Leinster’s turn to taste defeat at home as Northampton come storming back

Nothing lost beyond redemption. Confidence dented, a pool crowbarred open and a Leinster team beaten in an area of the park they had prided themselves on controlling.

The injured Seán O’Brien and Cian Healy may have made a difference had they played but a collective Leinster effort that fell short at the breakdown, failed to provide platforms for their pacy men and ultimately erred too often in its accuracy.

The fall has hurt bout nothing is irrevocably broken.

Jamie Heaslip’s simple fumble at the end as Leinster surged forward on the Northampton line seeking the winning score seemed to make him more a symbol of Leinster’s evening of pain than the villain against a side that arrived in Dublin with a single-minded notion of regaining dignity.

Succeeding there, Northampton repeated what they did to Ulster last season, when they bounced back from a home defeat to win at Ravenhill. With it they also opened the pool that Leinster continue to lead four points ahead and a healthy number of tries and points, if it ever comes down to that.

Castres away
Next up is Castres away in the second weekend of January before Ospreys come to the RDS for the final pool match. A home win for Castres could launch them back into contention. Although, given their points lead, Leinster's hands are still firmly on the tiller.

The match was a frustration for most of the 47,370 crowd. Northampton kicked for territory from the start, tested Rob Kearney almost a dozen times and he dealt with each as the Premiership side challenged Leinster to largely play out of their half from a closed pitch.

On the night Leinster couldn't do it and as the ferocious struggle for dominance at the breakdown continued, it was evident Dave Kearney and lively Luke Fitzgerald on the wings, as well as Brian O'Driscoll would dine on slow ball and scraps of broken play.

An early George North try lent confidence to Northampton. A lineout followed by a few phases took the ball wide of the posts and the Lions winger, playing opposite O'Driscoll, burst through at pace, Steve Myler converting for 0-7 after six minutes.

North was moved in from the wing to assist both in attack and defence and there he shone, coach Jim Mallinder picking his noteworthy contribution out after the match.

Few would have said then that Ian Madigan’s penalty five minutes later would be the only Leinster score in the half. But it was and but for a brave mismatched tackle by Madigan after North intercepted on 24 minutes, Northampton’s lead could have been greater.

Led by hooker Dylan Hartley, Courtney Lawes, Callum Clarke, Tom Wood and Samu Manoa, Northampton relished the physical pitch of the game and grew with it, their rolling maul ruled out by the TMO on 26 minutes.

Mike Ross put in a hard shift, one first-half tackle knocking Lawes back but there was little continuity from Leinster and a Myler kick that missed just before the break was a let off for the home side.

On the resumption Leinster capitalised on a Lee Dickson fumble, the subsequent scrum pushing forward and both Ross and Fitzgerald advancing the ball. All that came there was a penalty and Leinster’s territorial gain was short lived.

Another Northampton penalty and again they opted for touch, their surge taking them to the Leinster posts. A Manoa knock on just feet out was rightly questioned by Northampton as the number eight looked like he'd knocked it back.

Went behind
Ten minutes later fullback Ken Pisi burst through but his offload went behind support player Jamie Elliott with Leinster's line open. That was two lets offs inside 10 minutes and Leinster were still in the match.

But Leinster’s scrum was going backwards and Myler added another from the boot for 6-10. Hands in a ruck and again Madigan pegged them back before replacement Kahn Fotuali’I landed a drop goal on 79 minutes for 9-13.

“We were on the wrong side of the penalty count,” observed Leinster coach Matt O’Connor.

Leinster had done little creatively but they were still stubbornly ambitious. The crowd, growing impatient for some trademark flamboyance, were finally allowed into the match for the final phase of play. But what a long wait it was for that piece of engineering.

Leinster knew they were going to have to “Munster” the game and once in possession began the phases and inched up towards the Northampton line. It looked like a prosperous end and as many had watched JJ Hanrahan step in for a last-gasp try only minutes before on the televisions all around the stadium, the glorious image from Perpignan was fixed in the minds of the Leinster fans.

But when the ball went to ground, the length of the pitch away as a forlorn Heaslip bowed his great mass to the ground, Northampton winger James Elliott’s run a procession to the Leinster goal, a small English section of Lansdowne Road broke the stadium silence. A winning streak broken and no bonus point to boot.