Northampton Saints ensured they would go unbeaten at DPD Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens in all competitions for an entire year after overcoming Leicester Tigers 39-19 on Friday night.
The hosts flew out of the blocks in the first half with Thomas Rowe grabbing a brace, while James Martin, Toby Thame and Amena Caqusau all kept the scoreboard ticking over and Tigers mustering only one converted try before the break.
Martin and Caqusau both doubled up in the second-half to cancel out a pair of Tigers tries, as the men in Black, Green and Gold secured their first win of this season’s PREM Rugby Cup campaign.
FIRST HALF:
The opening 15 minutes belonged to Saints as they opened a ten-point lead with two well taken early tries.
After a few handling errors stifled the early scoring threats, it all clicked gloriously when captain Jonny Weimann sensed there was space out wide as he switched play with a looping pass for Martin to cross in the right corner.
Five minutes later, the assistant referees were back under the posts as Rowe made a roaming in-field break to advance deep into Tigers territory. With penalty advantage, Weimann dinked a perfect kick to the touchline where the 21-year-old winger leapt athletically to gather and cross in an unguarded square inch of DPD Stadium turf.
Oliver Scola was sent to the sin bin following a collision as Tigers chased a kick, but it did not impact the momentum of the game, as before the loosehead prop returned to the field of play, his side stretched their lead to 17 points.
Once more, Northampton were impactful close to the ruck, pushing purple shirts backwards, and before Tigers were set, Jordan Els marked his first outing since extending his contract until the end of the season by deftly offloading for Martin to swiftly feed Thame for the score.
Tigers got on the scoreboard through a Samiuela Moli drive for the line, soon after, Weimann’s afternoon came to a premature end due to injury.
But before half-time, Saints would score two more eye-catching tries. After Rowe had brilliantly recovered a hack in behind to regain the ball, Shields dabbed a flat kick for Caqusau to mesmerise his opposite number to reach the line.
By now, Shields had the ball on a string, this time nudging in behind where Will Catley scooped up and offloaded for Rowe to arrive and sprint for glory into the right corner – as Saints took a 20-point lead into the break.
SECOND HALF:
The teams traded tries in the opening ten minutes of the first half as Moli rumbled over from a rolling maul after Tigers earned a scrum penalty.
Saints’ response was attacking rugby at its best as livewire replacement scrum-half Sonny Goode linked beautifully with Rowe and Josh Taylor to get within metres of the line. With two Tigers players down nursing knocks, Shields put boot to ball where Martin had the simplest of tasks to grab his second try of the match.
Entering the final third of the game, Leicester lost Adam Radwan to the sin bin for a deliberate knock on
It took Saints a while to capitalise, when they did, the purrs of appreciation were audible across DPD Stadium. Goode probed at the edge of the breakdown, linking nearly with Ulcoq with a one-two to free Caqusau for his second of the night on the hour.
Osian Thomas landed Leicester’s third try of the night as holes were punched up the middle, shortly afterwards, Alex Mead and Charlie Tamani ran onto the field to make their Northampton debuts.
Tigers hunted for the consolation of a fourth try to salvage a bonus point, only for the door to be slammed shut by a resolute Northampton side to rubber stamp their 16th consecutive home win in succession.
LINE-UPS:
Saints: 15 James Martin, 14 Amena Caqusau, 13 Toby Thame, 12 Henry Lumley, 11 Thomas Rowe, 10 Hugh Shields, 9 Jonny Weimann (c); 1 Oliver Scola, 2 Craig Wright, 3 Sonny Tonga’uiha, 4 Chunya Munga, 5 James Bennett, 6 Archie Benson, 7 Charlie Ulcoq, 8 Josh Taylor.
Replacements: 16 Henry Walker, 17 Jordan Els, 18 Noah Buxton, 19 JJ van der Mescht, 20 Alex Mead, 21 Sonny Goode, 22 Will Catley, 23 Charlie Tamani.
Tigers: 15 George Pearson, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Will Wand, 12 Wilf McCarthy, 11 Ryan Crowley, 10 Joseph Woodward (c), 9 Ollie Allan; 1 Tarek Haffar, 2 Samiuela Moli, 3 Ale Loman, 4 Elliott Stooke, 5 James Thompson, 6 Osian Thomas, 7 Samuel Williams, 8 George Marsh.
Replacements: 16 Marcus Southwell, 17 Kieran Ryan, 18 Diamond Ayiehfor, 19 Tom Manz, 20 Joshua Manz, 21 James Townsend, 22 Oscar Talbot, 23 Ollie Myall.