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Prem top dogs Northampton dispatch Munster to reach Champions Cup quarters

By PA
George Hendy scores for Saints - PA

Northampton stormed into the Investec Champions Cup quarter-finals after two tries by George Hendy broke Munster’s resistance in a 24-14 victory at Franklin’s Gardens.

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Hendy, Saints’ 21-year-old replacement wing, crossed twice in the final quarter of a gripping round-of-16 encounter fought out by the Gallagher Premiership’s leaders and current holders of the United Rugby Championship crown.

Northampton edged their humdinger of a group clash in January and this rematch of the 2000 final was every bit as dramatic despite the swirling winds that made kicking and patrolling the backfield tricky.

Saints missed injured full-back George Furbank, one of their most effective attacking weapons this season, while another influential England star Alex Mitchell was limited to a supporting role off the bench.

Yet they still produced the match’s decisive moment when replacement back Hendy finished a superb try made possible by Fin Smith’s decision making, before England Under-20 international Hendy showed strength to grab his second in the 73rd minute.

Match Summary

0
Penalty Goals
0
4
Tries
2
2
Conversions
2
0
Drop Goals
0
110
Carries
137
6
Line Breaks
5
15
Turnovers Lost
21
8
Turnovers Won
11

Northampton join Premiership rivals Harlequins and Exeter in next weekend’s quarter-finals where they will host South African side the Bulls, having proved their mettle and attacking class against Munster.

It was the first of those qualities that came to the fore in the first half and they impressively rope-a-doped their way through the opening 10 minutes, soaking up phase after phase of Munster’s early onslaught before hitting back with their first attack through James Ramm.

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The Irish visitors went straight back on the offensive to draw level through wing Sean O’Brien and the frantic pace of the opening quarter continued as the rivals took it in turns to threaten the whitewash.

Northampton Saints Munster
Tommy Freeman makes inroads into Munster’s defence – PA

 

Munster were clearly on top, however, with their growing dominance founded on their ability to retain possession and intent to keep the ball moving, tactics that were creating holes in the home defence.

Mike Haley was the next over after scrum-half Tom James had ducked under tackles to keep the move alive and in a sign of Northampton’s struggles, a turnover close to their line produced a loud cheer from their fans.

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They were given more to shout about when Tommy Freeman raced over in the 36th minute once Saints had sucked in defenders following a scrum to create space in midfield.

The high-octane play continued into the second half but Munster were no longer able to hold on to the ball for such long stretches, while handling errors increasingly affected the endeavour shown.

Attack

151
Passes
216
110
Ball Carries
137
223m
Post Contact Metres
108m
6
Line Breaks
5

Instead, Northampton were controlling territory and possession, and having seen a number of moves foiled by self-inflicted errors, their attack clicked into gear beautifully in the 61st minute for Hendy to cross.

The move started from a line-out inside Saints’ 22 with Smith racing forward and feeding Ollie Sleightholme off his wing with a delayed pass before Ramm sent Hendy over.

Smith failed with a conversion and then a penalty attempt, the wind intervening to make both kicks a lottery, but Hendy ended any doubt when he broke two tackles to touch down in the left corner.

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J
JW 1 hour ago
Where is the new breed of All Black 10?

Players like Prendergast and Finn Smith already have a few seasons at top club level under their belt and are now test players, at an age when NZ players make their debuts in SR.

That’s just a difference in standards. You’re confusing SR for being their local domestic comps, where it’s more accurately comparable to Champions Cup, apart from that teams are happy to throw games as it’s in a bit of a limbo in terms of importance atm.


All these kids have been playing for a comparable NPC team for years now. Sam is no where near ready for tests but he has a great temperament, much like Sextons, that makes it a good choice to speed up his development. He wasn’t even a comparable Super Rugby starter before playing for Ireland, so not a great comparison.


Fin would be much better example, but then England don’t have 3 world class Test tens in front of him (not that I’d put Beauden their but obviously in terms of young NZ players chances, he is). Would he otherwise have debuted at the same age as Fergus Burke (injury and leaving withstanding), around 24, a couple of years later? England also aren’t as pedantic to who they give jerseys to, in NZ a test jersey is very hard earned for the most part.


In general I think the effects are as you say, but the only difference is the money involved, as you yourself said, their paths are just as all over the show being loaned out playing for clubs etc. My solution to that, and what you perceive as the problem, would be to introduce university football that utilitizes the large investment they have into high performance sport.

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J
Jennifer Ross 4 hours ago
One rule for Europe's copycats, another for the Springboks

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28 Go to comments
J
Jennifer Ross 4 hours ago
One rule for Europe's copycats, another for the Springboks

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