Advertisement League of Ireland Horse Racing TV Listings GAA Fixtures The Video Review Sport meets news, current affairs, society & pop culture Rugby Weekly Extra Dive into all the news and analysis 3 times a week The Football Family Weekly insights from the week’s big talking points Advertisement More Stories Northampton Saints' Tommy Freeman and Henry Pollock.Billy Stickland/INPHO FreeSaints March On 'We can take anyone on. They said Leinster by 30, but here we are' Northampton toast a famous Champions Cup win in Dublin. 9.23pm, 3 May 2025 Share options IT WAS HARD to know where to look when full time arrived and Leinster’s Champions Cup nightmare became cold, hard reality. At the Havelock Square end of the Aviva Stadium the Northampton players roared and jumped as the emotion of a famous Champions Cup win washed over them. On the sideline down below the replacements and staff spilled onto the pitch. The TV screens in the press box showed the Saints coaching staff hugging in the coaching box, the celebrations leaving director of rugby Phil Dowson holding a broken pair of glasses. Northampton have a rich history but this was one of their great days. It’s rare to have such an underdog story at this late stage of any elite competition, but not only were the Premiership side widely expected to lose today, many felt it would be heavily one-sided. Northampton Saints fans celebrate the win.Laszlo Geczo / INPHO Laszlo Geczo / INPHO / INPHO Instead they turned in a brilliant team performance to dump Leinster out of the competition they crave so desperately. The province won’t compete in the Champions Cup final for the first time since the Covid-impacted days of 2021. The Saints march into their first decider since 2011. Advertisement They did it with quality, composure and a striking sense of confidence, surviving three yellow cards and scoring five tries against a team who didn’t concede one single points in their two previous knock-out games. “We probably came in as the underdogs but the fight we showed, the squad we’ve got, we know we can do this performance,” said winger Tommy Freeman, who continued his hot streak with a stunning first-half hat-trick. We know if we can get our game on the pitch we can take anyone on. They said Leinster by 30, but here we are. “We put our game on the pitch, things start to happen, we stretch defences. Down by 13 we’ve got to show heart, we’ve got to show love for each other, and I thought we did that for 80 minutes and we got the result.” “I don’t think I’m surprised,” added Fraser Dingwall. Northampton's Tom West and Angus Scott-Young celebrate after the game.Laszlo Geczo / INPHO Laszlo Geczo / INPHO / INPHO “In this group there’s so much talent, so much connection. We know what we’ve got within us. We were written off by a lot of people and we probably proved a point to a lot of folk around how good we are. “We’re a different team to last year, that’s the important thing, no matter what strengths we had last year, we had different ones this year. We took a lot of learnings from the game last year and I hope you saw that. We turned up today wanting to be aggressors and we want to put our game on them. “When we get things right we challenge anybody in the world. Yeah, we’re buzzing.” Deserved winners, but they were perhaps fortunate with some calls by referee Pierre Brousset. The French official’s decision to not allow Ross Byrne’s late try created confusion on the pitch and in the stands. The wait made for a tense end game, but Northampton survived. “The thing that was going through my head was that if they score here, it feels cruel,” said Dowson. “I know sport’s cruel and I know sport’s unfair and that’s the beauty of it but to be leading, I think we led the whole game, I don’t know. To have lost it in the last minute with a bobbled ball and a referee’s decision. “Was it a knock on? Did Colesy [Alex Coles] release? It’s all very intricate and subjective, and the referee makes a decision there and if we’d lost that I would have been gutted for the players because I know how hard they’ve worked, how much they’ve put into it. I see the lads at half-time blowing and I’m like, whoosh, that’s a tough first 40 minutes. “That’s what was going through my head, it’s so close and we concede here that doesn’t feel quite right, and what do I say then to try and build them back up? Related Reads 'We get a little bit jittery' - Cullen regrets Leinster's 'horrific' defeat A team of spirited Saints make Leinster look human again Leinster's dream dead as Saints storm into Champions Cup final “Then as soon as we get [the turnover] I think Juarno [Agustus] took the ball off them on their tap and go, I just said to the coaches, we’re going to Cardiff, and Sam Vesty broke my glasses.” Ciarán Kennedy View 22 comments Send Tip or Correction Embed this post To embed this post, copy the code below on your site Email “'We can take anyone on. They said Leinster by 30, but here we are'”. Recipient's Email Feedback on “'We can take anyone on. They said Leinster by 30, but here we are'”. Your Feedback Your Email (optional) Report a Comment Please select the reason for reporting this comment. Please give full details of the problem with the comment... This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. 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