James Lowe scored a hat-trick as Leinster edged Northampton Saints 20-17 at Croke Park on Saturday to secure their place in a third successive Champions Cup final.
Despite dominating a large part of the game, Leinster were made to cling on in Dublin against a Northampton side that were full of errors in front of over 82,000 supporters.
Lowe scored 15 of his side’s points through those tries with Ross Byrne kicking one conversion and a penalty, while George Hendy and Tom Seabrook crossed for Saints.
Click here for scorers
Perhaps in a sign of nerves, Saints started by giving the ball away cheaply and there was worse to come when a penalty close to their line saw Jamison Gibson-Park fling a long pass to Lowe, who cut inside to score.
And the early onslaught continued when Lowe strolled over for his second try after Gibson-Park flicked on a superb offload from the charging Caelan Doris.
There was no respite for the underdogs as they gave up penalty after penalty, one of them at a pulverised scrum and another for offside at the restart, and Byrne was able to kick another three points.
Northampton’s attack ignited briefly, creating a half chance that vanished through poor timing, but a Fin Smith penalty at least got them off the mark.
Saints needed to score but instead Lowe completed his hat-trick after a marauding run from Ryan Baird put Leinster on the front foot.
The Irish province’s ability to keep the ball alive depleted Northampton’s stock of defenders, giving Lowe another easy try.
Two Saints attacks in the 22 were foiled by penalties but eventually the pressure that was building on the home line told when Hendy’s chip and chase was spilt by Leinster and the wing seized the chance to touch down.
The second-half was proving far more of a contest and when Seabrook raced over with Smith converting, the result hung in the balance.
Leo Cullen’s men were paying the price for taking their foot off the visitors’ throat but they had the smarts and resilience to close out the tense final few minutes.
Leinster, who have lost the last two Champions Cup finals, will face the winner of the Toulouse v Harlequins semi-final at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on May 25.
The teams
Leinster: 15 Ciarán Frawley, 14 Jordan Larmour, 13 Robbie Henshaw, 12 Jamie Osborne, 11 James Lowe, 10 Ross Byrne, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Caelan Doris (c), 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Ryan Baird, 5 Joe McCarthy, 4 Ross Molony, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Dan Sheehan, 1 Andrew Porter
Replacements: 16 Rónan Kelleher, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Michael Ala’alatoa, 19 Jason Jenkins, 20 Jack Conan, 21 Luke McGrath, 22 Harry Byrne, 23 Jimmy O’Brien
Northampton Saints: 15 George Furbank, 14 James Ramm, 13 Tommy Freeman, 12 Fraser Dingwall, 11 George Hendy, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Juarno Augustus, 7 Sam Graham, 6 Courtney Lawes (c), 5 Alex Coles, 4 Alex Moon, 3 Trevor Davison, 2 Curtis Langdon, 1 Alex Walle
Replacements: 16 Sam Matavesi, 17 Emmanuel Iyogun, 18 Elliot Millar Mills, 19 Temo Mayanavanua, 20 Angus Scott-Young, 21 Tom James, 22 Tom Litchfield, 23 Tom Seabrook
Referee: Mathieu Raynal (France)
Assistant Referee: Pierre Brousset (France), Luc Ramos (France)
TMO: Thomas Charabas (France)
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