RUGBY: 3 mins:Scrum one – Leinster put-in but back-pedal immediately, although Jamie Heaslip makes yardage off the base only to knock-on, carrying one-handed, when tackled low by Roger Wilson.
4 mins: Scrum two – Both frontrows pop up as Roger Wilson picks and offloads to put Northampton flankers Phil Dowson and Calum Clark on the front foot.
6 mins: Scrum three – Jonathan Sexton's huge punt from inside the 22 goes over the dead-ball line, resulting in a scrum back that sees Soane Tonga'uiha and Dylan Hartley inflict damage on Mike Ross and Richardt Strauss. Roman Poite signals for a penalty, but the Saints play advantage, attacking the blindside with Clark putting Dowson over for the opening try.
9 mins:Scrum four – Leinster put-in on Saints' 22 just after Tonga'uiha receives treatment. Heaslip, again, feels the pressure and picks quickly.
11 mins:Scrum five – Gordon D'Arcy knock-on. Poite resets the scrum, "Green three (Brian Mujati) not straight". Wilson steps inside Kevin McLaughlin, tackled by Heaslip, Shane Horgan steals to feed Seán O'Brien. Clark gives up a penalty which Sexton kicks to make it 3-7.
18 mins:Scrum six – Strauss knock-on. Ross is mangled by Tonga'uiha ("Three blue," confirms the French referee) and Steve Myler makes it 3-10 from wide on the left.
23 mins:Scrum seven – Off a Leinster lineout, Horgan and O'Brien combine to put Brian O'Driscoll away. England fullback Ben Foden forces a knock-on with his try-saving tackle. After a reset, Ross buckles and is then forced skywards as the Saints pack march out of trouble. Penalty.
25 mins:Tighthead Mujati is sinbinned for tugging Healy's jersey.
27 mins:Scrum eight – Tom Mercey comes in at tighthead, Clark goes off, and Jimmy Downey moves to openside as they walk Leinster almost 10 metres. Leo Cullen seeks counsel with Poite. "Your team (is) coming up under the pressure – speak to your players." Leo gets his point across, then retreats. Myler kicks the Saints into the kill zone.
31 mins: Scrum nine – Foden shrugs off O'Driscoll for the second try, which came from six uninterrupted phases after the seven-man Saints hook against the head in the Leinster 22. The Northampton scrum seems poised to win the Heineken Cup on their own.
36 mins:Scrum 10 – Another handling error. Mujati and Clark return as Hartley's distinctive Kiwi twang is picked up over the ref-link: "N-R-G boys!" Total control now. Seven phases later, TMO Giulio de Santis gives a battered Hartley their third try in the right corner. Half-time follows Myler's unsuccessful conversion attempt. 6-22.
46 mins: Scrum 11 – Healy knock-on. Rock solid, Wilson picks and feeds Lee Dickson, but Shane Jennings and Heaslip make a huge double hit on Jon Clarke in midfield.
51 mins:Scrum 12 – All changed, changed utterly: a terrible beauty is born. D'Arcy held up over the line. Scrum-five. Ross has figured out Tonga'uiha. On the eighth carry Sexton goes though Clarke, thanks to a clever Heaslip screen, for his second try. The conversion makes it 20-22.
55 mins: Scrum 13 – Foden, of all people, knocks-on in midfield near his 10-metre line. Leinster take the Saints' hit before Ross, Strauss and Healy force a penalty. Sexton kicks Leinster ahead for the first time, 23-22.
63 mins:Scrum 14 – Hartley is gasping for air. A bloodied Wilson goes off while Dowson is in the bin. Heinke van der Merwe sends Mujati upwards, Poite raises his arm for advantage as Heaslip picks and charges up-field. Carries by O'Brien, Strauss and Cullen, brilliantly gathering on his fingertips, lay the platform for Hines' try that makes it 31-22. Sexton's conversion kills off a jaded Northampton.
68 mins:Scrum 15 – Hartley's withdrawal seems like an acceptance of defeat. Scrappy ball gets to Foden who breaks and, finally, links with Chris Ashton, but the heavily strapped winger is injured by Isa Nacewa's crunching tackle.
73 mins:Scrum 16 – A reminder of the way it was: Northampton bulldoze the Leinster scrum.
77 mins:Scrum 17 – Saints pressure forces more quick hands from Heaslip. Stan Wright is left alone with the Saints frontrow. The Cook Islander cheerfully gives Mercey a dig.
78 mins: Scrum 18 – Jason Harris-Wright gets in on the act, but the scrum is no longer relevant.
– GAVIN CUMMISKEY
