Cohen rescues slipshod Saints

Northampton qualified for the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup after restricting Ulster to a three-point victory at Ravenhill on Friday night. It was sufficient for the Saints to march on from Pool Six but the signs are that it will be a short journey.

Northampton, who won the cup in 2000, beating Munster 9-8 in the final at Twickenham, will, as a result of Friday's defeat, not have a home draw, an advantage that has proved so invaluable. They lost the skirmish in Belfast 16-13 but won the pool campaign, although a total of eight points in the group was a modest return.

The best that could be said for Northampton after Friday's game was that at times they defended heroically but the most worrying aspect for their coach, Wayne Smith, was the lacklustre performance of their forwards.

They were comprehensively outplayed by an Ulster eight who were magnificently led by Andy Ward. The Saints' scrum was in disarray, their line-out almost anonymous and they were fortunate that David Humphreys, so crucial to Ulster's cause, gave one of his least effective displays at stand-off.

Red hand at night is usually the signal for Humphreys's delight at Ravenhill but he kicked poorly, took several wrong options and failed to exploit fully the outstanding service provided by his exuberant pack.

By the end Humphreys had to check whether his scrum cap and his senses were still in place after taking some high hits, notably from Chris Budgen and Mark Soden, offences which earned both forwards yellow cards.

Humphreys recovered sufficiently to drop a goal in injury time, the kick that won Ulster the match even though, under the circumstances, it was a pyrrhic victory. They needed tries and lots of them to make further progress in the competition and despite dominating play they could manage just one. Humphreys kicked a penalty to touch and when the pack drove forward from a catch and drive, the scrum-half Neil Doak found a gap. Although he was hauled down just short, the flanker Neil McMillan burrowed over.

Northampton's sole response in the first half was a penalty by Paul Grayson and the decisive score came eight minutes after the interval, a quite brilliant finish by Ben Cohen. The England wing was sent through a gap by a beautifully timed pass from Grayson and in a 50-yard run to the line, swerved inside and out to leave the full-back Bryn Cunningham on his backside. It was a touch of class, an element so sorely lacking in the Ulster three-quarter line.

Incredibly, Northampton found themselves 10-7 in front after spending most of the contest pinned to the ropes. Six minutes after his wonderful try, Cohen was sent to the sin-bin for killing the ball and still Ulster did not create a try-scoring opportunity.

Humphreys, who began by missing two penalties into a strong wind from relatively easy positions, dropped a goal to level the scores at 10-10 after 51 minutes, Grayson edging Northampton ahead again with a penalty in the 67th minute.

Doak made it 13-13 with a penalty before Humphreys dropped his second goal three minutes into added time.

It secured a victory which Ulster thoroughly deserved, but what they needed to qualify for the quarter-finals was a minor miracle.

Northampton look forward to the return to their back row of Andrew Blowers and Budge Pountney, both of whom were desperately missed but they have serious problems in the front five. The Saints did not remotely look like a team equipped to win the blue riband of Europe.