Match action
DAN Biggar showed nerves of steel to keep Northampton unbeaten in Europe, but it was still not enough to make Chris Boyd happy after his Saints were given a real scare by Benetton.
In a Champions Cup classic, fly-half Biggar kicked his team to a last-gasp bonus-point success via the coolest of penalties in the 85th minute.
Boyd’s men came up against a committed Italian outfit who put in a superb display.
The home side were unfortunate to come out on the wrong side of the result as Northampton got out of jail.
Director of rugby Boyd said: “We have to be way better and if we play like that again, we’ll get a pasting.
“I don’t think either side can say they played well enough to walk away with five points.
“We’ve had some good performances this season, but today we were loose and sloppy and all the things we talked about not being.
“At the end of the day I guess the positive is we found a way to win even though we were far from our best.”
Boyd saw Northampton produce a poor first-half display as they fell 25-8 behind, but as bad as the Saints were, some credit must be given to Benetton who were outstanding.
The visitors weren’t helped by losing Biggar to a yellow card for a tip tackle on Irne Herbst.
The Italians scored through Epalahame Faiva, Iliesa Ratuva and Juan Ignacio Brex to take control of the game in fully deserving fashion.
Tommaso Allan kicked two conversions and two penalties.
Saints made mistake after mistake and weren’t helped by losing Biggar, but Benetton scored nice setpiece tries with Faiva and Ratuva benefitting from rolling mauls in contrasting fashions.
Brex powered through midfield and sold Saints a wonderful dummy for his effort.
Northampton were up against it, but Cobus Reinach grabbed a try Boyd referred to as crucial just before the break after Tom Collins had been sent to the line by an outrageous Biggar pass.
In the second period Saints rallied to turn the tables and lead 32-25 thanks to a try from wing Ollie Sleightholme, Collins’ second, and the boot of Biggar after Braam Steyn had seen yellow for cynically attempting to stop Reinach scoring.
It looked like it would be enough for a Saints victory, but Benetton hooker Faiva grabbed his second try in the 70th minute and Allan converted to tie the scores.
There was still time for late drama.
Jamie Gibson won a crucial turnover for Saints with Benetton pushing for victory and Saints found field position.
When Ratuva was judged by the TMO to have deliberately knocked on Collins’ pass, it gave Biggar the chance to show his bottle and the Wales star sent his kick between the posts.
It left Benetton heartbroken with two losing bonus points little consolation.
“Dan doesn’t miss very often in those crunch situations,” Boyd said. “We knew once Jamie had won the turnover that if we could get some field position, then three points would be enough to win.”