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| 16 November 2003, 2:36 pm |
| Saints Knocked Out Of Cup |
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Saints played some good rugby in this Powergen Cup encounter, but the Zurich Premiership leaders ended up on the right side of a slightly flattering 42-13 scoreline.
Olly Barkley opened the scoring for the home side with a penalty on four minutes, but Saints had a chance to level the scores seven minutes later, but Shane Drahm's kick from 37 metres out drifted wide of the posts.
Northampton enjoyed a good period of possession for the next five minutes and Drahm was given another chance to get his name on the score sheet, and from 20 metres his aim was true.
Saints continued to enjoy the bulk of possession, but Bath managed to break out of their own half to apply pressure on the Saints' line, winning a penalty on 27 minutes, which they converted, and when a wayward pass went over Bruce Reihana's head Wylie Human was pefectly placed to intercept and sprint home from 50 metres out, Barkley supplying the conversion.
Chris Budgen almost scored straight back but was held up over the line, and a break down the left by Reihana ended in a knock-on. Bath gathered themselves and came back, their cause was helped by the yellow carding of Dan Richmond for killing the ball, Barkley again kicking the points.
Matt Perry was lucky to escape without a yellow card himself for a similar offence seven metres out from the Bath try line, but Drahm narrowed the gap from the ensuing penalty. Zak Feaunati, however, was not so fortunate when he was penalised for a high tackle on Drahm and given a 10-minute breather.
The gap was narrowed further when Saints countered after Perry coughed up the ball in the tackle, the ball being spun out wide to Reihana who kicked ahead. Martyn Wood fumbled the ball on his own try line, and Reihana was there to touch down, Drahm adding the conversion to make it 16-13 to the home side.
Bath came back with a break away try by Kydd, and although Saints strung together numerous phases deep inside Bath territory they were unable to score, and the second half saw Bath ease ahead thanks to tries by Feaunati, Scaysbrook and Danielli.
Northampton Saints
NIck Beal, James Brooks, Chris Hyndman, John Leslie, Bruce Reihana, Shane Drahm (Sleightholme 70), Johnny Howard (Jones 74), Robbie Morris (Sturgess 58), Dan Richmond (Miles 68), Chris Budgen, Matt Lord (Seely 58), Rob Hunter (Phillips 61), Mark Connors, Darren Fox, Andrew Blowers.
Replacements: Matt Miles, Brett Sturgess, Jon Phillips, Grant Seely, Ben Jones, John Clarke, Jon Sleightholme.
Tries: Reihana
Cons: Drahm
Pens: Drahm 2
Yellow cards: Richmond
Bath Rugby
Matt Perry (Sampson 70), Wylie Human, Andrew Higgins, Robbie Kydd, Jamie Williams (Danielli 29), Olly Barkley, Martyn Wood (Martens 70), David Flatman, Jonathan Humphreys (Mears 61), Duncan Bell (Stevens 61), Steve Borthwick, Rob Fidler, Andy Beattie, Zak Feaunati (Gray 70), Michael Lipman (Scaysbrook 67).
Replacements: Hentie Martens, Lee Mears, Matt Stevens, Simon Danielli, Paul Sampson, James Scaysbrook, Scott Gray.
Tries: Human, Kydd, Feaunati, Scaysbrook, Danielli
Cons: Barkley 3, Kydd
Pens: Barkley 3
Yelloow cards: Feaunati, Danielli |
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