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| 22 November 2003, 6:35 pm |
| Six Tries For Saints As They Demolish Tykes |
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Thirty-one unanswered points in the first half set Northampton Saints up for a 48-24 win over Leeds Tykes.
Leeds had started strongly with a penalty by Gordon Ross on two minutes then a Liam Botham try on nine minutes, converted by Ross, but Saints kept their heads and stuck to the task and Leeds were not to trouble the scorer again before half time.
Heavy rain earlier in the day led to plenty of handling errors on both sides, and from a scrum inside the Leeds 22 Johnny Howard passed to Bruce Reihana via Andrew Blowers, and the winger went outside his defender to cross for a try, which Drahm converted.
It was Drahm himself who scored the next Saints try, selling a dummy to the defence before sprinting home from 35 metres to touch down under the posts, and he went on to convert the score to make it 14-10 after 22 minutes.
Drahm added a further penalty from near the right touch line on 30 minutes, as Saints began to dominate. Further pressure, especially by the forwards, had Tykes on the back foot and Ross was sin binned for using his hands in the ruck. Saints continued to press, and John Leslie crossed for Saints' third on 37 minutes, Drahm again supplying the extras.
Leeds were becoming increasingly desperate and Dan Scarborough joined Ross in the sin bin on 40 minutes for throwing a punch. Saints made the most of the two-man advantage, Reihana kicking a perfectly-weighted crossfield ball which found James Brooks on the right wing for the bonus-point earning fourth try, which Drahm again converted.
The start of the second half was somewhat scrappy, but credit must go to Leeds, who continued to battle despite the defecit. Dan Hyde scored their second try of the afternoon on 53 minutes when a maul was forced over the line, but Drahm stretched the lead again with a penalty, and then Mark Tucker scored an excellent individual try from half way, hacking ahead three times before touching down near the posts, Drahm converting.
Tucker almost scored an indentical try a minute later, but the ball narrowly beat him to the dead ball line. Scarborough scored a third for Leeds, but Reihana made it six for the Saints in the last play of the game, convering the score himself to make it 48-24.
NORTHAMPTON SAINTS
Nick Beal, James Brooks, Chris Hyndman, John Leslie (Tucker 62), Bruce Reihana, Shane Drahm, Johnny Howard; Tom Smith, Dan Richmond, Robbie Morris (Budgen 62), Matt Lord (Phillips 62), Mark Connors (Hunter 27), Andrew Blowers (Miles 74), Darren Fox, Grant Seely.
Replacements: Matt Miles, Chris Budgen, Rob Hunter, Jon Phillips, Oriol Ripol, Mark Tucker, Jon Sleightholme.
Tries: Reihana 2, Drahm, Leslie, Brooks, Tucker
Cons: Drahm 5, Reihana
Pens: Drahm 2
LEEDS TYKES
Dan Scarborough, Dave Rees, Phil Christophers (Snyman 31), Liam Botham, Diego Albanese (Walsh 65), Gordon Ross, Clive Stuart-Smith; Mike Shelley, Rob Rawlinson, Matt Holt, Scott Morgan, Stuart Hooper, Matt Salter (Murphy 62), James Ponton (Popham 65), Dan Hyde
Replacements: Gary Powell, Michael Cusack, Alix Popham, Phil Murphy, Ryan Walker, Tim Walsh, Andre Snyman
Tries: Botham, Hyde, Scarborough
Cons: Rees 3
Pens: Ross
Yellow cards: Ross 34, Scarborough 40 |
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