Northampton failed in a spirited second-half fightback as Leinster ran out 20-17 winners in their Investec Champions Cup clash at Croke Park to reach the final for a third successive year.
The repeat of the 2011 final was a mismatch in the first hour as winger James Lowe scored a hat-trick against the Gallagher Premiership leaders, who suffered from a high error rate.
82,300 spectators watched in Dublin as the first English club to play in the home of the Gaelic sport fired just a few shots before George Hendy crossed and gave them hope of an upset.
Then Northampton began to look more like the daredevil side that took the Premiership by storm this season and when Tom Seabrook touched down with six minutes left they had Leinster on the ropes.
But the four-time champions – who lost to La Rochelle in the last two finals – persevered and will now face Toulouse or Harlequins at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on May 25, who meet in the second semi-final on Sunday.
Leinster start strongly before the Saints mount a brave fightback
Perhaps as a sign of nerves, the Saints started giving the ball away cheaply and worse was to come when Jamison Gibson-Park scored a penalty near their line and threw a long pass to Lowe, who shot inside and scored achieved.
The early attack continued as Lowe strolled over for his second try after Gibson-Park sent in an excellent clearance from the attacking Caelan Doris.
There was no respite for the underdogs as they conceded penalty after penalty, one for a pulverized scrum and another for an offside call at the restart, and Ross Byrne was able to score a further three points.
Northampton’s attack sparked briefly and produced a half-chance which was canceled out by poor timing, but a penalty from Fin Smith at least put them in the lead.
The Saints needed to score but instead Lowe completed his hat-trick after a marauding run from Ryan Baird put Leinster in the lead.
Two Saints attacks in the 22 were thwarted by penalties, but eventually the pressure building on the home line became apparent when Hendy’s chip and chase were squandered by Leinster and the wing took the chance to touch down.
The second half was far more competitive and when Seabrook’s shot from Smith raced over the goal, the result was in the balance.
Leinster paid the price for taking the visitors’ foot off their feet, but they had the wisdom and resilience to end the tense final few minutes.
Lowe said afterward TNT Sports: “It is such a special place, Croke Park, the history that comes with it is second to none and there is no other stadium like this in the world. To have the opportunity and privilege to play a club game here.” [is special].”
“Something terrible almost happened – we were very lucky”
More from Lowe speaking to TNT Sports:
“We were able to get a score but we know Northampton are a great attacking team and we gave them too many opportunities. Something terrible almost happened!”
“I don’t think we kicked well, at least I personally do, and we let their boys run wild. Thanks to them, they pushed us until the end and we were pretty lucky.”
“We put in a performance that we are happy with, but there are things we need to sort out if we want to be at the top of this competition.”
“We have worked damn hard to get to the top and hope we do better in the final than we have in recent years.”
Northampton boss Phil Dowson:
“I’m incredibly proud of the boys’ performance, especially in defense. It’s frustrating that we were close when we made so many mistakes.”
“Fair play, Leinster are a good team and we got them close. We were much better in the second half and that was reflected on the scoreboard.”
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