Champions Cup: Leinster hold off Saints fightback to reach final

A reminder, Leinster will face either Toulouse or Harlequins in the final at Tottenham Hotspur.

Those two sides meet in the other semi-final on Sunday.

The moment Northampton's dream fell away...

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Speaking to TNT Sports, Leinster wing James Lowe said: "We were able to build a score and then we know Northampton are an amazing attacking side. We gave them too many opportunities and we didn't kick well.

"Credit to them they pushed us to the end, we were pretty fortunate with a turnover and we will have a final at Tottenham Hotspur.

"Croke Park is such a special place. There is not another stadium like this in the world. We have things we want to tidy up on if we want to win this competition."

On his hat-trick, Lowe added: "I ran 10m in total for all three of them. There is a reason why Jamison [Gibson-Park] is the best nine in the world and there is one other [Antoine Dupont] who everyone will compare him to. He sees space no one else sees."

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Leinster dominated every aspect and forced the Saints into endless handling errors and yet Northampton found a way to stay in the game and almost stole the game at the death.

In the end, a superb turnover from one of their international stars secured the win.

Still not sure how Saints mounted that late challenge.

They had hardly landed a shot in the first hour. Credit to the East Midlanders' for staying in the fight.

Leinster are into a third Champions Cup final in a row. Northampton are beaten despite a thrilling late fightback.

What a semi-final.

How close Northampton got! They can't believe they gave away the penalty and Leinster will surely now go to Tottenham.

Caelan Doris could be the hero for Leinster.

Northampton cannot move him at the breakdown and the hosts win the penalty.

Seconds to go.

Saints are on the ball. Here they go.

Fin Smith pulling the strings. Crowd on the edge of their seats.

Three minutes to go, Leinster are trying to run the clock down.

Northampton waiting for their opportunity to nick the ball at the breakdown.

Tension.

There's the Northampton Saints we've been waiting for.

Jamison-Gibson Park is back quickly to cover Tommy Freeman's kick through.

The Leinster nine grounds the ball over his own goal line but Saints will have a five metre scrum.

This is the chance.

Leinster will try to play high up the field and let the clock tick down knowing the set-piece dominance they have had throughout the game should be enough to see them through to the final at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

It's a record Champions Cup semi-final attendance.

There are 82,300 partisan fans watching this tie at Croke Park. Some effort by all involved.

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Into the final 10 minutes, can Saints launch a fightback?

Leinster still looking comfortable.

The demands of a European Cup semi-final.

Leinster have good ball but James Lowe decides to go aerial as the zip just seems to slipping out of the game.

Lots of tired legs out there now.

I have to agree with Mr Grayson on that. Courtney Lawes has been a constant menace at the breakdown.

The forward is one of only five Englishmen to be capped 100 times for a reason.

Courtney Lawes is head and shoulders the best player in the Northampton team today and in the top two or three on the field.

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