Ramm double helps Northampton thump Bulls to reach Champions Cup semis

Sat, Apr 13, 2024, 11:24 PM
AFP
by AFP
James Ramm continues to shine for Northampton. Photo: Getty Images
James Ramm continues to shine for Northampton. Photo: Getty Images

Former Waratahs outside back James Ramm has powered Northampton into the Champions Cup semi-finals with a 59-22 routing of the Bulls.

Ramm opened the scoring in the 10th minute, racing through the line just inside his half before dummying and stepping past the fullback.

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The fullback then dived over at the start of the second half to put the game out of reach as Northampton ran in nine tries to make the semi-finals for the first time since 2011.

It was Ramm's fifth try in the past three games for the Saints, his eighth in 11 games in 2023-24.

The under-strength Bulls left out big names such as Willie le Roux, Canan Moodie and Kurt-Lee Arendse while blaming injuries and an epic journey from Pretoria via eight different airlines for the omissions.

In other games, Leinster hammered Will Skelton's La Rochelle 40-13 on Saturday to claim revenge for two Champions Cup final defeats and reach the last four of this season's competition.

The Irish province crossed for five tries in Dublin, including two for winger James Lowe, in a dominant display to set up a semi-final, on the weekend of May 3-5, against Northampton who defeated the Bulls 59-22.

Two-time holders La Rochelle beat Leinster in classic finals in 2022 and 2023 but Cullen's four-time winners won earlier in the season in the group stages. 

"There was a fair bit of hype around the game," Leinster director of rugby Leo Cullen told RTE.

"Two good teams going hard at it and our guys were delighted to get the win. It's job done and onto the next one," he added.

Harlequins reached their first Champions Cup semi-final, edging out Pete Samu and a highly-fancied Bordeaux-Begles 42-41 in a breathtaking game in France.

Both sides scored six tries before France scrum-half Maxime Lucu missed a relatively straightforward late conversion which would have claimed victory for the hosts, who had thrashed three-time winners Saracens in the previous round.

Quins, in their 13th campaign in the tournament, will next play record five-time champions Toulouse or Exeter, who meet in France on Sunday.

"We knew we had to dig deep and we knew we had to swing the bat, we knew we had to play," Quins director of rugby Billy Millard told reporters, using a cricket reference.

"The one thing you know about this competition is that each game you progress it gets tougher, whoever comes up will be another step up," he added.

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