Northampton became the only English side to win in the opening round of the Champions Cup by defeating Cardiff 28-12 at Franklin's Gardens. The Saints scored four tries through Pater, Thame, Hendy, and Dingwall, with Belleau converting three and Pater adding one. Northampton led 14-0 at half-time thanks to tries by James Pater and Toby Thame in tricky conditions.
Cardiff fought back through Harri Millard and Mason Grady to make it a two-point game in the final quarter, but George Hendy and Fraser Dingwall responded to secure the win. The victory came after a chastening weekend for Premiership clubs, with Gloucester drawing against Bordeaux-Begles and six other English sides losing. Cardiff's return to Europe's top tier followed two seasons in the Challenge Cup, and they faced a quick turnaround to a URC fixture against the Sharks.
Northampton also made changes ahead of their upcoming trip to Leicester. Full-back Pater opened the scoring with a supporting run, and centre Thame crashed over after 20 minutes. Despite Cardiff's efforts, including a try by Grady after Belleau was sin-binned, Northampton held on.
Dingwall scored in the 78th minute but the bonus-point try eluded them. Northampton's lineup featured Pater, Sleightholme, Hutchinson, Thame, Hendy, Belleau, Mitchell, Fischetti, Smith, Kundiona, Lockett, van der Mescht, Kemeny, Taylor, and Chick, with replacements including Langdon, Els, Neculai, Prowse, Ulcoq, Mc Parland, Smith, and Dingwall. Belleau received a yellow card at 60 minutes.
Cardiff started with Young, Grady, Millard, Emanuel, Bowen, Evans, Mulder, Southworth, D Hughes (capt), Wainwright, Manz, Thornton, Paea, D Thomas, and Faletau, with replacements including E Lloyd, Barratt, Cowell, Mc Nally, De La Rua, S Davies, Sheedy, and Adams. The match was refereed by Jeremy Rozier of France, assisted by Thomas Charabas and Cyrille Boulay, with Julien Castaignede as TMO.
Source: BBC Sport · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing