Late heartbreak denied Northampton Saints from progressing to a third successive Investec Champions Cup semi-final as Bath Rugby edged a gripping quarter-final contest at The Rec.
A breathtaking first half delivered nine tries, with Saints striking through Henry Pollock, Fraser Dingwall, Tom Lockett, Josh Kemeny and Ollie Sleightholme – all improved by Fin Smith – with Bath crossing the line four times to cut a lead that was at one stage 21 points, to single figures come the interval.
Thrill-a-minute rugby made way for a nerve-jangling second half as Bath levelled up the try count to five apiece and Saints landed two penalties to Bath’s one to set up a grandstand final period.
It was the hosts who came out on top as the men in Black, Green and Gold fell behind for the first time in the game with four minutes remaining, as Bath struck a late heart-breaking try through Ted Hill to progress into the final four.
First Half
Saints flew out of the blocks with two tries inside the opening six minutes. A sustained period of early pressure had Bath scrambling to the extent Miles Reid flew off his feet at a ruck to kill the ball, earning himself a yellow card. From the resulting penalty, the visitors tapped from five metres out and Pollock somehow found a crack in a wall of black shirts to muscle his way over and slam dunk the ball in celebration for good measure.
A second try swiftly followed and it started from a scrum inside Saints’ half, as Danilo Fischetti won his battle in that area and was rewarded with a penalty. From a lineout further up the pitch, McParland brilliantly batted a loose ball into the arms of Tommy Freeman to race behind enemy lines and put Dingwall in for the finish from 25 metres out.
Smith converted both tries to open a 14-point lead, that was cut in half moments later when Ollie Lawrence won a breakdown penalty and Tom Dunn bludgeoned his way over from a close-range tap.
Reid returned to the field of play, but even with a full complement of players, there was no stopping Saints as they launched from a 16th minute lineout as Dingwall turned creator with an outrageous popped pass to Smith who fed Lockett down the right to finish emphatically close to the touchline.
Two dangerous Bath field positions were thwarted by lineout steals as Lockett and Kemeny both ruled the airwaves.
Remarkably, Saints had a fourth try just past the game’s quarter-way point. Rory Hutchinson pulled a semi-charged down kick and sensed a chance. The centre raced through and combined with Smith to put McParland in for a crazy breakaway score.
Bath managed to bounce back when the TMO intervened to rule a Pollock dislodging of the ball was after a tackle had been completed. Lockett got a paw to the lineout, only to divert it into the path of Finn Russell, and the Scotsman’s toe into the in-goal area was delicate enough to race on and apply the finish.
Before 30 minutes had been played, the visitors had lost both hooker Curtis Langdon and flanker Tom Pearson to injury, with Craig Wright and Callum Chick arriving in their place, while Beno Obano limped off for Bath.
Despite the disruption, the tries kept flowing for both sides. From a lineout inside the attacking 22, on the occasion of his 100th Saints appearance, Sleightholme arrived on a formidable angle to stomp his way to score a 56th try for the Club. Then it was the turn of another English winger, Henry Arundell, to pin his ears back and reward some Russell wizardry with a clinical finish.
There was a big swing of fortunes in the closing minutes of the half, Freeman was pulled back from a 60-metre interception try for an offside offence earlier in the play, and Bath made hay with their reprieve, kicking to the corner and eventually forcing their way over through Francois van Wyk. Russell’s missed conversion saw Northampton go in at the break nine points ahead.
Second Half
A few minutes after the restart, Saints were awarded a central penalty and Smith struck it between the uprights. Presented with a similar opportunity, Bath rolled the dice only to be met with a fierce period of defensive rearguard action.
Bath were the aggressors in the third quarter, setting up camp in the 22 and when JJ Van Der Mescht was sin-binned in the 56th minute, the numbers immediately paid as a mass of black shirts fused together to propel Kepueli Tuipulotu over the line, with Russell’s conversion taking Bath to within five points, setting up a tantalising final 20 minutes.
Whilst there was still adventure in Saints’ play– a Smith cross-field kick falling agonisingly of Sleightholme’s reach – pragmatism was present for both sides as Smith and Russell traded penalties to make it a five-point ball game with a dozen minutes remaining.
Saints finished the game with 14 men as Pollock saw yellow and Bath kicked to touch. Once more, they lobbed everything at Saints and seemed destined to get their reward – only for Tuipulotu to lose it in the act of grounding.
It proved to be only a brief reprieve. Bath pushed back the scrum to win a penalty, which was tapped and ultimately finished by Hill under the posts, with Russell’s tap-in conversion giving Bath the lead for the first time with a few minutes remaining, which they saw out to knock Northampton out in gut-wrenching fashion.
Line-ups:
Bath: 15 Tom de Glanville, 14 Henry Arundell, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 12 Cameron Redpath, 11 Will Muir, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ben Spencer (c); 1 Beno Obano, 2 Tom Dunn, 3 Vilikesa Sela, 4 Quinn Roux, 5 Charlie Ewels, 6 Guy Pepper, 7 Sam Underhill, 8 Miles Reid.
Replacements: 16 Kepu Tuipulotu, 17 Francois van Wyk, 18 Thomas du Toit, 19 Ross Molony, 20 Ted Hill, 21 Bernard van der Linde, 22 Santi Carreras, 23 Alfie Barbeary.
Saints: 15 George Furbank (c), 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Rory Hutchinson, 12 Fraser Dingwall, 11 Ollie Sleightholme, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Archie McParland; 1 Danilo Fischetti, 2 Curtis Langdon, 3 Cleopas Kundiona, 4 Tom Lockett, 5 JJ Van Der Mescht, 6 Josh Kemeny, 7 Tom Pearson, 8 Henry Pollock.
Replacements: 16 Craig Wright, 17 Emmanuel Iyogun, 18 Elliot Millar Mills, 19 Ed Prowse, 20 Callum Chick, 21 Alex Mitchell, 22 Tom Litchfield, 23 George Hendy.