Northampton 23 - 7 Perpignan: Saints brush Basques aside to march into Heineken final

Published on Sunday 1 May 2011 17:15

Northampton reached their first Heineken Cup final for 11 years after pummelling sole French survivors Perpignan in the Milton Keynes sunshine. They will play Leinster, who beat Toulouse 32-23 in Dublin on Saturday, on 21 May at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

England full-back Ben Foden gave Northampton momentum through a 15th-minute try and, when centre Jon Clarke touched down midway through the second quarter, Perpignan had no way back. Hooker Guilhem Guirado offered them a glimmer of hope with a try just before the break, yet it proved a false dawn as Saints turned the screw up front. Fly-half Stephen Myler kicked three penalties and two conversions for a 13-point haul, maintaining Northampton's hopes of a European and domestic double. They will secure an Aviva Premiership play-off place by beating relegation favourites Leeds Carnegie next weekend. Perpignan offered glimpses of their physical presence and silky running but, at 20-0 behind after 37 minutes, the Catalans gave themselves an insurmountable mountain to climb.

Northampton made one enforced change from the side that accounted for quarter-final opponents Ulster three weeks ago, England flanker Tom Wood replaced by Calum Clark in the back row alongside Phil Dowson and Roger Wilson, and had the first scoring opportunity, but Myler drifted an angled penalty well wide in breezy conditions, yet it proved merely a temporary reprieve for Perpignan. Dowson blasted through a huge midfield gap barely 60 seconds later and, as Perpignan's defence attempted to regroup, Paul Diggin found Myler, who delivered a scoring pass to Foden. Myler converted and added a giving Perpignan plenty to ponder as Saints had started discovering holes in their defence far too easily.

Myler then landed a penalty, leaving Perpignan 10-0 adrift and already playing catch-up on an occasion when their sometimes flaky discipline came under close scrutiny from Irish referee George Clancy. And matters quickly deteriorated for the visitors as they fell further behind before having a player sin-binned.

Saints centre Clarke made the most of slack defending to collect his team's second try, converted by Myler, before wing Julien Candelon received a yellow card. Candelon was fortunate he did not see red after taking out Northampton scrum-half Lee Dickson in mid-air and prompting an anxious moment as Dickson landed on his head and neck.

Another Myler penalty took Northampton out to a 20-0 advantage, but Perpignan gave themselves the slimmest of lifelines after Guirado powered over from close range right on half-time, with Jerome Porical's conversion cutting the deficit to 13 points.But Myler completed his penalty hat-trick in the second half to leave Perpignan 23-7 in arrears and, with Saints having inflicted untold first-half damage, they easily closed the game out.

Scorers: Northampton - Tries: Foden, Clarke. Cons: Myler 2. Pens: Myler 3. Perpignan: Tries: Guirado. Cons: Porical.

Northampton: Foden; Ashton, Clarke, Downey, Diggin; Myler, Dickson; Tonga'uiha, Hartley, Mujati, Lawes, Day, Dowson, Clark, Wilson. Replacements: Ansbro for Clarke (76), Commins for Dickson (79), Waller for Tonga'uiha (79), Sharman for Hartley (79), Mercey for Mujati (76), Sorenson for Day (73), Easter for Clark (79).

Perpignan: Porical; Plante, Marty, Hume, Candelon; Laharrague, Mele; Freshwater, Guirado, Mas, Alvarez, Tchale-Watchou, Le Corvec, Guiry, Chouly. Subs: Michel for Porical (70), Edmonds for Laharrague (72), Boulogne for Mele (72), Schuster for Freshwater (60), Geli for Guirado (73), Pulu for Mas (73), Vilaceca for Alvarez (67), Tuilagi for Le Corvec (50).