Northampton Saints 31-24 Leeds Carnegie
Northampton Saints confirmed their Aviva Premiership semi-final away at Leicester Tigers with a hard-fought 31-24 victory over bottom side Leeds Carnegie at Franklins Gardens. It now means the Yorkshire side must wait on the result of the Championship play-off final to find out in which division they will play next year.
The visitors made a flying start to the game and had the lead after just four minutes. Leeds put constant pressure on the Northampton defence and after turning the ball over quickly, they managed to find Hendrie Fourie who dotted down for the opening try of the afternoon. Adrian Jarvis added the extras to hand Carnegie the perfect start. Northampton 0-7 Leeds
Leeds' stunning start against a rusty looking Saints side continued and on eight minutes they had their second score. Scott Mathie released flanker Rhys Oakley who was in acres of space and he surged under the posts to give the away side hopes of a rare away victory. Jarvis easily converted and Northampton were under pressure to respond. Northampton 0-14 Leeds
Penalties were then exchanged by both sides before the 20-minute mark. Firstly, Leeds was caught offside by referee Andrew Small and Shane Geraghty stepped up to put Northampton on the board with a well-struck penalty. Northampton 3-14 Leeds. However after a Saints lineout went astray, Jarvis was able to cancel out Geraghty's effort with a penalty of his own. Northampton 3-17 Leeds
Franklins Gardens then moved from stunned to disbelieving as Leeds ran in their third try without reply. The visitors punted the ball long downfield and although Paul Diggin managed to prevent a try first time around, visiting support was strong and Pete Wackett was all alone in the corner and scored easily. Jarvis converted well from out wide and it seemed that Carnegie were running away with the game before twenty minutes was up. Northampton 3-24 Leeds
On the half-hour both Diggin and Leeds' Lee Blackett were sin-binned for an off-the-ball incident as the tension began to rise. From the Saints' penalty though, they managed to move the ball well and Joe Ansbro found Phil Dowson to go over for a much-needed try for the home side. Northampton 8-24 Leeds
Northampton were now dominating the contest and after winning the scrum easily and putting pressure on the Leeds pack, prop Juan Gomez saw yellow to join Blackett and Diggin. The home scrum went again and managed to bowl Leeds over and with one more shove, referee Small gave them the penalty try, which Geraghty converted to give the Saints a way back into the game before half-time. Northampton 15-24 Leeds
Leeds were starting to feel the heat whilst Northampton started the second half as they had ended the first. Geraghty nipped around the Leeds defence from the base of a ruck and swung the ball out to Chris Ashton who had an easy run to the line. Geraghty converted the try which he had created and the home side were now just two points behind. Northampton 22-24 Leeds
As Gomez returned and the sides were now equal, Leeds were still under immense pressure. Geraghty was replaced by regular kicker Stephen Myler and his first job was to convert a 35-metre penalty to put the Saints into the lead, which he did with no troubles. Northampton 25-24 Leeds
Heading into the last ten minutes of the game, this was going to be the biggest ten minutes of the season for both sides. After forcing Uche Oduoza to hold on to the ball after a tackle, Northampton won another penalty which Myler again converted to give the hosts a small amount of breathing space. Northampton 28-24 Leeds. The Saints did seal the game with five minutes to play with another Myler penalty after Leeds were too desperate to claim the ball. Myler struck the penalty well to hand Northampton another Premiership semi-final and to leave Leeds with a nervous wait. Northampton 31-24 Leeds
Thoughts: Northampton Saints are now Heineken Cup finalists and Aviva Premiership semi-finalists which will undoubtedly please head coach Jim Mallinder. However, he will be away that if his side is to step up to the next level, they must win at least one of the two games. Leeds however are left to hope that the Cornish Pirates can win their Championship play-off final against Worcester Warriors. Should the Warriors win, then Leeds will be relegated but should the Pirates win, then the Yorkshiremen will stay up as the Pirates' ground does not meet regulations. Nervous times ahead for the men from Headingley.
Northampton:
Tries: Dowson, Penalty, Ashton
Conversions: Geraghty (2)
Penalties: Geraghty, Myler (3)
Drop-goals: None
Leeds:
Tries: Fourie, Oakley, Wackett
Conversions: Jarvis (3)
Penalties: Jarvis
Drop-goals: None
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