Fin Smith’s 79th-minute score sealed Northampton Saints’ seventh consecutive Gallagher PREM victory, as the side secured a bonus-point win at Exeter Chiefs.
Their hosts had shot out to a 14-0 lead after just ten minutes in Round 13, but Saints hit back with a brace of their own before the break – thanks to Alex Mitchell and Ollie Sleightholme – to send the teams back into the sheds at level-pegging.
Northampton and Exeter were primed for their second draw of the season, as two more scores apiece made it 28-all with just three minutes left to play. Northampton’s had come from captain George Furbank and super sub Henry Pollock, but it was left to fly-half Smith to have the last word – with his eventual try and conversion seeing Saints leave the West Country with a full five points.
FIRST HALF
Chiefs struck early, with their first attack putting them on the scoreboard after just 90 seconds. It was Olly Woodburn’s slice through Northampton’s defence that got the home side on the front foot, before he found a sprinting Immanuel Feyi-Waboso on this shoulder.
Exeter added another just five minutes later, tapping a penalty Saints had conceded when they were found offside and sending Will Rigg powering over from close range.
Chiefs’ 14-point lead was soon cut though, thanks to a neat score of Saints’ own. A show of brilliance from winger George Hendy saw him round the corner out on the right before straightening to feed Tom Litchfield, who in turn fed Mitchell for Saints’ first.
A pair of chances went begging for Saints at the end of the first quarter, when first Callum Chick found himself isolated and then an attacking lineout went astray. Northampton did eventually break the deadlock on the stroke of half-time, when patient phase play left Sleightholme unmarked on the left and in space to take Smith’s looping pass.
SECOND HALF
The teams re-entered the field at 14 points apiece and it would take 18 minutes for the scoreboard to change. It was again the hosts who crossed the whitewash first, when Campbell Ridl broke and found Will Haydon-Wood on the left.
Slade’s conversion made it 21-14 in Chiefs’ favour but when Exeter found themselves down to 14 when Feyi-Waboso was yellow carded for a deliberate knock on, Saints made their extra man count.
A heavy Pollock carry got Northampton on the front foot before Smith spotted space in behind Chiefs’ depleted defence – a chip over the top went in and it was Furbank who won the foot race to the ball.
Smith’s converted the score to level things once again and thoughts of the sides’ 33-33 draw earlier in the season hung around Sandy Park.
Saints hoped those thoughts were short-lived when Freeman ripped down the right and found Dingwall outside him, before Josh Kemeny stretched over the whitewash. But a trip to the TMO deemed there to have been a knock-on from the restart and Kemeny’s score was chalked off.
Another yellow card went Chiefs’ way with just short of ten minutes on the clock, this time with Ridl sent to the sin bin for not rolling away as Saints crept towards the tryline. And while Chiefs were down to 13 men, Saints did eventually get their bonus-point score.
Northampton’s forwards trucked the ball up the middle until a space opened up out wide, where Dingwall again turned provider, this time to Pollock. The replacement flanker still had plenty of work to do but carried Chiefs’ last defenders towards the whitewash and stretched over for Saints’ third.
Slade’s missed touch-finder could have given Saints the chance to score again moments later but Sleightholme’s clearing kick was charged down by Paul Brown-Bampoe and the winger regathered the bouncing ball to dot down and level the scores once again at 28-28.
But Saints ensured that the last word was theirs. Attacking into Chiefs’ half, Dingwall almost slipped through a gap; the centre could not make it through but managed to free his hands and get an offload away to his fly-half, Smith. The British & Irish Lion still had some 30 metres to cover but put on the after-burns and stepped his way past Feyi-Waboso on his way to the tryline to clinch the all-important win for Saints.
LINE-UPS
Exeter: 15 Olly Woodburn, 14 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Will Rigg, 11 Campbell Ridl, 10 Harvey Skinner, 9 Stephen Varney; 1 Scott Sio, 2 Jack Yeandle, 3 Jimmy Roots, 4 Dafydd Jenkins (c), 5 Andrea Zambonin, 6 Tom Hooper, 7 Ross Vintcent, 8 Greg Fisilau.
Replacements: 16 Joseph Dweba, 17 Ethan Burger, 18 Bachuki Tchumbadze, 19 Rusi Tuima, 20 Ethan Roots, 21 Tom Cairns, 22 Will Haydon-Wood, 23 Paul Brown-Bampoe.
Saints: 15 George Furbank (c), 14 George Hendy, 13 Tom Litchfield, 12 Fraser Dingwall, 11 Ollie Sleightholme, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Alex Mitchell; 1 Emmanuel Iyogun, 2 Craig Wright, 3 Cleopas Kundiona, 4 Ed Prowse, 5 Tom Lockett, 6 Josh Kemeny, 7 Sam Graham, 8 Callum Chick.
Replacements: 16 Robbie Smith, 17 Tom West, 18 Elliot Millar Mills, 19 JJ Van Der Mescht, 20 Henry Pollock, 21 Archie McParland, 22 James Pater, 23 Tommy Freeman.