There was a sense of atonement for Hendy too, given that it had been his decision to knock a high ball back into his goal area that had led to Muir’s try.
There was still time for Bath to come hard again. But Northampton held on. Just. What a final. What champions. And for Bath? Well, next season can’t start soon enough.
Match details
Scoring sequence: 0-3 Russell pen, 3-3 Smith drop goal, 8-3 Freeman try, 10-3 Smith con, 15-3 Sleightholme try, 15-8 Du Toit try, 15-10 Russell con, H-T: 15-10, 15-13 Russell pen, 18-13 Smith pen, 18-18 Muir try, 18-21 Russell pen, 23-21 Mitchell try, 25-21 Furbank con
Northampton Saints: George Furbank; Tommy Freeman, Burger Odendaal (Hendy 44), Fraser Dingwall, 11 Ollie Sleightholme; Fin Smith (James 70), Alex Mitchell; Alex Waller (Iyogun 52), Curtis Langdon (Matavesi 57), Trevor Davison (Millar-Mills 57), Alex Moon (Mayanavanua 70), Alex Coles, Courtney Lawes (c), Tom Pearson (Ludlam 60), Juarno Augustus (Graham 66)
Bath: Matt Gallagher; Joe Cokanasiga (Reid 77), Ollie Lawrence, Cameron Redpath (Bailey 78), Will Muir; Finn Russell, Ben Spencer (c); Beno Obano, Tom Dunn (Annett 52), Thomas du Toit, Quinn Roux (Stooke 66), Charlie Ewels, Ted Hill (Bayliss 66), Sam Underhill (Reid 64, Underhill 74), Alfie Barbeary (Schoeman 21, Stuart 52)
Replacements unused: Louis Schreuder
Red card: Obano 21
Referee: Christophe Ridley
Attendance: 81,699
