Robert Kitson was in Dublin to witness a classic:
What a game that was, by the way. Thanks for reading. Good night.
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Head coach Phil Dowson speaks: “Just immensely proud. That second half was ugly. But we just stuck at it. The decision at the end, the coaching group was almost in tears, cos it’s just come down to that last bit. That’s the beauty of the game isn’t it? I’m so proud of that group, the effort they put in, especially second half, the yellow cards, the rearguard effort. The defensive sets we put in. Huge credit.
“It’s a nice balance. Henry [Pollock] brings massive energy. People like Alex Coles, Fraser Dingwall and Fin Smith direct him in the right way. Curtis Langdon as well is someone who drives that energy through the group.”
The fly-half Fin Smith has a chat: “Mate, all week we were reading stuff: Leinster by 35, Leinster by 40. We’re a tight group, and we were looked at that and thought: ‘Bring it on.’ The fact we are so close makes it all the sweeter. No one else believed. No one else believed. We just sat, stayed nice and calm all week. We said we had a job to do, and we turned up and did it.”
Fraser Dingwall, the Saints captain: “We enter every competition knowing, if we get stuff right, we’ll take on anyone in the world. As Fin was saying, before the game, a lot of people wrote us off. But we had full belief within our circle of what we were capable of. Hopefully people recognise that now.”
Smith is asked: will that result affect Lions selection? “One hundred per cent. Wait and see. I don’t think we did ourselves any harm today. Look, I’m going to give you a boring answer but fingers crossed. We’ll be watching that telly, but we definitely didn’t do ourselves any harm.”
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“This has blown a major hole in Farrell’s Lions selection,” emails Mark. “He was going to load it with Leinster/Irish players. Not sure he can now.
“Never thought that Gibson-Park was best scrum half, Mitchell miles ahead of him now; and Prendergast is poor. (Crowley is better anyway) Itoje must be captain now, not Doris.”
Henry Pollock speaks to Premier Sports: “I tell you what … that was a battle. Jesus. I’ve never played in a game that hard in my life. That’s what dreams are made of. Literally. As a boy I grew up watching this competition. To do it with my boyhood club, to get in the final … honestly, it’s getting a bit emotional talking about it, because it’s so special.”
At one stage he is interrupted by Rory Hutchinson, the Saints centre, who barges in chanting “Lions, Lions” at his teammate.
“This group’s been through so much this season,” Pollock continues. “To be able to do that away from home, after the last two performances these guys had, they nailed both teams. To come out here, no fear, just go 100% at everything we did. And I tell you what, why not us? We’ve been saying that all week. Why not us?
“I tell you what, this is what sport’s about. This is why you play the game. You do it because you love it. You love the fans, the atmosphere, the sport. Going up against the best back row in the world. I couldn’t ask for much more. I’m so proud. The team were just amazing, 1 to 23. Bring on Cardiff!”
For a flanker with the speed of a wing, Pollock does a nice line in post-match interviews, too.
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“To be fair, the best team won,” says pundit Kearney.
“Agony or ecstasy,” says Dallaglio. “The game took us right to the wire. We’ve witnessed one of the great matches there. Semi-finals aren’t meant to be like that. From the get-go, that was a superb game of rugby. I’m amazed by Northampton’s resilience and the way they’ve played today.”
“Will their tight five stand up? That was the challenge,” says Pat Lam. “They were outstanding. The way they ran on to the ball, they got up every time, the defending was huge.”
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Tommy Freeman speaks to Premier Sports: “We said we came in as underdogs … the fight we showed, the squad we’ve got – we know we can do this performance. We know if we get our game on the pitch, we can take anyone on. They said Leinster by 30 by here we are. If we put our game on the pitch, we stress defences.
“We ran for each other, we showed love for each other, we showed heart. We did that for 80 minutes and we got the result.”
The Leinster players look shattered. Reminder: They’d won their previous two matches by an aggregate score of 114-0 in the Champions Cup.
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Final score: Leinster 34-37 Northampton
They’ve done it! Leinster are out! Northampton are in the final. That is sensational. A crucial turnover, I don’t know who got it, but then Northampton ate up the final few seconds and booted the ball out. What a performance that was. Just totally brilliant. They will play Bordeaux or Toulouse in the final in Cardiff later this month.
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80 min: Northampton turn the ball over!!!! They are camped on their line. “Use it,” cries the referee, repeatedly! But it’s over!!!!!!
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80min: NO try! Yellow card for Alex Coles. Penalty for Leinster at the death. What do they do? One minute to play … Kick the penalty? It’s out on the wing. They’ll tap.
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80 min: Tom James had a chance to kick the ball out. He didn’t. It was sitting on the try-line … and Byrne touched it down. I think this is going to end up as a Leinster try. There is a penalty against Coles of Northampton too. He is going to yellow card Coles! But it’s no try!
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79 min: It’s touched down by Byrne! Pollock says it’s a knock on. TMO check … Referee says no try. But they want to check a few things on replay.
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78 min: Phases, phases, phases for Leinster in the Northampton 22 … The Saints tackling is utterly heroic. But are Leinster going to get there?
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77 min: Massive shove against the attempted maul by Northampton after Leinster’s lineout! Then they turn it over! Was it Pollock? Huge … Now a tremendous box kick into touch by Tom James for a decent territory gain at a crucial time.
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75 min: Leinster turn it over! O’Brien kicks ahead! He’s tackled a touch late by Augustus. Referee doesn’t seem to mind. Oh no, he does. It’s a penalty. “Clearly late,” says the referee. It’ll be a penalty where the ball landed. Significant. And it turned out to be a poor kick by O’Brien too. Leinster kick for the corner! They want the try to finish it!
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73 min: Northampton put up another high kick. Lowe knocks on! Oooooh this is nervy. Attacking scrum for Northampton. The referee tells Porter: “Control, control the body,” when it’s reset.
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72 min: Fin Smith puts a high kick up. Lowe calls for the mark. Northampton still hold a slender lead but this is going to be a seriously testing final eight.
Try! Leinster 34-37 Northampton (Lowe)
Northampton are hopelessly stretched by a smart set play from the penalty. Lowe swan dives in and Prendergast nails a very difficult conversion. It’s a three-point game as we move into the final 10.
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70 min: Penalty for Leinster under the posts. Pollock penalised for not releasing in the tackle. Potentially harsh? Anyway …
69 min: Scott-Young comes on Northampton, an immediate response to the yellow card. Henry Pollock’s conditioning and work-rate is absolutely another level.
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68 min: Yellow card for Northampton: Kemeny
This mission just got more impossibler for Northampton. The Australian Josh Kemeny goes to the bin. Then again, Pollock scored that screamer when they were down to 14 before.
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68 min: Potential yellow card for a high and late hit by Northampton’s Kemeny on Slimani. The crowd roar at the replays but it looks like he might have hit his chest first …
67 min: Leinster’s Porter is penalised at a scrum. Huge. But then Northampton cock up the lineout, dummying the throw. Also huge? Northampton need to be more clinical than that if they are going to close this out.
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65 min: Tom James for Mitchell at scrum-half. Tom Lockett, the lock, also on.
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Try! 63 min: Leinster 27-37 Northampton (Ramm)
Devastating hands, devastating running, sensational try by the full-back Ramm. Smith converts. Immense! The Northampton coaches are enjoying this up in the box.
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Try! 59 min: Leinster 27-30 Northampton (Van der Flier)
A simple yet devastating driving maul from Leinster. That feels big. But Prendergast misses the conversion. Can Northampton rediscover their scoring touch from the first half?
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59 min: Now Leinster win what looks a key penalty for a high shot at a ruck. They kick for the corner.
57 min: Prendergast pick a nice inside pass, popped inside for a rampaging McCarthy. Leinster knock on! Pollock, the openside, is still everywhere.
I fancy Northampton to engineer a classy counterattack score before too long …
Penalty! 56 min: Leinster 22-30 Northampton (Smith)
A long-range penalty sneaks over from the England man! That could be huge in the final reckoning. We’re not far from the final quarter and this promises to be a scintillating finish.
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55 min: Mitchell kicks again. Prendergast belts it into space on the Leinster left. Northampton kick it back. Barrett duly kicks it back for Leinster … Porter is penalised for a hand on the floor. Much more kicking compared to before the break: and now Fin Smith can kick off the tee …
53 min: Wave after wave of Leinster attacking. Northampton are standing firm. This is a massive, massive test of their credentials. They still lead by five. Mitchell fields a kick and cracks it downfield. The Leinster fans want a lineout for a foot in touch. The referee is happy. Slimani comes on for Leinster, Furlong off.
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50 min: Ramm tries to counter for Northampton but is hammered back in the tackle powerfully by Barrett and a few others. It’s turned over. Momentum with Leinster? They win a penalty now and the crowd goes wild. Leinster’s physicality has brought three turnovers in the tackle in the second half already. Northampton just need ball in hand a bit of space but they are not getting it right now …
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49 min: Millar Mills is on for Northampton. Doris steals the ball brilliantly for Leinster and kicks for the corner and it’s a 50-22 again! Jordie Barrett comes on for Henshaw, for Leinster. Pressure, relentless pressure for Northampton. But no! The referee pings Leinster for illegality in their lineout routine. The Saints can have a little breather and they desperately need it.
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Try! 48 min: Leinster 22-27 Northampton (Doris)
Northampton can’t relieve the pressure this time, it’s taken back for a penalty and Doris eventually smashes over from close range. That was perhaps a bit easy compared to how strongly Northampton have defended. But they’ll still fancy it with the ball in hand … Prendergast converts.
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46 min: Lowe, with his siege-gun boot, straight down the wing for Leinster! It’s a massive 50-22 and the crowd are on their feet! Lowe runs down the wing geeing the home fans up! This is top-level entertainment.
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44 min: A big shot from O’Brien on Langdon. BIG. Now Jack Conan is on for Leinster. Prendergast knocks on but in fairness to him it was an appalling pass by Gibson-Park. Pressure starting to tell?
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42 min: An early mishap for Pollock hands the initiative to Leinster. But then a knock on gives Northampton a scrum on halfway. The Saints are still here to play and ask the question down the Leinster left, then it’s turned over, and Ramm collects a high kick with aplomb.
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Second half kick off!
Here we go. Can Northampton pull this off?
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A touch of half-time reading:
Half time! Leinster 15-27 Northampton
That was one of the best halves of rugby I’ve seen in a while. Leinster have shown plenty of quality but the sheer verve of Northampton’s attack – with one stupendous finish by Pollock and a hat-trick for Freeman, prompted by another brilliant display by Fin Smith – have rocked Leinster right back on their heels.
The problem Leinster face is that no matter how many they score after half time, it’s difficult to imagine Northampton failing to score a few more playing like this. Bring it on.
40 min: Clock in the red, Leinster pushing for a try after a knock-on by Mitchell …
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Try! 38 min: Leinster 15-27 Northampton (Freeman)
OH MY GOSH! What a try! What a display by Saints! Mitchell box-kicks and Freeman does brilliantly to tap it back to Augustus around halfway. Leinster are ripped open again and Freeman runs in his hat-trick, arrowing to the left corner and over the try-line, after a wonderful one-handed offload by Augustus. Lowe and O’Brien are both desperately trying to keep Freeman out but he has too much power and pace. Smith misses the conversion, the second in quick succession.
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Try! 37 min: Leinster 15-22 Northampton (Freeman)
That is a fantastic score. Freeman runs it in in the corner after some marvellous hands, including of course from Fin Smith, who is having a wonderful afternoon. Just as I type that he narrowly misses the conversion. But there is real fear here for Leinster now. If they can’t start to get on top of this scintillating Northampton attack, they are going out.
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35 min: Northampton, impressively, are forcing Leinster back despite still being down to 14. Pollock’s made 51 metres in attack already. He looks knackered after a big kick-chase. The hooker, Langdon, is back from his sin-bin for Saints. Augustus was on lineout duty in his absence.
34 min: That was worth the entrance fee alone from Pollock. But Leinster overall look stronger. Bear in mind they conceded zero points in their previous two cup matches, scoring 114 themselves. So they know they are in a game.
Try! 28 min: Leinster 15-17 Northampton (Pollock)
WOW! Northampton have it on the left wing. Nothing really looks on but Mitchell feeds Pollock running a super-intelligent line through a gap he’s spotted. He scorches down the outside, around Prendergast, and touches down. Leinster look a bit nonplussed with that. What can you do? That’s just ridiculous. The commentators reckon it was Snyman out of position around the ruck, and it was a bit soft from Prendergast as the last line of defence, but what a finish. The pace of a wing from an openside. Smith converts.
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25 min: Yellow card for Northampton: Langdon
Deeper trouble for Saints, they’re down to 14 men for 10 minutes.
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Try! 25 min: Leinster 15-10 Northampton (Van der Flier)
Crushing pressure from Leinster and there is no way out for Northampton on this occasion. Deegan is tackled close to the line but waits for support and it’s Josh van der Flier who powers over from close range. Prendergast converts.
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Penalty! 22 min: Leinster 8-10 Northampton (Smith)
Saints capitalise on that superb counterattack, and are back in the lead thanks to a kick off the tee from the England fly-half.
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21 min: “C’mon Saints!” Words any self respecting Tigers fan should never utter,” emails Daniel.
“Not today, would love to see them spoil the preordained procession EPRC have organised again for Leinster.”
*Other opinions are available.
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21 min: Freeman bursts from the Northampton try-line in stunning style. Smith sends a wonderful low kick left, aiming for a 50-22. O’Brien puts a foot in touch in trying to keep the ball in, and Northampton suddenly have a nice platform to attack from.
Try! 18 min: Leinster 8-7 Northampton (O’Brien)
Litchfield over-commits on the inside for Northampton and Tommy O’Brien has an easy jog in, in the corner, after a classy pass from Prendergast and some typically quick work by Gibson-Park behind the scrum. Conversion missed. Cian Healy has gone off, Andrew Porter (!?) comes on.
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18 min: Attacking scrum for Leinster virtually under the posts …
15 min: Ominous from Leinster, putting Mitchell under intolerable pressure in the Saints’ 22 with a fine kick-chase. Northampton can’t relieve the pressure in the subsequent phases built by Leinster. The referee has a chat with the Northampton captain Dingwall, and tells him there are too many infringements. “Next one’s yellow isn’t it?” says Doris, standing close by. The referee Pierre Brousset smiles at him as if to say: “I’ll be the judge of that.”
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Penalty! 14 min: Leinster 3-7 Northampton (Prendergast)
Pollock punished.
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13 min: Pollock is buzzing around the breakdown and being an irritant. But now he takes it too far and gives away a silly penalty with a blatant shoulder charge on (I think) Doris. Anyway Sam Prendergast will kick.
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10 min: Now Davison wins a breakdown penalty from Cian Healy. A great spell for Northampton. From the resulting lineout Dingwall is clattered by Ringrose, rushing out of the Leinster line, and Saints are rocked back. Saints are here to play though, no doubt about it.
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Try! 7 min: Leinster 0-7 Northampton (Freeman)
Belting score. Ramm fields a kick in the Saints 22. He runs towards halfway and feeds Fin Smith who is running a sensational line. Smith sees space behind and kicks ahead for Tommy Freeman to collect and touch down despite the desperate efforts of Gibson-Park. WHAT a fantastic score. Smith strokes over a confident conversion.
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7 min: Northampton work through a few phases in attack. Smith and Mitchell both get hands on it. But the physicality of the Leinster defence is noticeable.
5 min: A knock-on by Juarno Augustus comes from Saints’ first chance to attack. Disappointing but the Northampton coachs will be pleased with the defensive structure and effort thus far.
4 min: James Ramm kicks from full-back for Saints. Prendergast kicks it back. Then Mitchell … then Lowe … who is penalised after a tackle and Northampton can gain some territory.
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3 min: Exceptional maul defence from Northampton to drive Leinster back. Scrum for Saints, and a free-kick for early engagement by Leinster.
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2 min: Mitchell box kicks after one phase for Northampton. Leinster win a penalty for hands on the floor. The Saints are pinned back immediately with a penalty to the corner.
First half kick-off!
Go.
Dowson mentioned the weather: It’s sunny and 14C in Dublin, but will feel warmer than that in the stadium.
The teams are lined up in the tunnel … and here they come.
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Leinster winning their previous two Champions Cup games 114-0 on aggregate is intimidating form to say the least.
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“We’ve got to create our own memories,” says Northampton’s Phil Dowson.
“The experience of playing at Croke Park helped us in some of the big games towards the back end of last season. Again, it comes down to performance, and how well we execute today.
“We’ve been inconsistent in the league, inconsistent in selection … but we’ve got some guys playing some very good rugby and we look forward to putting that to the test today.
“We have to execute our jobs. The 6-2 on the bench: the big boys will be working out there in the heat, and they’ll need to be replaced.”
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“Northampton have had strong form in the Champions Cup,” says Leo Cullen. “We know there is some serious threat across the board. We know it’s going to be a totally different challenge today. [Leinster’s previous two results in the cup were 62-0 against Quins and 52-0 against Glasgow.]
“We have a lot of respect for them, it’ll be a tough test for us.”
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“We’ve struggled with a few injuries,” Alex Mitchell tells Premier Sports of the Saints’ season. “Our performance have been up and down. It’s been a frustrating season but we are pushing back up the table … in the Champions Cup we’ve been fantastic.
“We like to move the ball, play with tempo and score tries … I’ve loved being back [from injury] and I try and get Northampton to tick. I look for spaces on the edge, fish for defenders, try and get someone to bite and then put someone else through a hole.
On Henry Pollock: “I personally love him, it’s good to have a bit of personality … he’s a really nice lad at heart. It’s great to have that energy and that buzz, especially from a younger player … he’s backing it up and playing well.”
Australia’s women’s side, AKA the Wallaroos, defeated their Fijian counterparts overnight. Angus Fontaine has the story:
“The Wallaroos have sent a warning shot to the world with a powerful 43-7 victory over Fiji in Suva to give coach Jo Yapp’s new-look Australian side a welcome jolt of confidence as they prepare for the Rugby World Cup in England this August.”
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Hugo Keenan at full-back, Garry Ringrose and Robbie Henshaw in the centres, James Lowe for Leinster … there is world-class quality everywhere.
In more punditry news, Kearney believes that Fin Smith has the kicking game to punch a few holes in the Leinster blitz defence.
Jordie Barrett on the Leinster bench? Ludicrous. Caelan Doris and Josh Van der Flier in the back row, RG Snyman at lock, Dan Sheehan in the front row. Stop it!
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Henry Pollock has had a big year too, of course.
Gerard Meagher spoke to him:
I’d have to agree with Dallaglio. No question that Northampton can hurt Leinster in attack – there aren’t many better combinations than Alex Mitchell and Fin Smith at No 9 and No 10. But can the Saints forwards earn the necessary platform?
Team news
Just the 14 changes for Leinster. Cian Healy is the only player still in the starting lineup from their previous URC match. The some-time England full-back George Furbank misses out for Northampton with an arm injury, which is a big miss. Trevor Davison comes into the front row in the only change to Phil Dowson’s lineup after the Premiership win against Bristol last weekend.
Leinster: Keenan; O’Brien, Ringrose, Henshaw, Lowe; Prendergast, Gibson-Park; Healy, Sheehan, Furlong, Snyman, McCarthy, Deegan, Van der Flier, Doris (capt.). Replacements: Kelleher, Porter, Slimani, Baird, Conan, McGrath, R Byrne, Barrett.
Northampton Saints: Ramm; Freeman, Dingwall (capt.), Hutchinson, Litchfield; Smith, Mitchell; Iyogun, Langdon, Davison, Mayanavanua, Coles, Kemeny, Pollock, Augustus. Replacements: Walker, West, Millar Mills, Lockett, Munga, Scott-Young, James, Seabrook.
Referee: Pierre Brousset (Fra)
Rob Kearney says the Aviva Stadium venue is an unfair advantage for Leinster. Thoughts? Why not email me.
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“Northampton can win,” says Lawrence Dallaglio. “They’ve got quality in their team. But the big challenge for me is up front … have they got the bottle, what it takes up front? Can they survive the intensity from Leinster? If they can do that they can win.
“Northampton have got to be 100%,” chips in the Bristol Bears head coach, Pat Lam, on pundit duty. “Lineout lifters, ball carriers presenting the way it should be … domination on defence … making sure when you see Ringrose and Henshaw flying that you’re close enough … not for one minute, for 80 minutes.”
“It’s a different Leinster team,” Rob Kearney says on Premier Sports. “They’ve had the heartache of the last few years, so there is more pressure on them … they have reinforcements … this is as good a chance as they’ve had in the past few years.
“You don’t want to put too much pressure on one team. But it has to be this year, for this Leinster team.”
Preamble
Encore une fois. For the second year running the Champions Cup has thrown up a Leinster v Northampton semi-final hosted by the Irish province. A James Lowe hat-trick appeared to have sealed the deal for Leinster last year – and ultimately it did – but a late Saints fightback in the final quarter after an error-strewn start saw them go down by just three points.
Northampton’s domestic form has been erratic, to say the least, and they find themselves seventh in the Premiership having lost eight of 15 matches. It was always likely they’d miss Courtney Lawes and Lewis Ludlam, both now playing in France, but no one predicted they would be quite so off the pace.
Leinster, meanwhile, top the United Rugby Championship table and are heavy favourites to progress from here to yet another final against French opposition: they were defeated by La Rochelle twice, in 2022 and 2023, before falling to Toulouse at Tottenham Stadium last season. Bordeaux or Toulouse will await today’s victors in Cardiff later this month. Will it be deja vu all over again? As far as today’s semi-final is concerned, it already is.
Kick-off: 5.30pm
