Match Report: Northampton Saints 59 – 22 Vodacom Bulls

Northampton Saints emphatically booked their place in the Investec Champions Cup semi-finals with a nine-try victory over Vodacom Bulls at a buoyant cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens. 

The highest-scoring quarter-final first half in the history of the competition ensued as James Ramm, Courtney Lawes, Ollie Sleightholme and Alex Mitchell landed tries for Saints but Bulls stayed in the fight with efforts from Cameron Hanekom, Akker van der Merwe and Sebastian de Klerk to trail by just six at the break.

It was one-way traffic upon the restart as Alex Coles, Fraser Dingwall and Juarno Augustus got on the scoresheet and both Mitchell and Ramm grabbed their second tries of the evening as Saints marched into their last-four showdown with Leinster in Dublin on the weekend of 4/5 May.

FIRST HALF

Saints flexed their muscles early doors with Mitchell in the thick of the action, with a blindside snipe and offload falling into touch before he was held up over the line after a Bulls’ lineout was disrupted.

It was a trademark break from deep that unlocked the visiting defence as Fin Smith and Dingwall freed Ramm on halfway. The fullback threw a couple of outrageous dummies, the last leaving Tommy Freeman feeling a little short changed, to ghost over for his fourth try in three games.

The response was immediate as Bulls stripped possession and made it pay with Hanekom muscling his way over from close range. Chris Smith’s conversion levelled the scores.

One of the biggest roars of the night came as Coles broke through the line, latching onto an inviting Smith pass, to fix his man and free Lawes to finish at the second attempt for the fourth try of his final season as a Saintsman.

Another erroneous kick-off return resulted in Smith cutting three points off the Bulls’ deficit, only for Sleightholme to go into overdrive; stepping, bashing and rolling his way over under the posts. Calm had not yet been restored to the Gardens when Mitchell sniped from a few metres out. Smith’s fourth successful conversion opened an 18-point gap.

That shrunk to six in the blink of an eye as former Sale Sharks hooker van der Merwe burst down the blindside to cross from 22 metres out, then de Klerk intercepted a pass on his own line to go the distance and under the posts.

SECOND HALF

Any momentum that had been built by that double blow was erased when Saints flew out of the blocks with Lawes neatly popping inside for Freeman to canter clear and put Coles in for his fifth try of a fruitful campaign.

That was swiftly followed by Ramm grabbing his second as Dingwall pulled in a pass with his finger tips, flipping it out the back for Smith to provide the assist with another pin-point pass.

Bulls bounced back just as they did in the first half when de Klerk swept over, only for play to be brought back for Hanekom’s tip tackle on Dingwall, that earned the No. 8 a yellow card.

George Hendy, the hero of the Munster win, went agonsingly close to registering in the same corner as last weekend’s brace, only to be bundled into touch. When Bulls made a mess of the resulting lineout, it merely delayed the score as Smith underarmed a pass for Dingwall to finish. The conversion was successful and Saints moved 25 points clear. 

Saints’ scrum earned a hat-trick of penalties and helped them make inroads as they went in search of the score that would see them clock up a half-century, and it duly came as Mitchell once more sensed a gap from a close-range ruck to wrestle over for his second try of the evening.

He was followed over by Augustus for Saints’ ninth try of the encounter as a tenth successive home victory ensured progression into the fourth Champions Cup semi-final in the club’s history.

LINE UPS

Saints: Ramm; Hendy, Freeman, Dingwall, Sleightholme; F Smith, Mitchell; Iyogun, Langdon, Davison; Moon, Coles; Lawes (c), Graham, Augustus.

Replacements: S Matavesi, A Waller, Hill, Scott-Young, Ludlam, James, Furbank.

Vodacom Bulls: Williams; de Klerk, Immelman, Vorster, Jacobs; Smith, Burger; Matanzima, van der Merwe, M Smith; Swanepoel, van Heerden; Carr (c), Gumede, Hanekom.

Replacements: Wessels, D Smith, Klopper, Olivier, Ludwig, Johannes, van der Walt, Hendricks.