Late try seals Saints win

Llanelli 20 Northampton 22

England hooker Steve Thompson scored a spectacular late solo try to salvage Northampton’s season and put them within sight of the Heineken Cup quarter-finals.

Saints, struggling in the Zurich Premiership with just four wins all season, should secure a last-eight place if they beat pool three fall guys Glasgow at Franklin’s Gardens next Friday.

Saints captain Thompson, who had moved to the back row after flanker Andrew Blowers went off, struck two minutes from time as Llanelli tried desperately to preserve a 20-15 lead.

A 35-metre dash for glory saw him sidestep Scarlets full-back Garan Evans, before he cut back inside and dived over in celebratory fashion behind the posts.

Fly-half Paul Grayson kicked the simple conversion – he earlier notched five penalties – to finish with 17 points and send Llanelli spinning out of Europe.

Saints repeatedly had to absorb Llanelli pressure during a bruising forward battle at Stradey Park, but their character and commitment could never be questioned.

Given that pool two leaders Toulouse’s final home game is against Llanelli, also on Friday, Northampton are unlikely to finish top of their group.

But they will reach 20 points by beating Glasgow, which should be enough to clinch one of two best runners-up spots and an away quarter-final trip.

Given that Saints lost nine successive league games between September and late November, rugby director Alan Solomons parted company with the club and Grayson and Budge Pountney took the coaching reins, featuring at the Heineken Cup’s business end represents a remarkable effort.

Llanelli, though, not for the first time in European competition, were left to reflect on what might have been.

They are also struggling in the Celtic League, and several players are out of contract later this term – so tough times lie ahead for Scarlets rugby director and assistant Lions coach Gareth Jenkins.

Northampton arrived in west Wales without injured scrum-half Mark Robinson, so Johnny Howard deputised – and there was another appearance at outside centre for England wing Ben Cohen.

Llanelli paraded their Wales squad scrum-half Mike Phillips in midfield alongside Salesi Finau, and the game got off to an explosive start that tested the control of French referee Eric Darriere.

The first scrum collision erupted in a flurry of blows, and after the referee warned both front-rows, Saints prop Chris Budgen stamped on Llanelli skipper Simon Easterby’s shoulder at a ruck.

Budgen was sin-binned, and Scarlets fly-half Gareth Bowen kicked the resulting long-range penalty before his opposite number Grayson booted two penalties in five minutes for a 6-3 lead.

Llanelli failed to capitalise on Budgen’s temporary absence; yet after Bowen slotted an equalising penalty, they fronted up to a full-strength Saints pack and drove them backwards from a line-out.

With Northampton in reverse, flanker Thomas claimed the touchdown and secured an 11-6 advantage in deteriorating weather conditions.

Bowen compounded Northampton’s misery when he completed his penalty hat-trick 10 minutes before half-time – and with the home pack establishing supremacy, Saints found themselves facing concerted pressure.

Llanelli had another chance to threaten from a close-range line-out – the platform for their opening try – but Easterby opted for a kick instead, and Bowen’s touchline effort drifted wide.

It was a baffling decision by Easterby, and Northampton responded by ending the half on top when Grayson slotted two further penalties either side of bloodied flanker Corne Krige going off for treatment.

Former Springboks captain Krige did not return for the second period, and Llanelli had no intention of changing a game-plan built exclusively around their pack.

Bowen booted two more penalties during a third quarter dominated by the Llanelli forwards’ driving play, and with the referee content to punish every indiscretion – allowing neither side leeway on a glue-pot pitch – any attacking adventure was nullified.

Grayson narrowed the gap by kicking his fifth penalty after 63 minutes. But with scrum-half Dwayne Peel displaying Lions form, Llanelli seemingly possessed the one player capable of rising above the muddy morass.

Peel’s pace and constant sniping around the forward fringes gave Northampton a defensive headache, and it often required some last-gasp tackling to keep him out.

But Thompson had the final say in stunning fashion, silencing home fans by scoring a try which could turn Northampton’s season on its head following their consistently miserable pre-Christmas struggle.

Llanelli’s gloom, meanwhile, was compounded in injury time when Peel wasted a promising position by kicking the ball straight into touch – his first mistake on an afternoon which ultimately, and unexpectedly, turned sour for the Scarlets.