Pollock a workhorse rather than show pony as Saints reach Prem final
Northampton 45-31 Leicester
This can safely enter the canon of classic East Midlands derbies. A first-half hat-trick from centre Tom Litchfield ensured the Saints will march to Twickenham for the second time in the three seasons as Northampton finally snuffed out some ferocious Leicester physicality.
As much as the Prem marketeers would have dreamed of this semi-final match-up in advance, it somehow exceeded expectations with the game seemingly played on a see-saw so much did momentum swing one way and then the other. There was a boatload of biff but there was beauty too, especially in the battle of the fly-halves between Fin Smith and Billy Searle.
Leicester had the edge at the scrum and the bruise brothers of Ollie Chessum and George Martin delivered some earth-shattering tackles. Yet on the biggest stage of club rugby, the defining performance was by Northampton back-row Henry Pollock. Accused by some of being a show pony, here he was Saints workhorse, making an astonishing 26 carries. Of course there were some highlight-reel moments, including a crucial turnover late in the first half, but this was Pollock carrying the team on his back, after Tigers got under his skin at Welford Road last month.
“I thought he was excellent,” Phil Dowson, the Saints director of rugby, said. “The thing that pleased me the most is that a lot of flak came his way post Welford Road and you can talk about loads of things that Henry does really well but I think his ability to learn from experience and apply that very quickly and effectively. I think how he has changed how he talks to referees has changed in probably three weeks and how he deals with confrontation has changed as well. I hope that gets noticed how quickly he has matured. His power is nuts and ability to beat players with his speed and to understand when to pass the ball and when not to.”
It was fitting that the killer blow was delivered by full-back George Furbank with six minutes remaining of his last appearance at Franklin’s Gardens as a Saints player. Just as Ollie Hassell-Collins’ excellent finish had opened the door for a Leicester comeback, hope was snuffed out by Furbank after some delicious interplay between Smith and Tommy Freeman.
The Friday night atmosphere was already electric by kick-off and there was barely a moment to draw breath from there on. Jamie Blamire levelled Smith. A kind bounce would have put Will Wand under the posts. Instead Northampton countered to devastating effect. Pollock broke past Jack van Poortvliet and found Rory Hutchinson on his shoulder with a basketball pass before Litchfield carved past Blamire for the opening score.
Leicester hit back immediately, although they benefited from a forward pass by Archie McParland in his own 22. Tigers are not ones to look a gift horse in the mouth and the close-range scrum set in motion a series of pick and goes which resulted in Hanro Liebenberg burrowing over.
Saints were their own worst enemies too often in this period and a penalty for dissent against Curtis Langdon gifted Leicester another ribbon-wrapped entry into the red zone. Leicester attack coach Pete Hewat dipped into his box of party tricks with Tigers shaping to form a maul only for Chessum to pop the ball out to Freddie Steward who powered through McParland’s tackle.
Then came a Northampton haymaker. A beautifully weighted diagonal kick by Freeman resulted in Steward and Searle colliding into each other and Litchfield gleefully mobbed up the bouncing ball. Now the momentum was all with Saints. Smith’s linebreak cut open Leicester’s defence and his kick ahead was expertly controlled and grounded by Freeman.
At 21-12, it felt Saints could have taken the game away from Leicester but Pollock had a try disallowed in a purple patch. Instead Leicester struck next. A high tackle by Emmanuel Iyogun on Joe Heyes, who had given him a good going over at the scrum, enabled Searle to kick to the corner. The maul was stopped but Searle produced a beautiful banana kick to Hassell-Collins who stepped inside Furbank and barrelled over Freeman.
The last word of a riproaring half went to Saints. Pollock won a holding penalty on Searle and after working their way to within a foot, McParland threw a long pass to Litchfield for his hat-trick score and a 26-19 half-time lead.
The first score of the second half felt crucial and it went to Saints with wonderful hands from Hutchinson and Smith putting Furbank over. Yet no sooner was there daylight on the scoreboard than Leicester were firmly back in the contest as Orlando Bailey shrugged off Freeman in the corner and Searle nailed a touchline conversion to make it a one-score game again.
Elliot Millar Mills had a try disallowed for a harsh knock-on against George Hendy. Leicester rubbed salt in the wounds with Archie van der Flier winning a scrum penalty, but he then undid his good work with a needless shot on Pollock.
England’s golden boy was in the wars as Martin landed a huge – but legal – tackle, but just as it looked like Leicester were winning the physical exchanges then Tom Pearson found a hole. Fantastic hands from Dingwall and Furbank put McParland under the posts. Hassell-Collins responded but just as Tom Wood did here in 2014 so the indelible image will be of Furbank diving over in the corner with six minutes remaining.
Match details
Scoring sequence: 5-0 Litchfield try, 7-0 Smith con, 7-5 Liebenberg try, 7-10 Steward try, 7-12 Searle con, 12-12 Litchfield try, 14-12 Smith con, 19-12 Freeman try, 21-12 Smith con, 21-17 Hassell-Collins try, 21-19 Searle con, 26-19 Litchfield try, 31-19 Furbank try, 33-19 Smith con, 33-24 Bailey try, 33-26 Searle con, 38-26 McParland try, 40-26 Smith con, 40-31 Hassell-Collins try, 45-31 Furbank try.
Northampton Saints: G Furbank; T Freeman, T Litchfield (F Dingwall 56), R Hutchinson, G Hendy (C Langdon 78); F Smith, A McParland (J Weimann 78); E Iyogun (D Fischetti 53), C Langdon (C Wright 53), E Millar Mills (L Green 63), A Coles (T Lockett 77), E Prowse (JJ van der Mescht 63), J Kemeny, T Pearson (C Chick 66), H Pollock.
Leicester Tigers: F Steward; A Radwan, W Wand (I Perese 56), O Bailey (S Kata 66), O Hassell-Collins; B Searle, J van Poortvliet (T Whiteley 75); N Smith (A van der Flier X), J Blamire (C Clare 56), J Heyes (W Hurd 66), G Martin (C Henderson 73), O Chessum, H Liebenberg, T Reffell, J Moro (O Cracknell 63).
Referee: Luke Pearce.
[Source: Daily Telegraph]
