Following a 45-31 win over Leicester Tigers in the PREM Rugby semi-final at Franklin’s Gardens on Friday, here’s our player ratings for Northampton Saints.
15 George Furbank: A fairy tale finale for the Northampton captain, marking his last home appearance with the two second half tries which took the game away from Leicester and booked the full-back a farewell appearance in next Saturday’s Gallagher PREM final. For eight years Furbank has been the darling of the Gardens and right to the last moment he did not disappoint. In a febrile atmosphere he was class and calmness personified. How he will be missed. 9
14 Tommy Freeman: Ended the game in an angry wrestle with England team mate Ollie Chessum, but that was the only time this try machine was not in full control. Week in week out he delivers either for club or country and tonight was no different. He scored his 17th try of the season and what a beauty it was, Fin Smith breaking the line and kicking through for the wing to run onto, control the ball with one foot and dab down. It summed up the class of this Saints side. 8
13 Tom Litchfield: What a performance from a 24-year old enjoying the season of his life. He had already been named Saints players’ player of the season and showed why by becoming only the fifth player to score a play-off hat-trick. Litchfield kept England star Fraser Dingwall out of the starting line-up and took just 87 seconds to justify the selection with the fastest try in play-off history. His second followed on 17 minutes and his third on the stroke of half-time, showcasing his immense power. 8
12 Rory Hutchinson: If you’re looking for a weak link in this Northampton side you’ll be searching for a long time. It is certainly not at inside centre where Hutchinson oozes class, linking the inside backs with the magic men out wide. On 17 minutes his eye for the half chance led him to grubber through for Litchfield to score his second. Shortly after half-time his pass out the back to Smith made Furbank’s opening try. 8
11 George Hendy: Quiet in the first half, Hendy came to life in the second period, combining with Furbank to make hard yards from difficult positions. He made key interventions to set the tone straight after the interval, twice tearing out of defence. The second time led to Furbank’s first try. 7
10 Fin Smith: To get player of the match on an evening when Litchfield scored a hat-trick, Henry Pollock made 26 carries and Furbank bagged two tries, is testament to how good Smith was. After a testing year with first the Lions, then England, he has come onto his game late in the season. Here he had the ball on a string. His kicking behind enemy lines was on point, his timing and understanding of when to feed his strike players quite exceptional. He admitted afterwards his team had been nervous coming in. It didn’t show in the composed performance he orchestrated. 9
9 Archie McParland: The sight of Alex Mitchell running on the pitch before the game was a reminder to Saints fans of what they could have had at scrum-half. Instead they got young Archie and boy did he deliver, capping a fine performance with a stunning try. McParland posed such a threat that Leicester had to narrow up in defence. In the final reckoning that cost them. 8
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The forwards
8 Henry Pollock: Looked a million dollars all night. From his first-minute counter attack, which led to the first of Litchfield’s three tries, to kicking the ball into the crowd to end a seismic encounter, Pollock was the standout performer. A month ago at Leicester he was all style and no substance. This could not have been more different. He was Saints’ primary power carrier, his footwork exceptional, and would have had a wonderful try had it not been disallowed for a fractional offside. All in all, a 26-carry, five-star show in front of England boss Steve Borthwick. 9
7 Tom Pearson: An absolute workhorse all evening, his carries and link plays the glue binding Saints’ effort together. So much of the game he will remember fondly but none more than the way he straightened to run onto a pass and open up the field for McParland to score what turned out to be the decisive try. 8
6 Josh Kemeny: Wearing the No.6 shirt Tom Wood immortalised when scoring the try that broke Leicester’s hearts to win the 2014 semi-final on the same pitch, Kemeny was everywhere. A lot of his best work went largely unseen alongside the fireworks of Pearson and Pollock, but that back-row balance served Saints magnificently. 7
5 Ed Prowse: Muscled up alongside Coles in a Northampton forward unit that refused to take a back step on home turf. Tigers brought their power game through Chessum, Martin and Liebenberg in particular but Prowse manned the barricades and his team were suitably rewarded. 7
4 Alex Coles: The England star knew what he had to do after the horrors of Welford Road where Northampton lacked discipline and failed to execute at the set-piece. A month ago their failings cost Saints a 41-17 battering, this time they won 16 of 16 lineouts, held their scrum up and emphatically turned the tables. Coles has had a fine year. He will hope the best is still to come. 8
3 Elliot Millar Mills: In his final game at the Gardens before his summer move to Newcastle Red Bulls, the Stockport-born Scot enjoyed a notable evening. Playing only because of the knee injury that prematurely ended Trevor Davison’s season, the 33-year old saw off Nicky Smith, Leicester’s outstanding loosehead. His night should have been even better, as he spun and reached over the line to touch down what would have been his first Saints try in 49 matches. But Hendy’s knock-on chalked it off. 7
2 Curtis Langdon: Returned from injury at Harlequins a week ago and proved his worth with a 54-minute shift. Northampton had been schooled in the lineout and at scrum time by Leicester last month. They knew a repeat and a season on top of the table would count for nothing. With Langdon making only his second appearance since April 10, they secured set-piece ball and won the day. 7
1 Emmanuel Iyogun: Led Saints out on the occasion of his 100th appearance and was in the thick of it throughout. The 25-year old competed fiercely in the tight as Northampton avenged their set-piece mauling at Welford Road last month. He might have been yellow carded but ever-excellent referee Luke Pearce rightly adjudged the head-on-head collision with Joe Heyes to have been only worthy of a Tigers penalty. 7
Replacements: The bench boys brought energy and upped the tempo, with JJ van der Mescht and Callum Chick prominent. Craig Wright was sin-binned but it mattered not. 7
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