‘A performance beyond their years’ - Dan Biggar ‘proud’ as Northampton Saints battle past Munster

Dan Biggar was “really proud” of the way Northampton Saints came up with the goods late in the game to beat Munster and book their place in the quarter-finals of the Investec Champions Cup.

The two teams were locked at 14-14 with 20 minutes remaining before George Hendy came off the bench to score a late double and set up a last-eight clash with the Bulls at Franklin’s Gardens.

“I thought it was a performance beyond their years today,” former Saints and Wales fly-half Biggar said on TNT Sports. “Because they came up against a very experienced and streetwise Munster team who know how to win big matches.

“And for 60 minutes there was nothing in it. Munster’s breakdown was keeping them in it but the last 20 minutes how they pulled away, how they played the game in the right areas and pulled the trigger at the right time.

“The first try for George Hendy was just a brilliant execution. Munster had dropped a couple of guys in the backfield, so move the ball to where the space was and it was just a brilliant performance.

“I'm really proud of this young team because they deserve all the credit they get.”

Biggar also reserved praise for Northampton’s defence coach Lee Radford, who joined Phil Dowson’s backroom staff last summer and has made an immediate impact.

“Saints at the end were just so good in terms of so strong, they looked physically really good,” Biggar added.

“Lee Radford deserves a hug pat on the back because they were brilliant in defence. And that was that was the bedrock of that victory today.”

Not many are awarded the player of the match award after coming on so late in the game, but that was how important Hendy’s contribution proved to be.

The 21-year-old flew over in the corner with his first touch at the end of a slick Saints counter-attack from deep within their own half, before he gathered the loose ball and beat two defenders for his second.

“The message on was just simple stuff done well,” Hendy said. “The first try was all down to the other backs, I just had to keep with them really.

“But I've always just wanted to just keep my head down and almost see where I end up and it paid off today. I’m really happy with everybody and the performance. I think we fronted up really well."

He added: “I'd say it's probably the biggest game of my career so far. The emotions were really high, we had some strong words from some of the boys during the week, how they want to come back and do what we did to them away earlier in the year.

“So I think the emotion was high from the get-go and I think you can see that with our physicality today.”

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