Northampton Saints ended the 2024/25 campaign with a 41-26 defeat at the hands of Gloucester Rugby at Kingsholm.
After making 14 changes to the side that contested last weekend’s Investec Champions Cup Final, the men in Black, Green and Gold trailed 22-14 after a breathless first half, with Tom Pearson and Tom Litchfield crashing over in response to Jack Cotgreave’s double, plus scores for Gloucester’s Christian Wade and Tomos Williams.
Scrum-half Jonny Weimann opened the second-half scoring and Iakopu Mapu touched down at the back of a maul, but Cotgreave completed his hat-trick and further tries for Seb Atkinson and Wade ensured the defiant Saints were kept at arm’s length until the final whistle.
FIRST HALF
The hosts got off to a fast start in the fourth minute with a set play off the back of a scrum, as the ball was swept wide at pace for winger Cotgreave to dart down the left-hand wing and score in the corner.
Santi Carreras added the extras from the touchline, but Saints responded well by building the phases inside Gloucester’s half before winning a breakdown penalty. Rory Hutchinson kicked to the corner and – after a burst from Ollie Sleightholme – Pearson smashed through a couple of tackles and over the whitewash. Hutchinson’s conversion was also excellently struck to level the scores with eight minutes played.
Northampton came close again after a quarter of an hour following a lung-busting passage of play; after several turnovers from either side inside the Cherry and Whites’ 22, Pearson offloaded to stand-in skipper Ed Prowse, who was stopped just short of the line.
Prowse was tackled illegally, and from the resulting penalty, the men in Black, Green and Gold kept it tight until Litchfield forced his way over to send Saints into the lead, with Hutchinson adding the extras.
The visitors were unable to exit cleanly from the kick-off, and Gloucester threatened again from another strike move – but this time Cotgreave was just forced into touch before scoring by fullback Jake Garside.
However Cotgreave got his second after 25 minutes, as after Litchfield was unlucky not to intercept a pass in midfield, a huge gap opened up for Atkinson to exploit before sending a looping pass left for the winger to run into the corner.
Carreras erred from the tee this time to leave the scoreline at 14-12 in Northampton’s favour – but five minutes later, the hosts took the lead as Wade intercepted a pass on halfway before running home untouched.
Another frustrating try followed for those of a Saints persuasion as the ball went loose from a box kick, and Freddie Clarke pounced before offloading to Williams who was able to run into the corner untouched.
A scintillating break from Garside took Saints upfield and they came within an inch of closing the gap, but Tarek Haffar’s attempt to dot down was held up – although Afo Fasogbon was yellow-carded in the aftermath for tackling a player while off his feet.
SECOND HALF
The first score after the interval was crucial, and Saints thought they had it as Hutchinson jinked through a series of tackles and found Sleightholme over the top with a basketball pass – but as the winger touched down, referee Anthony Woodthorpe blew his whistle for a forward pass.
But the visitors got their try a few minutes later after some patient phase play inside the 22, and following a break from centre Henry Lumley – who had become Saints’ youngest ever Gallagher Premiership player when he started the match at 17 years and 317 days old – Weimann danced through and was at full stretch to score his first Northampton try.
Hutchinson made no mistake with the conversion to bring Northampton within a point at 22-21, but Gloucester stretched their legs again just two minutes later as Jack Clement’s pass opened up acres of space down the left, and Cotgreave wrapped up his hat-trick by rounding the last defender and running under the posts.
And as they did in the first half, the Cherry and Whites made it a quick one-two when Wade broke a tackle before finding Atkinson on his shoulder who extended the hosts’ lead.
A turnover inside the 22 from Northampton allowed Sleightholme and replacement No.8 Mapu to break from deep, before an inch-perfect 50-22 from Weimann sent the men in Black, Green and Gold five metres out – and from the lineout, Mapu dotted down at the back of the rolling maul.
Saints were dealt a blow as fly-half Hutchinson had to depart for a HIA on the hour mark, but the visitors managed possession and territory well until his return with ten minutes remaining.
The visitors continued to knock on the door in the closing stages to try to close the ten-point gap, but as the clock wound down and Saints chased a crucial score, a charged down kick allowed Wade to notch another breakaway try and end the contest.
LINE-UPS
GLOUCESTER: 15 Carreras, 14 Wade, 13 Harris, 12 Atkinson, 11 Cotgreave, 10 Anscombe, 9 Williams; 1 Knight, 2 Singleton, 3 Fasogbon, 4 Clarke, 5 Clark, 6 Clement, 7 Ludlow (c), 8 Ackermann.
Replacements: 16 Blake, 17 Ford-Robinson, 18 Gotovtsev, 19 Jordan, 20 Thomas, 21 Englefield, 22 Butler, 23 Barton.
SAINTS: 15 Garside, 14 Cousins, 13 Lumley, 12 Litchfield, 11 Sleightholme, 10 Hutchinson, 9 Weimann; 1 Haffar, 2 Walker, 3 Green, 4 Prowse (c), 5 Munga, 6 Benson, 7 Pearson, 8 Brown.
Replacements: 16 N Langdon, 17 Iyogun, 18 Millar Mills, 19 Hunter-Hill, 20 Lockett,21 Mapu, 22 Pater, 23 Baker.
