Northampton Saints became the only English side to win in the opening round of the Champions Cup, battling past Cardiff 28-12 at Franklin's Gardens in a nervy Pool Four encounter. The English champions, quarter-finalists last season, scored four tries in the match.
Saints led 14-0 at half-time thanks to efforts in tricky conditions from James Pater and Toby Thame. Tenacious Cardiff struck 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 as Northampton got off to a winning start, albeit without a bonus point.
The result came at the end of a chastening opening weekend for Premiership clubs, with Gloucester drawing against champions Bordeaux-Begles but six other sides losing. Cardiff's return to Europe's top tier after two seasons in the Challenge Cup was a considerable one. The Welsh side also had a five-day turnaround to a United Rugby Championship fixture against Sharks, which led to several influential players being held back. Taulupe Faletau and Josh Adams did make their first appearances of the season after injury.
Northampton also made changes ahead of a big fixture, the short trip to Leicester on Saturday, but got the job done. Anthony Belleau was sin-binned on the hour, and Cardiff nearly pulled off an upset, but Hendy and Dingwall sealed the win. Saints had scored 24 tries in their three opening fixtures of their Prem title defence, including 11 against Bath last time out.
Source: BBC Sport · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing