The three chaotic minutes that won Northampton Saints the Prem title ...Middle East

For so much of the season, the powerhouse of Northampton Saints’ attack has been Tommy Freeman, Fin Smith, and Henry Pollock. At just 25, Freeman is the elder statesman of this trio who also combine for England and the British & Irish Lions. Their impact shows the value of trusting your key men to run free.

Think of the creative axis of a team and you would think scrum-half, fly-half, and inside centre but welcome to modern rugby where roles trump positions. The first Hendy try on 64 minutes began from a long kick fielded by captain George Furbank. These are chaotic situations which neither team can plan for yet Phil Dowson’s men immediately know their jobs.

Furbank hit the gap and when brought to ground Freeman plucked the ball from his hands and continued up the field with Pollock in support. Without the reset of a ruck, the ball finds its way to Smith who shifts it to the far side of the pitch, five metres from Exeter Chiefs’ line. Two phases later and Hendy, toes as close to touch as he can get, flops over to give Saints the lead.

SAINTS BACK IN THE LEAD George Hendy finishes in the corner Stream TNT Sports with HBO Max pic.twitter.com/8W9T0r7KFv

It’s the type of finish which looks simple – catch and fall. True, were it not for the attentions of Campbell Ridl and the touchline. But the finish is the by-product of the interplay of the creative Freeman, Pollock, Smith axis.

They get so many touches – 80 combined if you add their passes and carries. The trio ranked first, second and third by carry totals and second, fifth and seventh by passes. Their relentless engines in the stifling heat of London opened opportunities for everyone else – Hendy in these examples.

For the second Hendy try at 67 minutes, Saints spent 10 phases from an attacking lineout going nowhere fast. But Smith and Pollock were never more than 10 metres from the ball, throwing complex and novel attacking shapes at Exeter.

Further back, Freeman was buzzing backwards and forwards across the pitch looking for chances, sometimes linking up with opposite winger Hendy and sometimes coming into the midfield – a thoroughbred in a paddock of shire horses.

Saints were looking for an open door to push on. It comes on phase 11 with who else but Pollock. He receives the ball and bounces past one defender and finds the softer underbelly of Len Ikitau wide of the ruck. This is Pollock doing what he wants when he wants to. Danilo Fischetti originally has his hands up for the ball but Pollock waltzes into the space, deciding it’s his scalpel not the Italian’s mallet which is needed.

Kids are still told not to run sideways with the ball, but this was purposeful. Pollock was waiting for the music to stop and a chance to present itself. Ikitau made the tackle but on the back foot. The carry trapped most of Exeter’s reinforcements on the wrong side of the pitch.

IT’S HENDY AGAIN @ExeterChiefs are punished after the yellow card to Dafydd Jenkins as @SaintsRugby score twice in two minutes Stream TNT Sports with HBO Max pic.twitter.com/SKoJDnumC8

Smith wanted in on the action. He swept around the corner with Fraser Dingwall and Hendy his only reinforcements. The fly-half had his head on a swivel.

Looking first to the ruck and then at the meadow of space behind the Exeter defensive line, back to the ruck, back to the space, aware always that Hendy and his prodigious pace was out wide.

On commentary Austin Healey questioned why Exeter didn’t have at least one player in behind to stop the kick.

Whether they had intended to have a sweeper or not, the speed of Saints attack post-Pollock’s carry had left them too short on numbers and with everyone needed in the front line.

Like with Hendy’s first finish, Smith made something difficult look effortless. His kick was perfectly weighted and placed but he had to thread it through the trunk-like legs of Henry Slade and Greg Fisilau who both saw the threat marginally too late.

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Once more Hendy was waiting with his toes on the line, threatening the personal space of the touch judge. Once more it was a finish of utter class from the winger. Like a sprinter, he was in the blocks and facing a foot race against Olly Woodburn and his three-metre headstart.

Woodburn was ready, hips turned to get to the try line first. But Smith was going to make life easier for his mate Hendy. The lateness of his kick forced Woodburn to consider a pass might be on, he squared up his hips and Smith dribbled the ball into the space Woodburn was previously set-up to cover.

Hendy picked up the ball as he dived and finished in one motion. Furbank said, “He scores tries that no one else in the league, potentially in the world, can score”. With those two tries the game, and season, was Saints’.

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