Northampton put some ordinary domestic form behind them to win their first European outing in a rain-lashed Glasgow yesterday. They scored the only try of the match within two minutes of the start and the Scots will wonder how they were caught cold on the biggest day of the season so far.
Northampton's coach Alan Solomans admitted the importance of the early score. "That was the key for us," he said. "We said before the match that it was important in the first 10 or 15 minutes to get points on the board before the pitch cut up too badly.
"I felt that we had the edge up front and that won us the game. In my experience with Ulster I've found that you need to win all your home matches in the Heineken Cup and two away from home," he said.
This was supposed to be the pinnacle of club rugby but dire conditions meant the match was an advert only for long studs. Heavy overnight rain made running rugby impossible. Time and again players with a stack of international caps let the ball slip out of their grasp and passing was a high-risk enterprise.
Saints' early score came when Chris Budgen, a late replacement for the Scotland prop Tom Smith, rolled out of two tackles in the midfield and fed the centre Marc Stcherbina who had no trouble drawing the full-back Rory Kerr and sending Ben Cohen under the posts.
Shane Drahm kicked the conversion but that was all Northampton could manage in the first 40 minutes. One penalty did hit the posts and fell kindly for Darren Fox but the move was spoiled, as most of them were, when Corne Krige let slip the bar of soap.
Fox soon found himself in the sin-bin for foul play but Saints were also to have a one-man advantage after the break when his opposite number Donnie Macfadyen saw yellow for a professional foul.
Glasgow responded with two first-half penalties from Parks to turn round trailing just 7-6. But with the home side having to play up Hughenden's slope in the second half the Northampton forwards tightened their grip and slowly squeezed the life out of the home forwards.
The Saints started to maul the smaller Glasgow pack while taking control of the set scrums, earning at least one turnover there. With Saints pitching camp in the Glasgow half Drahm was able to extend their narrow lead with two more second-half penalties.
Twice a mistake by the full-back Kerr almost gave Northampton a second try. First he knocked on and the Saints wing John Rudd was winning the race to Cohen's hack ahead, only for the referee to ignore the advantage laws. As the match wound down an attempted clearance by Kerr was charged down by the substitute Wylie Human; the full-back was promptly replaced.
A Parks penalty with seven minutes left at least set up a tense finale but Northampton were equal to the last-gasp rally and held on to claim their first win in six outings.
Glasgow: Kerr (Howarth, 70); Lamont, Morrison, Henderson, Logan; Parks, Pinder (Beveridge, 75); Tkachuk, Bulloch, Harrison (Kelly, 70), Hall (Wilson, 75), Turner, Mather, Macfadyen, Petrie.
Pens: Parks 3.
Northampton: Reihana; Rudd (Human, 50), Stcherbina, Hyndman, Cohen; Drahm, Robinson; Budgen (Sturgess, 80), Richmond, Kempson, Lord, Browne, Fox, Krige, Blowers (Seely, 76).
Try: Cohen. Con: Drahm. Pens: Drahm 2.
Sin-bin: Fox, Macfadyen.
Referee: E Darriere (Fra).
Attendance: 2,772.
