Saints sink Scarlets

Northampton ended Scarlets' Cup hopes

Northampton buried Scarlets' chances of Heineken Cup survival on Saturday with a 29-17 victory over the Welsh outfit in Llanelli.

The two teams shared a try apiece for almost the entire game and, with five minutes to go and the scores on 22-17, the hosts looked to have every chance as they battered the Saints line in an effort to overturn the five-point deficit.

But an interception breakaway try by Ben Foden inside the final 90 seconds dashed any Welsh hopes of a place in the quarter-finals.

Northampton found themselves a man down after just two minutes when Tom May was sin binned for slinging the ball at Gareth Davies' face.

Rhys Priestland booted the hosts into a three-point lead on nine minutes with a 26 metre kick from almost in front of the posts.

And five minutes later the fly-half was able to extend the lead to 6-0 when hooker Dylan Hartley was pinged for being offside at a ruck.

Scott Myler pulled three back on the 18 minute mark after Liam Williams was caught holding on in the ruck.

Superb

But within two minutes Priestland had re-established the home side's six-point advantage after Calum Clark was penalised by referee Alain Rolland.

The first try came three minutes after the half hour when Priestland received the ball from a midfield ruck 10 yards out from the Saints line and fired a superb crossfield kick out to Viliame Iongi on the right.

The winger collected and raced in for the try but Priestland was unable to add the extras, leaving the scores on 14-3.

Myler narrowed the gap to eight points with three first half minutes left on the clock to take his side into the break trailing 14-6.

Four minutes after the restart Calum Clark dived over after a forwards drive from a lineout took the visitors close to the Scarlets line but the TV official disallowed the try.

But his ruling went in favour of the visitors just a minute later after Soane Tonga'uiha piled over the top of a ruck to slam the ball down one-handed and put his side right back in the match.

Siege

Myler slotted the conversion, taking Saints to within a point of their hosts and moments later took full advantage when Scarlets infringed within shooting distance to make it 16-14 and give his side the lead for the first time.

Priestland regained the advantage moments later but Myler struck back almost immediately with a 40-metre strike to take the scores to 17-19 after 55 minutes.

And when flanker Aaron Shingler was pinged for offside three minutes later the Northampton fly-half was able to extend the lead to five points.

The tide seemed to have turned in the visitors' favour as they camped themselves in the Scarlets half for much of the final quarter.

For Scarlets however it was far from over and as the game entered the final five minutes they forced their way forward and began to lay siege to the Northampton line.

But as the clock ticked down into the final 90 seconds, Foden grabbed an interception inches from his own line and sprinted the length of the field to deal the killer blow to Scarlets.