Northampton Saints’ last three encounters in the Gallagher PREM have been decided by a single score or less, with Saturday’s 35-28 success at Exeter Chiefs the latest in a trio of thrilling games Northampton have left victorious.
A brilliant spectacle for a neutral supporter, the Sandy Park match-up was tied on three separate occasions: Saints first cancelled out two early Chiefs scores with a brace of their own from Alex Mitchell and Ollie Sleightholme, Exeter pulled ahead once more after the break only for George Furbank’s collection of a Fin Smith chip to level the scores again.
Henry Pollock’s surge for the line allowed Saints to take the lead for the first time in the match, but that advantage was short-lived when Chiefs capitalised on a charged down kick to see the scoreboard level for a third time.
The last word was to be Northampton’s, however, with Fraser Dingwall’s perfectly timed offload finding England’s fly-half Smith for the dramatic final flourish.
“That’s the entertainment business!” Saints’ Director of Rugby, Phil Dowson, said after the breathless encounter. “We stuck at it. That was a proper game with fine margins, but I liked the way we carried on pushing.
“The connection, the tightness in the group, the character, the resilience, the heart, the grit, all those sorts of things that we talk about are hard to define. We see it when this group is at it and won’t stop and that’s why there’s such pride there.
“We’ve not had that much success against Exeter recently. Given the fact they dished us up in the PREM Rugby Cup semi-final, and they came back from 33-7 down to draw at our place earlier this season in the league, we knew what a good side they are.
“They’ve got the lowest points conceded in the league so it’s hard to score points against them, but we managed to work through that and it was a really good challenge for us.”
One of Saints stand-out performers was centre Tom Litchfield – who racked up 13 carries, made 66 metres with the ball in hand, slipped past five defenders and assisted one of Saints’ five tries on his way to a first Man of the Match award at Sandy Park.
And of the 23-year-old centre, Dowson said: “He’s exceptional. To leave Rory Hutchinson at home, a Scottish international, and not miss a beat with Litch, for him to get Man of the Match. That speaks volumes about Tom Litchfield. He’s been outstanding.
“One of our strengths this year is that we have been able to rotate people at times and freshen them up. Other guys have really stepped in.”
The big matches keep coming for league-leaders Saints, as the prospect of a top-of-the-table clash with Bath looms on the horizon next weekend. It will mark Northampton’s third meeting with the reigning champions this term, with Saints most recently coming up just short at the Rec only two weeks ago in the Investec Champions Cup quarter-finals.
Dowson joked: “It’s been a while!
“It will be exciting. There’s no animosity towards Bath. It’s a really good rivalry and they’re a very good club.
“We want to beat everyone. We want to be top of the table, so do they, so it’s made for it.”