Northampton Saints were beaten by Exeter Chiefs in a Gallagher Premiership clash at Sandy Park, despite an encouraging performance from a side packed with youth.
The men in Black, Green and Gold largely dominated possession and territory during the first half, with Jake Garside grabbing a try, but two breakaway scores just before the break from Harvey Skinner and Paul Brown-Bampoe saw Exeter pull 21-7 ahead.
And while Tom Lockett pulled Saints back within touching distance early in the second half, Martin Moloney’s effort kept the visitors at arm’s length before two late tries for Brown-Bampoe and Skinner put some gloss on the scoreline for the Chiefs.
FIRST HALF
Following last weekend’s magnificent Investec Champions Cup triumph in Dublin, Director of Rugby Phil Dowson rung the changes with 14 new faces in Northampton’s starting line-up, and a number of the Club’s youngsters were given their opportunity to shine.
Both teams felt each other out in a cagey opening ten minutes of the game, but the hosts struck first in the 14th minute as debutant Nick Lilley got on the end of a sharp move from Chiefs which saw them put the ball through the hands from a lineout and score in the left-hand corner.
Henry Slade converted well from out wide to make it 7-0, but Saints then came close after 18 minutes when – following a big carry from Fyn Brown in midfield – Toby Cousins stood up Skinner and burst around him on the left touchline, but Brown-Bampoe got back to make the last-ditch tackle five metres out.
Exeter conceded a couple of penalties on their own line, and after Northampton turned down a couple of shots at goal, Will Rigg was yellow-carded for playing the ball on the floor.
The visitors kept things tight as they continued to hammer away at Exeter’s line, and eventually got their reward as the Chiefs’ were caught narrow and fly-half Tom James found Garside in space to score.
James landed the conversion to level the score, but Saints were dealt a blow as loosehead prop Tom West had to depart with an injury in the 24th minute.
The young Northampton side continued to enjoy the lion’s share of territory and possession, and turned down a penalty in front of the posts just after the half-hour mark, but despite the maul getting some traction the ball came loose and Chiefs were able to clear their lines.
And Exeter nicked two crucial tries just before half-time, as – against the run of play – Skinner intercepted a James pass on halfway to run under the posts, before Brown-Bampoe popped up on the shoulder of his fly-half to carve through Saints’ line again.
SECOND HALF
Northampton got the perfect start to the second 40 as Jonny Weimann quickly tapped a penalty and popped the ball up for stand-in skipper Lockett to stretch over the line and score, with James adding the extras.
A brilliant defensive set on the 50-minute mark from Saints allowed Lockett to poach the ball from the base of a ruck, and after replacement Tarek Haffar carried hard up the middle, Will Glister cleared into Chiefs territory.
Northampton lost fly-half James on 52 minutes to an HIA from which he would not return, with Ewan Baker entering the action. Exeter came close to scoring when Skinner grubbered through, but the ball would not sit up for Josh Hodge with the tryline at his mercy.
But Chiefs did cross the whitewash moments later, as the ball got stuck at the base of a Saints scrum on the five-metre line, and Moloney was first to pounce on the loose ball and score.
Northampton continued to blood their youngsters off the bench, with Rafe Witheat coming on for his Premiership debut and coming within a whisker of scoring with his very first touch – but the young wing could not quite gather Weimann’s looping pass over the top to score in the corner.
In the closing stages, Saints were still chasing a score to cut the gap, but a loose pass in midfield allowed Hodge to break through on 75 minutes, and he released Brown-Bampoe to score his second and put the game to bed.
Hodge was at the centre of the action again with two minutes left on the clock, again finding space before setting up Skinner to add further gloss to the scoreline.
Saints return to cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens next weekend for their final home match of the Premiership season, welcoming Saracens to Northampton on Saturday 17 May (kick-off: 3.05pm).
LINE-UPS
EXETER: 15 Hodge, 14 Lilley, 13 Slade, 12 Rigg, 11 Brown-Bampoe, 10 Skinner, 9 Townsend; 1 Sio, 2 Yeandle, 3 Street, 4 Tuima, 5 Jenkins (c), 6 Vermeulen, 7 Capstick, 8 Roots.
Replacements: 16 Frost, 17 Blose, 18 Iosefa-Scott, 19 Tshiunza, 20 Moloney, 21 Cairns, 22 Haydon-Wood, 23 Tua.
SAINTS: 15 Garside, 14 Cousins, 13 Seabrook, 12 Litchfield, 11 Glister, 10 James, 9 Weimann; 1 West, 2 Walker, 3 Millar Mills, 4 Prowse, 5 Munga, 6 Lockett (c), 7 Brown, 8 Scott-Young.
Replacements: 16 Wright, 17 Haffar, 18 Green, 19 Hunter-Hill, 20 Logan, 21 Benson, 22 Witheat, 23 Baker.
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