GLASGOW RUGBY 23

Heineken Cup

Franklin's Gardens

Friday, January 14, 2005

Saints' European dream lives on, thanks to a five-try Franklin's Gardens victory over a spirited Glasgow Rugby.

Glasgow came to Northampton already out of the competition and with nothing more to play for than pride. With the pressure off, their play had freedom, and Saints were rocking within five minutes when Calvin Howarth's break gave the position for his forwards to drive over, although Kevin Tkachuk was held up.

Saints looked to hit back immediately with Steve Thompson, Johnny Howard and Darren Fox all spying gaps in the Glasgow fringe to drive deep into the visitors' 22.

Glasgow had the next opportunity in a scoreless opening quarter. Jon Petrie's one-handed pick-up allowed him to spark a menacing break but when his inside pass, intended for Sean Lamont, was gratefully received by Grant Seely, the hosts escaped.

Saints did so again when Dan Parks missed a drop-goal, but the capacity crowd was stunned into silence by Parks' 26thminute penalty that opened the scoring and gave the visitors the lead.

Paul Grayson turned down the chance to equalise in Saints' subsequent attack, a decision vindicated when Bruce Reihana powered his way over, carrying no less than three defenders with him. Grayson's conversion hit the upright, a miss punished by Parks' second penalty that edged Glasgow back in front.

But worse was to come in injury-time, as Lamont - who threatened throughout - snatched a loose ball and raced 80 metres to grab an opportunistic try. Parks converted to put the visitors a surprising 13 points to five up at the interval.

Acting head coach Budge Poutney rang the changes at the break, bringing on Shane Drahm, Damien Browne and Tom Smith, the latter for his first action since October.

The replacements paid immediate dividend with the pack ripping into the Glasgow defence. Thompson was held up, but from the subsequent scrum Howard exploited the space left by Kenny Logan's first-half injury-time sin-binning and sent Ben Cohen - who signed a three-year contract extension during the week - in to score.

Drahm converted, but missed the chance to put Saints back in front only minutes later, mis-hitting a straightforward penalty. This was to be only a temporary respite for the visitors, however, as the pressure continued, and from a five-metre scrum Mark Soden crossed unopposed. Drahm's conversion put Saints six points up, though Parks' third penalty narrowed the deficit.

Northampton's immediate repost was to again sweep towards the Glasgow line, only being denied a fourth try when Drahm dropped the ball within touching distance of the whitewash.

With 10 minutes to go Thompson again turned down the shot at goal, and was again justified. The lineout position turned into a scrum, and a classic first-phase attack allowed Reihana to hit the line at pace. The full-back sidestepped neatly and was in for his second, capping a man of the match performance.

The piece de resistance was yet to come, however. Inspired by his Stradey Park heroics, Thompson popped up in midfield to snatch the ball from the Glasgow backline. A full 60 metres lay in front of him, but the Saints skipper was not deterred, and despite Logan's despairing tackle, Wally was over.

Drahm's conversion made the game safe, although Glasgow scrum-half Graeme Beveridge's consolation try meant that the visitors had the last word. Parks' conversion narrowed the gap to 10, but the game was won, and Saints were in the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup.

Teams: Northampton Saints - Reihana; Rudd (Richmond 80mins), Cohen, Stcherbina (Vilk 78mins), Tucker; Grayson (Drahm 40mins), Howard (Jones 78mins); Sturgess (Smith 40mins), Thompson (capt), Morris, Seely, Lord (Browne 40mins), Blowers, Fox, Soden (Krige 62mins).

Glasgow Rugby - Howarth; Lamont (Millard 74mins), Craig (Henderson 14-25mins), Morrison (Henderson 62mins), Logan; Parks, Beveridge; Tkachuk, Bulloch (Lawson 62mins), Kelly (Prescott 64mins), Beardshaw (Dearlove 76mins), Turner, Mather, Wilson, Petrie (capt) (Beattie 66mins).

Scorers:
Northampton Saints - Tries: Reihana (2), Cohen, Soden, Thompson; Cons: Drahm (4).

Glasgow Rugby - Tries: Lamont, Beveridge; Cons: Parks (2); Pens: Parks (3).

Yellow card:
Logan (40+7mins)

Heineken man of the match:
Bruce Reihana

Attendance:
11,976