Northampton Saints surprise Leinster to reach European Champions Cup final

Northampton Saints will be in the final of rugby union’s European Champions Cup after a 37-34 win away at Irish side Leinster.

An eventful game at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium saw the Saints pull off a big result to beat the pre-tournament favourites, with the Saints registering five tries on their way to success.

The Saints had reached a 27-15 lead at half-time, having scored four first-half tries along the way. Thomas Freeman’s run of three tries, plus a further one from Henry Pollock had tilted the contest in the Saints’ favour.

It looked like Leinster had taken control when they came from conceding Freeman’s first try to lead, with the Irish side looking to build on a platform for success that had seen them comfortably win their previous two knockout round ties.

But an extraordinary final 15 minutes of the first half tilted things in Northampton’s favour, scoring three tries in less than ten minutes.

A huge amount of drama took place in the final minutes of the contest. A try and conversion had cut the Saints’ lead to three points before in the final minutes of regular time, Leinster thought they had scored a try that would’ve won them the contest only for it to be ruled out following a lengthy review.

The Saints would have Alex Coles sent to the sin-bin, leading to a lengthy rearguard action from the Saints to try and hold on to win.

But it would ultimately pay off for the Saints, who picked up a victory that saw the Saints avenge the heartache they’d suffered when beaten by Leinster at the same stage of this competition last year.

The Saints will be in the final at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on May 24th, with this being the first time the Saints have reached the European Champions Cup final since 2011. They will face either Bordeaux or Toulouse, who face off in their semi-final in South West France later today (04/05).