Coach praises Hodge the destroyer

Northampton coach John Steele praised the performance of Duncan Hodge after the Scotland fly-half booted Edinburgh Reivers to an 18-15 win against the outgoing Heineken Cup holders at Murrayfield.  

Hodge landed five penalties and a drop goal to give the Reivers their second win of the campaign over a Northampton side who recorded just one win in six group games to finish bottom of pool one.

Steele admitted that the Reivers had deserved their double win.

"I have particular praise for Duncan Hodge, not just for his goalkicking but also his tactical awareness and neat stand-off play," he said.

"It has been a very disappointing defence of out title but the margin between success and failure is wafer thin.

"We have lost games by narrow margin, which proved vital in the end.

"Now it is time to concentrate on the league make sure of qualifying for next year's Heineken Cup. It is a great tournament and we want to be involved every year."

Northampton actually scored the only two tries of the game, through England winger Ben Cohen and Steve Thompson.

But two late Hodge penalties gave the Reivers their third win of the competition, although following victories for Llanelli and Saracens, they were forced to bow out before the knock-out stages yet again.

"Despite the fact we failed to qualify, this campaign has been a success," said Reivers coach Frank Hadden.

"We have come on a long way since the start of the group phase.

"Over the past month alone, we have won six matches won by a single score.

"That is a tremendous indictment of our mental toughness.

"A silly half-hour against Biarritz at Netherdale, when we gave away silly penalties, cost us dearly.

"I felt we deserved to go through but it wasn't to be. We will just have to sort out our shortcomings next year."