With the opening round of the Anglo-Welsh Cup over, Saints sit at the top of Pool 1 after collecting a win over Newcastle Falcons while Saracens and Bath Rugby both lost their respective fixtures.
Narrow margins were the talk of Saints’ pool this weekend: with Saints securing their win over Newcastle Falcons through a late Rory Hutchinson try, it was only a matter of five match points in total that meant the men in black, green and gold finished the weekend above the other English members of Pool 1.
On Friday night, Bath faced defeat to Tigers at the Rec despite mounting a come back in the dying minutes of the game with tries from Jeff Williams and Dan Bowden. The home side went 21-8 down as Freddie Burns slotted 11 points for Tigers and a late comeback would get them close but leave them just one point shy of their rivals.
Saturday came and it was another loss for Pool 1 after Saracens lost out to Gloucester by four despite leading 25-5 at the break at Kingsholm. But the home side rallied after half-time and by the time the third quarter was up the cherry and whites had crossed the whitewash three more times through Dan Thomas, Henry Purdy and David Halaifonua.
Tom Whiteley got Saracens the try bonus point, and closed the scores enough to get Sarries the losing bonus point as well, but the home side held out to open their Anglo-Welsh Cup with a win on home soil and to send them to the top of Pool 4 with the full five points secured.
With Newport Gwent Dragons yet to play their first Anglo-Welsh Cup game, Saints occupy the top spot in Pool 1 after securing a 24-16 win at Kingston Park. Pools 2 & 3 are topped by Worcester Warriors and Harlequins after the two sides secured wins over Bristol and Exeter Chiefs respectively.
This Saturday Saints return to Franklin’s Gardens to host Gloucester Rugby in the final round of the Anglo-Welsh before the Aviva Premiership returns on the 18th November.
Tickets for the game are still available and can be purchase here.
