Phil Dowson hopes Northampton Saints can exorcise some demons of the past

“I don’t know about any of that in terms of fate,” said Phil Dowson, Northampton’s director of rugby, this week.

Admittedly, it was a sensible response. Daydreaming about how the stars have aligned to deliver Northampton Saints not only to a first Champions Cup final appearance in 14 years, but also back in the same stadium in Cardiff where they were beaten in their last shot at the title, is probably an unproductive use of your time as a coach. There are bigger fish to fry, like coming up with a way to subdue a lively Bordeaux-Bègles side featuring two of the world’s best wingers: Louis Bielle-Biarrey, the Six Nations top try scorer, and Damian Penaud.

For the rest of us, however? The synchronicity of it all feels fascinating. Partly because Northampton did not just lose that final back in 2011 (apologies, Saints fans, for scratching at an old wound here), they suffered one of the most catastrophic collapses in cup final history. Leading 22-6 at half-time against Leinster they effectively had hold of the trophy, until Johnny Sexton went turbo and Northampton’s hand was agonisingly ripped off the silverware finger by finger.

Dowson was Northampton’s starting openside flanker that day. Eager to put the pain of it all behind him, feeling “fed up and gutted”, in the following weeks he took a flight to the United States to see friends.

“I remember thinking, I will just get to the US and get away from rugby,” says Dowson of being at the airport. “And the guy in front of me in the queue turned around and went ‘Oh, what happened in Cardiff?’ I thought, ‘Please don’t sit next to me, please don’t sit next to me’.” Fortunately for Dowson, his inquisitive fellow traveller was seated elsewhere.

Coaches and players in these big moments cannot afford to be distracted and sentimental but, if you are Dowson, how can you not go through the pre-match motions in Cardiff tomorrow – settling into the changing room, monitoring the warm-ups on the field, taking in the hundreds of Saints supporters in the stands – and not find it all to be a little bit surreal?

There are several examples of teams losing major finals in their own stadiums – England in the men’s Euros back in 2021, Bayern Munich at home to Chelsea in the Champions League in 2012. By having to play regularly at the same venue every other week, those demons are gradually exorcised. But how often does a club get the opportunity to return to the same neutral venue several years later, for a shot at redemption? Practically never.

Good news for Northampton fans – and also Bath, who play in the second-tier Challenge Cup final against Lyon tonight – is that this seems to be the season where trophy droughts go to die. Tottenham Hotspur’s came to an end after 17 years on Wednesday night in Bilbao, also their first European trophy since 1984. Bologna waited 51 years for any trophy, Newcastle United 70 for their first domestic cup. Crystal Palace? Just 119 years.

Northampton, the defending Premiership champions after their final win over Bath last year, have not had to wait that long. This young group knows that feeling of euphoria very well, and while they will not get the chance to defend their league title, having missed out on the play-offs, what they have done in Europe is astonishing.

The loss of experienced heads - Courtney Lawes, Lewis Ludlam, Alex Waller - should have set Northampton back a couple of seasons. Instead, the young guns have played beyond their years and without fear; Tommy Freeman, Fin Smith, Fraser Dingwall, Curtis Langdon. Oh, and they have Henry Pollock, developing at a frightening pace into a world-leading talent. Finally, this year marks 25 years since Northampton’s first and only Champions Cup title in 2000, a 9-8 win over Ulster at Twickenham. Signs and good omens. They’re fun, aren’t they?

When Dowson reflected back on that painful day in Cardiff he felt proud of the European campaign as a whole, “the enjoyment” that he felt that season, staying unbeaten until the final before “we just lost a half of rugby really badly”.

In the end that heartbreak proved to be a springboard. Northampton completed a double in 2014, winning the Challenge Cup in Cardiff - not back in the Principality Stadium, but outside at the smaller Arms Park – and then the Premiership title at Twickenham. That suffering against Leinster three years earlier “made it all the more sweeter”, as Dowson put it.

Win or lose, this season’s European campaign should evoke similar feelings of pride. Winning in South Africa against the Bulls. Squeezing past Munster at home. And then shocking the world with their bold, brilliant attacking rugby against Leinster in Dublin, a historical settling of scores. To lift the trophy now, back in the Principality Stadium 14 years later? Do not mention fate. Maybe just quietly acknowledge it.

Photograph by Michael Steele/Getty Images