DUBLIN :Brilliant Northampton stunned Leinster 37-34 in a breathless Champions Cup semi-final on Saturday with a first-half Tommy Freeman hat-trick leaving the English champions one game away from their first European crown in 25 years.
Northampton, who have only won the competition once, played a perfect first half with Freeman and a try from the brilliant young flanker Henry Pollock giving them a 27-15 lead against a side who did not concede a point in the previous two rounds.
Leinster, heavy favourites and losing finalists in the last three years, had famously recovered from an even bigger halftime deficit the last time Northampton were in a final in 2011.
A comeback looked on again this time with tries from Caelan Doris and Josh van der Flier before the hour.
But James Ramm put the fearless visitors 10 points clear two minutes later and they survived two yellow cards, a James Lowe try and Leinster’s loaded bench to set up a final against either holders Toulouse or Bordeaux in Cardiff on May 24.
“They said Leinster by 30 (points winning margin), but look here we are,” man of the match Freeman told RTE. “We know we can do this. We know if we get our game on the pitch, we can take anyone on.”
The defeat means the seven-year wait for an elusive fifth title goes on for shell-shocked Leinster, a bitter pill for a side made up of most of the Ireland team along with superstars RG Snyman and Jordie Barrett, the latter who started on the bench.
“I don’t know what to say really, massive disappointment,” Leinster captain Doris said.
But Northampton, who have struggled in the English premiership this season, fully deserved the win.
They unsettled the competition’s second most decorated team from the off, with a brilliant line break and dink through from the excellent Fin Smith setting up Freeman for his first try after seven minutes.
It was the first time Leinster had conceded a point in over 200 minutes of Champions Cup rugby – a remarkable statistic following 62-0 and 52-0 demolitions of Harlequins and Glasgow respectively in the previous rounds.
The hosts responded quickly, first through a Tommy O’Brien try that followed waves of pressure and then van der Flier’s first of the game and it looked like the Leinster juggernaut would push on in typically relentless fashion.
But they were stunned by three tries in 10 minutes, even with Northampton down to 14 men for most of that period.
First the 20-year-old Pollock took a pass perfectly on the gain line at top speed, ran half the pitch and evaded Sam Prendergast to show just why he’s regarded as one of the most exciting young players in the game.
Freeman then completed his hat trick with two tries in three minutes – his 15th in his last 10 games for club and country.
Northampton lost to Leinster at the same stage last year and it looked ominous when Doris and van der Flier made it a three-point game as Barrett, France prop Rabah Slimani and Ireland forwards Ryan Baird and Jack Conan emerged from the bench.
But Ramm’s quick reply proved crucial as did Leinster opting against kicking a penalty to draw level three minutes from time. They went a whisker from touching down in the corner instead at the death but Northampton’s last-gasp defence won out.
