Bath stage late rally to beat Northampton in classic

Investec Champions Cup quarter-final

Bath (26) 43

Tries: Dunn, Russell, Arundell, Van Wyk, Tuipulotu, Hill Cons: Russell 5 Pen: Russell

Northampton (35) 41

Tries: Pollock, Dingwall, Lockett, Kemeny, Sleightholme Cons: Smith 5 Pen: Smith 2

Bath came from 21 points down to beat Prem leaders Northampton and reach the semi-finals of the Champions Cup in a breathtaking clash at the Rec.

Northampton were in sensational attacking form from the off, scoring five tries in the opening half hour as the top two sides in England delivered an amazing first 40 minutes.

But Bath were not knocked out and scored four of their own before half-time as the sides shared 61 points before the break.

The hosts' strength in depth from the bench proved the difference in the second period as Northampton could only manage two penalties.

And a late yellow card under heavy pressure for Saints talisman Henry Pollock proved decisive as replacement Ted Hill drove over to give Bath their first lead with five minutes left.

They held on to seal a famous win and set up a huge match against either Bordeaux Begles or Toulouse in the last four.

Exhilarating, high octane, entertaining - this was the modern brand of rugby which made the Six Nations so captivating in an 80-minute nutshell.

Whether Bath can beat the French giants playing such rugby remains to be seen but the English duo served up a first 40 minutes in particular which will live long in the memory.

Pollock was involved - as he so often is - right from the start, driving over to give Saints the lead after a very early yellow card for Bath number eight Miles Reid.

Fraser Dingwall capitalised on a superb Saints attack to score the second try within six minutes before Tom Dunn barrelled over to reduce the deficit just moments later.

Northampton looked like scoring in every attack and Tom Lockett and Josh Kemeny stunned the home crowd with quick tries to put last year's beaten finalists 28-7 up.

Finn Russell kicked through and dived on the ball to score for Bath, but when wing Ollie Sleightholme marked his 100th Northampton appearance with a fifth try in the 29th minute it looked like Saints would be reaching a third straight semi-final.

The pace of Henry Arundell and the power of Francois van Wyk brought two quick Bath tries before the half-time whistle though and the momentum had swung the way of the hosts.

Kepu Tuipulotu mauled over to make it a five-point game and while Fin Smith's boot kept the visitors just about ahead, a wave of pressure made a Bath score feel inevitable.

Pollock ignored the cries of referee Andrew Brace to release a tackle and paid the price with another yellow card, and moments later Hill drove over to level the scores.

Russell had the final word with his boot as the home crowd celebrated a sumptuous comeback and a first appearance in the last four in 20 long years.

Bath head coach Johann van Graan speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live:

"This team doesn't know how to give up. Northampton were fantastic and put us under huge pressure. This shows why the Champions Cup is such an amazing competition and this was a very special night under the lights at the Rec.

"Games like this are about how you handle pressure. We were 21 points down, came back, went behind again, but rugby is an 80-minute game and we managed to come through it.

"I am so proud and so grateful. What a group of men this is. I don't have the words really.

"There's some history in this soil. It shows if you can capture the hearts of a bunch of lads, give them a simple plan and make sure they are happy they can give you some amazing moments."

Saints director of rugby Phil Dowson speaking to BBC Northampton:

"We have fallen short, we were 28-7 ahead but we weren't good enough on the night.

"We went at them but couldn't get any momentum in the second half. The effort was exceptional and we pushed for it but we were sloppy in elements of our game at times. We didn't do enough.

"It's small margins and we will review that and try and be better. There are loads of things we can do better but you can't coach grit and we showed that."

Bath: De Glanville; Arundell, Lawrence, Redpath, Muir; Russell, Spencer (capt); Obano, Dunn, Sela, Roux, Ewels, Pepper, Underhill, Reid.

Replacements: Tuipulotu, Van Wyk, Du Toit, Molony, Hill, Van der Linde, Carreras, Barbeary.

Sin-bin: Reid (2 mins)

Northampton: Furbank (capt); Freeman, Hutchinson, Dingwall, Sleightholme; Smith, McParland; Fischetti, Langdon, Kundiona, Lockett, Van der Mescht, Kemeny, Pearson, Pollock.

Replacements: Wright, Iyogun, Millar-Mills, Prowse, Chick, Mitchell, Litchfield, Hendy.

Sin-bin: Van der Mescht (56), Pollock (73)

Referee: Andrew Brace (Ire)

Assistant referees: Eoghan Cross (Ire), Ben Breakspear (Wal)

TMO: Olly Hodges (Ire)