sport news Leinster 20-17 Northampton: A James Lowe hat-trick secures a Champions Cup ... trends now

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Northampton staged an heroic fightback at Croke Park before being ejected from the Champions Cup in agonising fashion as a James Lowe hat-trick propelled Leinster into yet another final.

The Premiership leaders came to Dublin as clear outsiders against the perennial challengers for the ultimate prize in European rugby and when they trailed 20-3 shortly after half-time, it threatened to turn ugly for the Saints. They had played ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’ in the stadium before the delayed kick-off and oval-ball murder appeared to be on the cards, but it didn’t turn out that way.

Normally, when Leinster go for the jugular, they don’t miss. But in what was a one-sided semi-final for so long, the hosts couldn’t put their English rivals away. Instead, the visitors climbed out of a deep hole and tries by George Hendy and Tom Seabrook brought them to the brink of an epic upset before the Irish province clung on to clinch their place in the showpiece at Tottenham Stadium on May 25.

There, they will face either Toulouse or Harlequins and strive to secure a record-equalling fifth title. Meanwhile, Northampton will hope to shake off the disappointment of this near-miss and focus on trying to win the league, from their current position of strength.

At the final whistle, Saints players held their heads in dejection. They had come so close to a result which would have gone down as one of the club’s greatest, from a position of extreme adversity. But defeat meant an end to the European career of the magnificent Courtney Lawes, who led his team with typical authority, ahead of a summer move across the Channel to Brive. He will miss these huge fixtures, against the great and the good — and they will miss him.

Northampton started the game in jittery fashion. In the ninth

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