Alex Mitchell stressed that Northampton Saints’ belief in getting the job done against Leinster was ’outstanding’ following the 34-37 victory at the Aviva Stadium.
The England scrum-half played a pivotal role in the success as the men in Black, Green and Gold booked their place in the Investec Champions Cup final on Saturday 24 May, where they will meet Union Bordeaux-Bègles.
Going up against an Irish province that had not conceded a point in their two knock-out games leading up to Saturday’s last four tie, Saints managed to score five tries through Tommy Freeman’s hat-trick and one each from Henry Pollock and James Ramm, with Fin Smith adding 12 points from the boot.
They are now just 80 minutes away from emulating the achievements of the club’s class of 2000, who became the first English side to win the Heineken Cup/Investec Champions Cup with a 9-8 final victory over Munster.
“Lots of people wrote us off and we understood we were underdogs but the belief within the group was outstanding.”
Alex Mitchell
“I would hate to think what my blood pressure was doing at the end but the last defensive set spoke volumes about our group, about the lads coming on and their impact. We got the turnover, killed the clock and cue the wild scenes in the coaching box.
“We have had experience before of playing into a press defence. We had practised playing through it and we revisited those principles. There were more opportunities we could’ve taken but we took enough to get on the scoresheet.”
Mitchell was part of the Saints side that fell just short against the same opponent and at the same stage of last season’s competition, and believes a change in mindset was key.
“A couple of pundits were saying they’re going to win by 20-30 points and that Saints won’t score a point,” he added. “We showed up today and were a bit more fearless this time around. Last year, we were waiting to see what Leinster were going to do.
“We showed up this time and the first 20 minutes, we punched them in the face. They weren’t really expecting that. Credit to the boys, we got the result.”
