Hartley not bothered by underdogs tag
The feisty England hooker was speaking following a ridiculously easy semi-final victory over Perpignan in Milton Keynes yesterday, a game that bore no resemblance to Saturday’s ferociously competitive encounter in Dublin.
“I think we go into that game as underdogs, I’ve already been told that,” said Hartley.
“But that’s good for us. We’ve been under the radar going into this game. I’ve read a bit of press and watched the Rugby Club, and people are still picking things about us that aren’t so good. It’s quite nice to be able to put the two fingers up to the doubters. We’re in a cup final and if our mindset is right, we can beat any team on our day.”
Northampton coach Jim Mallinder expected a much tougher task but, in fairness, that wouldn’t be hard.
Rarely has a team performed so poorly in a Heineken Cup semi-final. Or you could put it another way and say, rarely has so poor a team reached a Heineken Cup semi-final.
“The difference between the team we played (today) and the one we meet in the final?” said Northampton coach Jim Mallinder after the game.
“Leinster are full of quality international players. All those players are used to playing big games on the big stage. They also have recent experience of winning big games in cup competitions, like the European Cup.”
Come the day, Northampton will be prepared, just like they were yesterday. They won the battle up front and moved Perpignan around the pitch cleverly through the intelligent kicking of Stephen Myler.
And it was all kicked off by a bit of brilliance from James Downey, the former Leinster, Connacht and Munster centre. Downey’s soft hands put Phil Dowson through a gap towards the line. He was stopped short but five men were lining up to finish off the move and Ben Foden strolled over.
Myler landed one penalty and missed another before the Saints scored their second try. A horrible knock-on from Julien Candelon set the platform for the English side and when the ball was whipped wide Jon Clarke jogged through a gap.
Myler, who converted both tries, also landed a second penalty before half-time, and with Candelon sent to the bin for clattering into Dickson from a restart, it looked as though the Saints’ march to Cardiff wouldn’t be hindered.
Seconds before the break, however Guilhem Guirado mauled his way over. Jerome Porical’s conversion made it 20-7 at the break, a scoreline which flattered the Catalans.
Brief flattery, however, was about as good as it got for Perpignan.
Myler’s 45th minute penalty proved to be only score of the second-half, a 40 minutes that will probably be best remembered for the Northampton scrum completely annihilating their opposite number, thanks in part to Soane Tonga’uiha’s utter domination of France’s Nicolas Mas.
If Joe Schmidt and Leinster are to fear anything from the Saints, it will be this. Northampton’s list of things to watch out for will be much longer.
Scorers for Northampton: B Foden, J Clarke try each; S Myler 2 cons, 3 pens
Scorers for Perpignan: G Guirado try; J Porical con.
NORTHAMPTON: B Foden, C Ashton, J Clarke, J Downey, P Diggin, S Myler, L Dickson; S Tonga’uiha, D Hartley (c), B Mujati, C Lawes, C Day, C Clark, P Dowson, R Wilson.
Replacements: M Soronson for Day (75), S Geraghty for Clarke (78), T Mercey for Mujati (78), B Sharman for Hartley (79), J Ansbro for Foden (79), M Easter for Dickson (79) .
PERPIGNAN: J Porical, A Plante, D Marty, G Hume, J Candelon, N Laharrague, D Mele; P Freshwater, G Guirado, N Mas (c), R Alvarez Kairelis, R Tchale Watchou, G LeCorvec, B Guiry, D Chouly.
Replacements: H Tuilagi for Le Corvec (51), J Schuster for Freshwater (60), G Vilaceca for Alcarez Kairelis (68), J Michel for Porical (70), K Boulogne for Mele (74), C Gelifor Guirado (75), K Pulu for Mas (75).
Referee: G Clancy (IRFU).
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