Northampton Saints 46 Clermont Auvergne 24
Northampton Saints kept their season – and quite possibly English hopes in the Champions Cup – alive after a hat-trick of tries by Tommy Freeman gave them enough of a cushion to ease past Clermont Auvergne.
The English champions’ title defence is all but over in the Premiership, but after scoring 34 unanswered points they booked their place in the quarter-finals. They will be strong favourites to reach the last four for a second season running when they host the winners of Castres v Benetton at Franklin’s Gardens.
Unfortunately, Saints’ victory was marred by a broken leg suffered by Clermont No 8 Fritz Lee. He is one of the greatest players to have graced this competition over the past decade.
Even if this season has not gone to plan, Northampton’s attacking play is still a joy to behold with England half-backs Alex Mitchell and Fin Smith pulling the strings for winger Freeman, who took his tally of tries to nine in his last seven games. “He’s an exceptional talent: fast, athletic and quick and over the last couple of years we have seen how he can break open a game,” director of rugby Phil Dowson said. “There is also a desire to get better and that’s what this club thrives on.”
Flanker Henry Pollock also continued his hot form, winning five turnovers and scoring a try in another all-action display.
Clermont dominated the opening 10 minutes, putting the squeeze on Saints at the scrum, which yielded a penalty for Anthony Belleau. Centre George Moala, who had been receiving treatment moments earlier, went through the middle after Clermont had probed around the edges for a couple of dozen phases.
Northampton quickly regrouped. Smith got them on the scoreboard with a penalty and then crossed in the corner after Mitchell had pulled the Clermont defence out of shape with his clever movement.
Mitchell then proved Northampton’s saviour at the other end as he produced a tap tackle for the ages to prevent wing Bautista Delguy scoring a certain try. George Hendy hacked downfield and Pollock won a penalty at the breakdown which he immediately tapped. With Clermont scrambling, centres Fraser Dingwall and Burger Odendaal combined to put Freeman over in the right- hand corner.
Having scored in every round of the Six Nations, Freeman continued his hot form scoring in the same corner, this time from a sumptuous Dingwall mispass. Things started unravelling for the French side as they lost both loosehead props to injury while Thomas Ceyte and ...
