..........but now all eyes go towards the Causeway Stadium next Sunday, and the hope of gaining a first win there to get into the Championship final.

First things first. The scoreline suggests a close game, and the uninformed watching Sky’s coverage yesterday would have thought that there were only two teams in the championship race (ok, that might not just be yesterday), but in reality Saints were comfortable up until the closing minutes, with the pack dominant until the arrival in the second half of Jason Leonard. Indeed, Quins didn’t look like scoring in the first half, and were it not for a charged down kick in the first ten seconds of the second period, may not have had the opportunity to get a platform in the game.

Shane Drahm kicked himself into the Saints record books by getting the eight points needed to become the highest single season scorer in the Premiership, which means that his 239 points eclipse Paul Grayson’s previous record of 238. One of Grays’ records broken. Now I feel old.

There was a late replacement with Daws dropping out for Sharky to come in and Johnny Howard to get the splinters job, and after an impeccable minute’s silence for Jeff Butterfield (although whoever left the music on needs shooting), Saints kicked off towards the South Stand. It was apparent early on that the scrum, so impressive last Sunday at Leeds, were continuing in that mode against a better quality eight, and consequently there was a platform for Robinson and Drahm to work from all afternoon. After Andy Dunne’s early drop goal attempt went wide, it was almost total Saintly domination.

Shine set about the job of going for the record (and the place in Europe) with a penalty after Quins were caught offside. The cynic in me would say that it was a result of the mass fainting of Saints supporters in shock that Roy Maybank had actually given a decision in our favour, but then I’m not going to ruin a perfectly good match report by going on about the referee. He was dreadful, no other word for it - never got to grips with the scrum all day, and loved the sound of his own whistle.

With so many leavers in the Saints said, it was almost inevitable that one of them was going to have a huge impact on the game. Step forward Nick Beal. Twice he broke clear, twice the try wasn’t scored, with the first appearing from D Block to have been knocked on deliberately (although if Bealer had gone himself and dummied the pass, he’d probably have scored), and then creating a three on one opportunity only for the pass to be intercepted with the line begging to be crossed.

When a try did finally come, it was a from a most unexpected source. Saints stole a Quins lineout on halfway (it looked shaky for most of the afternoon), and with Sharky offloading to Darren Fox, the fabulous one found a gap when there shouldn’t have been one there and ran unchallenged to the line. Shine missed the conversion, but an 11-0 lead for half time was comfortable, made more so by the news that Gloucester were trailing badly at the Rec.

The comfort zone was rudely awakened straight from the restart. John Clarke caught the kick off, and rather than banging the ball up the field, he took it into contact. When Sharky fed the ball back to Shine there didn’t appear to be any danger, but lock Jim Evans came flying through, and not only managed to charge the kick down, but get up again and touch down for the try. Not a good start. Dunne’s conversion hit the upright, and any thoughts that Saints had that it would be a coast into the semi-final had been shaken up.

With Quins bolstering their front row with the introduction of Laurent Gomez and Jason Leonard (and a nice touch from Uncle Geoff to give him the build up he deserves, although as Ballagher says, the man he replaced probably went off thinking ‘I‘ve done really well, listen to the applause‘), having already replaced hooker James Hayter at half time, the domination that Saints had enjoyed became less. Indeed, it later emerged that Hayter had broken a rib in the second scrum of the day, an injury that will probably keep him out of the Parker Pen Challenge Cup final, which makes it galling that Maybank seemed determined to punish Saints at virtually every scrum (but then with Tom Smith playing like there was a zero missing from his shirt, Maybank probably got confused).

Pretty ironic then that Saints should then get a penalty try from a scrum, although when Maybank awarded the scrum we were pretty miffed that he hadn’t let play go longer, with the ball coming out into Sharky’s hands just a metre short. Still, with Saints finally being allowed to push, they split the scrum and Maybank ran to the posts. Yes, there was a foot that kicked the ball out, but I think that was the offence that broke the camel’s back, so to speak, with Saints actually ending the move against three Quins. On the Sky shots after the game, the ball actually appeared out when it was kicked, but weighing everything up, it was the right decision. Shane kicked the points, secured the record, and it was 18-5.

And time to say thank you. JP came on to a big welcome, in place of Lordy, and James Brooks was later to replace Shane Drahm. It may well have been the knowledge that the semi final place was assured; it may well have been tiredness; but it was more likely Quins realising that they had to try and get something from the game with news that Leicester were enjoying a stroll at the Causeway that meant that the multicoloured ones went for it in the last ten minutes. Firstly, Mel Deane sent Gavin Duffy in in the corner, with Mark Tucker for one being flummoxed by the number of spare Quins in his channel.

Then with 85 (or 86 or 87 - it just seemed like forever) minutes on the clock, George Harder ran through a couple of tackles, beat the covering Brooks, and ran round far enough to give Dunne the easy two points. It was too late though, Quins had only got the one point and a very tricky trip to Welford Road to look forward to.

Saints on the other hand, have a trip to Wycombe, to play a Wasps team out to defend their title, but going in on the back of two defeats, and with a Heineken Cup final a week away. It remains to be seen what comes of it, but it’s knockout rugby now. Two teams stand in the way of the holy grail. One hundred and sixty minutes from what we all would wish for ourselves.

Are we all (supporters, team, coaches) ready? More importantly, are we good enough?

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