Sunday 18 January 2015 22:10, UK
Northampton boss Jim Mallinder is relishing a "great game" against Racing Metro next week after their victory over Ospreys set up a winner-takes-all Champions Cup Pool 5 showdown at Franklin's Gardens.
Saints won 20-9 in Swansea with Calum Clark and George North scoring tries against the Welsh side, who are now out of the competition.
Northampton now play Racing in their final Pool 5 game on Saturday and know they will secure a home quarter-final – as well as top spot in the pool – with a victory.
"I am pleased with the game,” said Mallinder after the Ospreys clash. “It is about control, and we had good control.
"We didn't overplay, we didn't want to take chances and we thought our pack could get on top. It was a good scrum performance, in particular.
"Defensively, we were a lot better than last week (against Sale). To keep a good side like the Ospreys to not scoring any tries is a good feat.
"It is going to be a great game next week.
"We have recovered from losing the first game (against Racing) and we have given ourselves a chance, which is all you can do.
"They are one of the best teams in Europe, but we know that we can beat them. If we do beat them, we've got the massive bonus of a home quarter-final, which is a huge incentive."
Mallinder, meanwhile, hoped that a knee injury to full-back Ben Foden – that forced him off after just 11 minutes - was "not too bad".
The Ospreys, after suffering a third loss from five starts in Europe this season, are now out of quarter-final contention.
And Ospreys skipper Alun-Wyn Jones had no complaints following a first-half sin-binning for Saints centre George Pisi following a dangerous tackle on fly-half Dan Biggar that many observers felt warranted a red card.
Jones said: "I think it was definitely a yellow.
"When we kept possession, we looked pretty dangerous. We can probably take a lot from the losses we've had in a strange way, because we were so close.
"Northampton were efficient. They had two (scoring) opportunities, and they took them."
