-final between Leinster and Northampton Saints at the Aviva Stadium. John O’Sullivan here, and I’ll take you through all the pre-match fare, the game and the post-match reaction including Gerry Thornley’s match report and Johnny Watterson who has his red pen ready for the Player Ratings.
It’s a repeat of last season’s semi-final, a game Leinster led 20-3 early in the second half through a James Lowe hat-trick but had to cling on for dear life to edge home 20-17. There’s been plenty of throughput in the Saints pack, Courtney Lawes, now with Brive a huge loss. But the visitors have a precocious young flanker in Henry Pollock who obviously believes that all the world’s a stage for his talent.
The Saints are without some stellar attacking talent in Ollie Sleightholme, George Furbank and George Hendy too.
Leinster are without secondrow James Ryan – he hasn’t started any of Leinster’s last five Champions Cup knockout matches as he was a replacement in the 2024 final – but otherwise have few injury concerns. Tommy O’Brien and Max Deegan are rewarded for their brilliant form, Cian Healy gets another starting role like the last day, while the bench contains………well a hell of a lot of talent not least Leinster’s man of the match in the quarter-final, Jordie Barrett.
