Hendy double sends Northampton into Champions Cup quarters

Northampton marched into the last eight of the Champions Cup with a hard-fought 24-14 win over Munster at a windy Franklin's Gardens on Sunday.

In a repeat of the 2000 final, which the Saints won 9-8, the teams were locked at 14-14 at halftime before two tries in the last quarter from replacement winger George Hendy won the match for the English side.

Northampton will host the Pretoria-based Bulls in next weekend's quarterfinals.

"Munster came out of the blocks really strong and that defensive set at the start of the game helped us go and win the game," Northampton's Curtis Langdon told ITV.

"Defence is something we have gone really hard at this season.

"We are just taking every game as it comes and it is brilliant to have this atmosphere. We just want to keep it going."

James Ramm, who scored twice against Saracens in the Premiership last week, continued his form with the opening try but Munster wing Sean O'Brien replied shortly after.

Munster were dominating and Mike Haley put them ahead with Munster's second try but just before halftime Tommy Freeman raced over to tie up the scores at the break.

The second half produced more quality rugby with Northampton slowly taking control of the arm-wrestle, reclaiming the lead with the first of Hendy's tries on the hour.

The move started from a line-out inside Saints' 22 with Fin Smith feeding Ollie Sleightholme with a delayed pass before Ramm sent Hendy over.

The wind caused Smith to miss the conversion and then a penalty attempt but Hendy sealed the tie seven minutes from time when he broke two tackles to touch down in the left corner.

"We can't fault the effort as that was there," a disappointed Munster captain Tadhg Beirne told ITV.

"We were against the wind in the second half and knew we would have to battle it out. Credit to Northampton, they were better on the day."