Give Leicester a sniff of a Premiership final and the outcome is usually inevitable. Not this time. A 78th-minute try from Northampton's England flanker Tom Wood earned 14-man Saints a win which had seemed all but impossible for lengthy periods of a thrillingly combustible game. For the first time in 10 years the Tigers will not be featuring in a season-ending Twickenham finale and there will be new champions of England this season.
Northampton, last year's losing finalists, had always hoped this would be the night they atoned for a litany of past failures, rather than suffer the same old recurring nightmare. When Leicester ran in two first-half tries through Manu Tuilagi and Ben Youngs and led by eight points with 20 minutes left against depleted opponents there seemed only one winner. Instead, against all odds, Saints fought their way back to inflict Leicester's first ever Premiership semi-final loss and end a sickly sequence of nine defeats and a draw against their east Midlands neighbours.
It will be a numbing result for Leicester, who must have believed they had the game won. Richard Cockerill took defeat gamely – "We got what we deserved; our discipline cost us" – but a relieved Wood was swift to emphasise the Saints are only halfway to trophy heaven. "We've worked too hard for too long to come away with nothing this season," he stressed. "It'll be criminal if we don't [win the final]." This was not the best of results, either way, for the England head coach, Stuart Lancaster. Wood, Dylan Hartley, Courtney Lawes, Stephen Myler, Ben Foden, Luther Burrell and Lee Dickson will all now be unavailable for next month's first Test against New Zealand, with the second semi-final between Saracens and Harlequins still to come.
Northampton did not always deliver the best of themselves but their determination to win – or, rather, their refusal to lose – was extraordinary. The summer signing spree which brought George North, Kahn Fotuali'i and Alex Corbisiero to the club may yet pay off after all and, in addition to the Premiership final, they have next week's Amlin Challenge Cup final in Cardiff to look forward to.
The most relieved man in the stadium was undoubtedly their Australian prop Salesi Ma'afu, who was sent off after 56 minutes for punching Tom Youngs. Ma'afu struck Youngs with a left uppercut which left the referee, JP Doyle, little option but to dismiss him. While it may have been partly retaliatory, it was unquestionably dumb; self-inflicted wounds are inexcusable on these kind of occasions. Leicester also had three players sin-binned and Doyle had his work cut out from the start.
Something lively is pretty much guaranteed whenever these two sides collide. Punch-ups, red cards and genuine antipathy have consistently been woven into the spiky east Midlands narrative and this latest instalment was no different. A warm, clear evening was already riven with tension long before kick-off. When Wood admitted before the game he was sick of losing to Leicester he spoke for every one of his club's long-suffering supporters.
The question, as ever, was one of composure: who would be able to keep it as the pressure ratcheted ever upwards? Despite an 11th-minute penalty from Toby Flood for a tackle by Wood on Louis Deacon before the latter had the ball, it was Northampton who looked the more dangerous initially. Fotuali'i almost sneaked down the short side for a poacher's try and Phil Dowson thought he had scored at the back of the ensuing lineout only for the referee to award Leicester a free-kick instead because of a premature Saints jump.
It was one of those moments when the simple act of not conceding any points felt like a major victory for Leicester, although Myler soon tied up the scores with a coolly-taken penalty after a quick Fotuali'i tap had panicked the retreating defence. The local relief swiftly evaporated, however, when the Tigers roared straight back down to the other end and Flood put Tuilagi over after Burrell had struggled to hold his England centre rival earlier in the move.
The drama had barely begun. After the ball fell loose following another compelling Tuilagi charge, Foden launched a splendid counterattack which led to Niki Goneva being sin-binned for obstruction and Myler slotting a second penalty to reduce the deficit to 10-6. If the skill level was not always impeccable, the excitement levels could scarcely have been higher and the Leicester bench practically disappeared into orbit when, despite being a man down, Ben Youngs sniped over at the back of an attacking lineout to give the visitors an 11-point cushion.
Only after Dan Bowden had been sin-binned for a dangerous tackle on Tom Collins and North subsequently crashed over from close range with 15 minutes left did the Saints, determinedly upping the tempo, suddenly start to believe again. A 72nd-minute Owen Williams penalty hushed the home support again but the decisive moment arrived with just over two minutes left when Burrell fed Wood who dived gleefully over wide on the left. Ultimately it was Leicester who suffered the sucker punch which, for so long, seemed to be heading Northampton's way.
Northampton Foden; Collins (Mercey, 58), G Pisi (Wilson, 65), Burrell, North; Myler, Fotuali'i (Dickson, 63); A Waller (Corbisiero, 52), Haywood, Ma'afu, Manoa (Day, 68), Lawes, Wood, Dowson (capt; Clark, 56), Dickinson.
Tries North, Wood Con Myler Pens Myler 3. Sent off Ma'afu 57
Leicester Tait (Thompstone, 69); Morris, Tuilagi, Bowden, Goneva; Flood (Williams, 63), B Youngs; Ayerza, T Youngs, Mulipola, Deacon (Kitchener, 68), Slater (capt), Gibson (Mafi, 68), Salvi, Crane.
Tries Tuilagi, B Youngs Cons Flood 2 Pen Flood, Williams.
Sin-bin Goneva 29, Bowden 46, T Youngs 57.
Referee JP Doyle Att 13,441.
