Saints safely through
Northampton became the first side through to the Heineken Cup quarter-finals with an emphatic 37-0 defeat of Edinburgh.
Last Updated: 14/01/11 11:00pm
Northampton became the first side through to the Heineken Cup quarter-finals with an emphatic 37-0 defeat of Edinburgh at Franklin's Gardens.
Victory earned the Saints a fifth win from five in the competition and top spot in Pool One, while the bonus point may ensure a home tie in the knockout stages.
Northampton had far too much for an outclassed Edinburgh side - particularly up front where their pack completely dominated - but had to wait until the 77th minute to secure the bonus point.
Paul Diggin scored four of Saints' five tries, a hat-trick in the final eight minutes sending the home supporters away raucously happy.
It took Northampton just four minutes to cross for their first score, Brian Mujati burrowing over from close range from a five-metre lineout.
Stephen Myler converted and added a penalty, but Chris Paterson missed from 45 metres for the visitors.
Myler's boot set up the second try on the half-hour mark, his well-timed grubber kick bouncing kindly for Diggin, although the winger still had work to do to finish in the corner.
David Blair missed a simple penalty chance for Edinburgh and the half ended on a sour note for them as Klye Traynor was yellow-carded for fighting on the intervention of the line judge.
Bonus
Myler added another penalty to stretch the lead to 18-0 moments after the re-start and with the game now in the bag, Northampton turned their attention to the bonus point.
But decent Edinburgh defence and some attacking errors combined to frustrate Northampton.
Twice Myler fired penalties into the corner, but first Scott Macleod stole the lineout, then Diggin was forced into touch.
Joe Ansbro should have sent Diggin in for a score but his pass was a poor one and sailed into touch.
With time running out, Diggin finally got his chance, racing 40 metres to cross in the corner.
Five minutes later a brilliant break from Ben Foden opened up the defence and Ansbro was on hand to take the scoring pass, although he gave the try to Diggin over the line.
The returning Bruce Reihana made the break for Diggin's fourth try, bursting through an exhausted Edinburgh defence to put the gloss on a pretty-well perfect night for Saints.
