Saracens march on
Saracens will now play Wasps in an April 23 semifinal at Reading's Madejski Stadium,
Premiership leaders Saracens, looking to be crowned champions of Europe for the first time after losing the 2014 Final to Toulon, were unusually subdued for much of the match at their Allianz Park ground.
But Ashton in his second game back from suspension, helped take them into a decisive lead with a 68th-minute try in a match where England flyhalf Owen Farrell kicked 19 points for Saracens.
Northampton, whose 20-15 win over Saracens in March was just the Premiership leaders' second home defeat of the season, were missing five injured players with more than 200 Test caps between them, including England Grand Slam-winning captain Dylan Hartley.
The hooker was still recovering from concussion, while Kieran Brookes, Lee Dickson, Tom Wood and Wales wing George North were also sidelined.
Saracens, by contrast, had six members of England's victorious Six Nations squad – Alex Goode, Farrell, Billy Vunipola, George Kruis, Maro Itoje and Mako Vunipola – in their starting line-up.
The London club, who won all six of their European pool matches, were a man down early on after Farrell opened the scoring with a 40-metre penalty when flank Will Fraser was yellow-carded for a late tackle on Northampton fullback Ben Foden.
Either side of the sin-binning, Northampton flyhalf Stephen Myler missed his first two penalty attempts.
Northampton wing Jamie Elliott then blew a chance of a try when he lost possession in the act of touching down.
Saints, who were to pay dearly for squandering those 11 points, made their advantage count when No.8 Teimana Harrison surged down the right and sent in wing Ken Pisi in the 16th minute for a converted try.
Farrell and opposing stand-off Myler exchanged penalties with Saints leading 10-6 at half-time.
Saracens upped the tempo after the break, with Farrell and Myler again exchanging penalties.
Sarries' pressure eventually told when former Northampton wing Ashton went in at the corner.
Farrell converted and his subsequent penalty put the match beyond the reach of Northampton, European champions in 2000, at 22-13 before United States wing Chris Wyles extended Saracens' lead with another try.
Courtney Lawes's converted score was too little too late for Northampton.
Man of the match: There were a number of contenders for this award, however, Saracens lock Maro Itoje gets it for his all-round performance on attack and defence.
The scorers:
For Saracens:
Tries: Ashton, Wyles
Cons: Farrell 2
Pens: Farrell 5
For Northampton Saints:
Tries: Pisi, Lawes
Cons: Myler 2
Pens: Myler 2
Yellow card: Will Fraser (Saracens, 10 – dangerous play)
Teams:
Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Duncan Taylor, 12 Brad Barritt (captain), 11 Chris Wyles, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Will Fraser, 6 Jackson Wray, 5 George Kruis, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Petrus du Plessis, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 Mako Vunipola.
Replacements: 16 Jared Saunders, 17 Richard Barrington, 18 Titi Lamositele, 19 Alistair Hargreaves, 20 Michael Rhodes, 21 Neil de Kock, 22 Marcelo Bosch, 23 Ben Ransom.
Northampton Saints: 15 Ben Foden (captain), 14 Ken Pisi, 13 George Pisi, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 Jamie Elliott, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Kahn Fotuali'i, 8 Teimana Harrison, 7 Ben Nutley, 6 Courtney Lawes, 5 Christian Day, 4 James Craig, 3 Paul Hill, 2 Mikey Haywood, 1 Alex Waller.
Replacements: 16 Reece Marshall, 17 Campese Ma'afu, 18 Gareth Denman, 19 Victor Matfield, 20 Michael Paterson, 21 Tom Kessell, 22 JJ Hanrahan, 23 Harry Mallinder.
Referee: Jérôme Garcès (France)
Assistant referees: Mathieu Raynal (France), Pierre Brousset (France)
TMO: Eric Gauzins (France)
