Saints skipper Hartley refuses to criticise hot-headed Waller

Dylan Hartley admits he empathised with Alex Waller after the prop’s red mist moment cost Saints dear in Glasgow.

Waller threw a punch in the final flings of the game at Scotstoun, giving away a penalty at a time when Northampton had possession and were in search of the fourth try they desperately needed.

The 22-year-old’s heat of the moment reaction allowed Glasgow to regain possession and the home side made the most of it, scoring through Peter Horne to seal a 27-20 win in the final seconds.

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For Saints it meant a Heineken Cup exit and the denial of a chance to even drop into the quarter-finals of the Amlin Challenge Cup.

But skipper Hartley, who was last month hit with a two-week ban for punching Ulster’s Rory Best, refused to criticise team-mate Waller.

“I think he knows,” said Hartley. “We’ve all been in that situation. I’ve been in that situation. I’ve given away silly penalties in my time and I think he’ll be feeling bad.

“But, like I said, it shouldn’t come down to that last minute, chasing the game. That game should have been sewn up before then.”

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Unlike Saints, Glasgow, who had lost all five of the Heineken Cup Pool 4 games, showed a real cutting edge, taking chances when they came to them to clinch a fine victory.

Hartley was quick to give credit to the Rabo Direct PRO12 team and he praised their desire to win the game, rather than settle for a draw.

“I just think Glasgow were dangerous,” he said. “They weren’t really playing for anything other than home pride and they got a couple of opportunist tries and full credit to them.

“In the 80th minute they kept playing. They could have just kicked it out and we could have had a dead rubber but they played, they wanted to play and it made them dangerous.”