Northampton break England’s duck in Champions Cup with victory over Cardiff
At 7.16pm, just around the time those Sunday night blues kick in, England’s Champions Cup cohort finally had something to cheer about. It was not pretty but after seven of their Prem rivals had failed to claim victory in the opening round of the competition, Northampton survived a sizeable scare from Cardiff to put one on the board for the Prem.
It might be harsh on some of the performances this weekend – Gloucester were immense in drawing with Bordeaux, Exeter mightily unlucky to be beaten in Toulouse – but zero wins from eight would have been a crushing embarrassment for a league that has been feted for its attacking exploits so far this season.
As it was, first-half tries from youngsters Toby Thame and James Pater and second-half scores from the excellent George Hendy and Fraser Dingwall were ultimately enough to see off Cardiff. Credit to the visitors, however, who were less than impressed with having to run out just five days after this fixture and felt forced to heavily rotate as a result. They scored two impressive scores and midway through the second half had Northampton fans fearing an upset.
Cardiff’s frustrations are all the more understandable given their excellent home record last season and their determination to continue it this campaign. Accordingly, the head coach, Corniel van Zyl, rang the changes, left the back-rowers Alex Mann and James Botham, as well as the captain Liam Belcher, out all together, while Callum Sheedy and Josh Adams were among the replacements only. There was a first appearance for Taulupe Faletau since March, however. Northampton opted to chop and change too. Tommy Freeman, Henry Pollock, Alex Coles and Emmanuel Iyogun were left out of the matchday 23 while Fin Smith and Fraser Dingwall were named on the bench.
Quick GuideExeter and Leicester beaten in France
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Exeter slipped to a 43-40 defeat against 14-man Toulouse despite Zack Wimbush scoring a hat-trick. In a thrilling start Wimbush scored for Exeter only a minute into the match, with Henry Slade adding the extras. Ange Capuozzo soon struck for the hosts, but Romain Ntamack was unable to convert before, who then went ahead through a penalty try.
A frenetic seven-minute period saw the visiting full-back Sam Harris sent to the sin-bin before Toulouse prop Rodrigue Neti was shown a red card for a high tackle and Exeter pounced as Wimbush went over again with Slade’s kick successful.
Toulouse responded through Joshua Brennan’s converted effort and a Teddy Thomas try, but the latter was shown a yellow card which allowed Exeter to regain control as Jack Yeandle and Stephen Varney both crossed, with Slade only able to convert the latter, to lead 26-24 at the break.
They extended their advantage soon after the restart when Will Butt grounded and Slade converted, but they continued to be tested by Toulouse, who squeezed ahead as Matias Remue and Ntamack both scored in quick succession, with the fly-half converting both. Wimbush completed his hat-trick and Slade’s conversion put Exeter in front again, but Ben Hammersley was then shown yellow and Toulouse struck through Remue’s try to edge ahead.
Slade sent a penalty wide in the final moments as Toulouse snatched a narrow victory.
Ollie Chessum made a try-scoring return from injury but Leicester fell short in their opener at Pau. Archie van der Flier gave the visitors a flicker of hope when his 54th-minute try put his side within touching distance but the hosts pulled away for a 41-17 bonus-point win.
Leicester went into the game on the back of two wins in the Gallagher Prem and their confidence was evident when the returning Chessum powered over in his first appearance of the season.
But tries from Rodrigo Marta and Jon Zabala gave Pau a half-time lead and when they stretched their advantage through Marta’s second early in the second half, it looked all over for the visitors.
Van der Flier had other ideas when he powered over, Billy Searle’s kick taking them back within seven points, but a silly penalty and a subsequent try from Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang all but sealed it for the French side.
Pau secured their bonus point in the dying stages when Searle’s attempted pass was intercepted and Fabien Brau-Boirie blazed home to confirm the win. Press Association
Sideways rain will always be a leveller and the opening 10 minutes here left you longing for the sugar rush of last weekend’s 119-point try fest. The first moment of quality yielded the first try, however. Hendy swerved his way through the Cardiff defence and charged clear, feeding the supporting Alex Mitchell, whose floated inside pass found James Pater. The 19-year-old full-back still had work to do but wriggled his way into a position to dot the ball down.
Saints’ second try came after Rory Hutchinson’s inventive diagonal kick forced a Northampton scrum five metres out. Mitchell fed Hutchinson, who shipped on to Thame and there was no stopping the Northampton inside-centre. Anthony Belleau was on target with the conversion for a second time.
A period of scrappiness ensued and Cardiff certainly had their moments. They thought they had scored after a clever strike play near halfway put the hulking winger Mason Grady through a gap and while he could not quite get clear, the second row Tom Manz was on hand. The referee Jeremy Rozier, at the suggestion of the TMO, disallowed the score, however, insisting the ball had been dislodged in the tackle. Undeterred, Cardiff came again but with Belcher among those absent, their lineout left plenty to be desired.
An interception from the covering Pater denied Cardiff a certain score on the right but to their credit the visitors kept hammering away and after a tap-and-go penalty, the outside-centre Harri Millard had the strength to force his way over the line. Jarrod Evans’s conversion brought Cardiff to within a score.
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Saints had plenty of possession to re-establish a commanding lead but the ball went to ground too often for Phil Dowson’s liking and when Belleau was sent to the sin-bin for infringing near his own line on the hour mark, Cardiff could sniff parity on the scoreboard. Grady was worked into space on the right to bring the visitors to within two but Evans, under pressure from the charging Ollie Sleightholme, missed the conversion. Saints swiftly made him pay and after Cardiff failed to clear their lines on the restart, Dingwall put Hendy through a gap and the Northampton winger juggled the ball towards the line before gathering just in time to score.
For good measure Hendy then rubber-stamped his fine performance by chasing down Adams on the left. The 31-year-old Wales winger has lost a yard or two of pace but it was a significant intervention from Hendy, effectively extinguishing Cardiff’s hopes of victory before Dingwall added a fourth for Northampton at the death.
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