Champions Cup semi-final: Leinster 34 Northampton 37
Another one that got away. So, what makes this one different? This will be the one remembered for leaving a high-profile, world-class centre on an overly-stacked bench and also for the manner a previously watertight defence leaked like a sieve.
Le ster did play some wonderful rugby. The margins were tiny and Leinster were within a whisker of a try, or penalty try, of a famous win. Despite 10,000 empty seats, the pulsating nature of this 10-try, 71-point feast in which Leinster only led for four minutes generated more atmosphere than many a full house hereabout.
Leinster will also rue missed chances, not least in a thunderous finale, but ultimately they scored five tries and 34 points. This would generally be enough to win a semi-final and was their fourth highest tally in 16 semi-finals.
[ Leinster 34 Northampton 37: How the Leinster players ratedOpens in new window ]
But they conceded five tries and 37 points, which makes it darned difficult to win a semi-final. It eclipsed the previous highest total of 30 points conceded at this stage, when beaten by Munster 20 years ago, since when they’d won six semi-finals in succession at home.
Whether or not Leinster were even a fraction complacent, despite the many game-breakers in Northampton’s ranks, is a moot point, but perhaps keeping Harlequins and Glasgow scoreless lulled them into a false sense of security, even slightly?
The signs that Leinster were not bringing the same defensive energy and urgency were ominous from Northampton’s first try in the eighth minute which exploited the home side’s disconnected, lazy kick-chase.
When James Ramm gathered Sam Prendergast’s kick up the touchline outside his 22 and veered infield past the Leinster outhalf, it took Dan Sheehan (whose left leg was strapped and didn’t look himself), Robbie Henshaw and Josh van der Flier out of the game before Fin Smith steamed on to the fullback’s pass.
Henshaw and Van der Flier were drawn too far toward Ramm, with Cian Healy the next defender on the outside a further five metres adrift. Smith easily went through that gap and past a flailing Joe McCarthy, another isolated figure five metres further back, before the Saints’ outhalf converted a two-on-two into a try with a perfectly weighted grubber for the first of Tommy Freeman’s hat-trick. A 75-metre try with just one pass and one kick. Far too easy.
Leinster appeared to have recovered their equilibrium through tries by Van der Flier and Tommy O’Brien after a couple of trademark, long, left-to-right passes by Prendergast, before the electric Henry Pollock exploded into life to expose more fault lines in Leinster’s defensive focus.
When Ramm ran back a Jamison Gibson-Park box kick and Northampton recycled, RG Snyman was slow to realign outside Andrew Porter and couldn’t plug the gap through which Pollock accelerated on to Alex Mitchell’s pass before rounding Prendergast with ease.
Cullen admitted that in “some of the speed to set [defensively], we’re just that little step behind Northampton.”
Northampton put three phases together off a lineout for their next try. That was enough to manipulate eight Leinster defenders on to the openside when facing just three attackers as the Saints loaded the narrow side with seven attackers against just four defenders.
One pass out the back, one decoy runner and one pass worked a three-on-one on the edge for Freeman to score again. Almost from the restart, Freeman chased a Mitchell box kick which Hugo Keenan couldn’t gather, and Juarno Augustus was quickest on to the loose ball before his basketball-type pass gave Freeman another unhindered run to the line.
“They did us on a few different things during the course of the first half,” admitted Cullen. “The kick-chase? I’m not sure that’s a mental thing. Clocking off for a second, they exploit something and are through. Don’t deal with a high ball; don’t win the scraps; another try. They do us on a good starter play at a lineout; Tommy Freeman scores as well.”
Leinster’s defence was improved after half-time, conceding only 10 points, albeit they were again outmuscled and outwitted for Ramm’s key 63rd-minute try.
Having worked their way back to a three-point deficit, the decision to bring on Ross Byrne in the 77th minute would have been more understandable had Leinster elected to take a shot at goal with their last penalty.
It would have made even more sense for Prendergast, who had nailed a touchline conversion five minutes previously, to shoot for goal in the 76th minute and level scores, as the option of 20 minutes of extra-time with that impactful bench at home was worth trying to secure.
The then captain Jack Conan stared toward the coaches’ box, held his hands to his ears and implored: “What do you want?”. Conan, Barrett and Prendergast then seemed to agree on going to the corner.
Asked if any message to this effect been relayed to the players from the coaches’ box, Cullen maintained: “No, I was happy for them to go for the corner. That’s what they were feeling and I was like: ‘Yeah, let’s go for it’.”
By not doing so, Leinster thus had to score a try. Their policy of kicking toward the corner had led, once directly and indirectly twice more, to three of their tries, but their maul had struggled for traction all evening.
Then, under the nose of referee Pierre Brousset and under the posts, Pollock didn’t release after tackling McCarthy, and planted a hand on the ground, when Leinster would surely have taken the three points and extra-time.
Leinster had engineered two tries off well-executed trick plays but with their roll of the dice they couldn’t do so a third time.
But the bottom line is that Leinster left a world-class centre in the stands for 50 minutes and, unless he makes an unlikely and unscheduled return one day, they will never have Barrett’s services to call upon in the Champions Cup again.
SCORING SEQUENCE − 8 mins: Freeman try, Smith con 0-7; 14: Prendergast pen 3-7; 18: O’Brien try 8-7; 23: Smith pen 8-10; 25: Van der Flier try, Prendergast con 15-10; 29: Pollock try, Smith con 15-17; 36: Freeman try 15-22; 38: Freeman try 15-27; (half-time 15-27); 48: Doris try, Prendergast con 22-27; 56: Smith pen 22-30; 59: Van der Flier try 27-30; 63: Ramm try, Smith con 27-37; 70: Lowe try, Prendergast con 34-37.
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: Andrew Porter for Healy (20 mins); Jack Conan for Deegan (44); Jordie Barrett for Henshaw (50); Rabah Slimani for Furlong (53); Ryan Baird for Doris (57); Rónan Kelleher for Sheehan (64); Ross Byrne for Prendergast (77).
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 for Litchfield (31-35 mins); Elliot Millar-Mills for Davison (48); Tom West for Iyogun (61); Tom James for Mitchell (64); Tom Lockett for Mayanavanua (65); Angus Scott-Young for Litchfield (68).
Sinbinned: Langdon (26-36 mins), Kemeny (68), Coles (79).
Referee: Pierre Brousset (Fra).
