Northampton Saints have fun comeback win over Sale Sharks
Northampton mounted a surprising fightback to beat Sale 21-17 and moved to the highest of the Gallagher Premiership desk with a sixth successive victory.
Sale had been 14-0 and 17-7 forward as they confirmed actual resilience in defence, however the Saints lastly discovered a strategy to up the tempo and acquired their rewards.
Alex Mitchell offered a spark as he scored his aspect’s second strive earlier than taking a fast faucet penalty that compelled Sale to infringe, giving Northampton a penalty try to sending Sale prop Asher Opoku-Fordjour into the sin-bin.
The Sharks tried to battle to the top with 14 males, however the Saints confirmed their energy as they delivered a vital win in entrance of a sell-out crowd on the cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens.
Sale had missed an opportunity to go forward early on as George Ford despatched a long-range penalty vast of the posts.
Frustration was rising for the hosts because the wind and rain swirled across the sold-out Gardens, and the climate prevented Fin Smith from giving Saints the lead as his penalty dropped simply in need of the posts.
A sucker punch was landed by Sale simply earlier than the break as a excessive ball wreaked havoc and the guests used their penalty benefit to ship Joe Carpenter over for a valuable opening strive.
Ford slotted the conversion to make it 7-0 on the break and Northampton have been thwarted of their makes an attempt to reply simply after the restart as Ollie Sleightholme was bundled into contact.
Sale then rubbed additional salt into the injuries as they scored from their first assault of the second interval, kicking a penalty to the nook earlier than Luke Cowan-Dickie barged over.
Ford transformed to make it 14-0 and it was wanting a good distance again for Northampton.
However the Saints summoned a response as Rory Hutchinson launched the onrushing George Furbank, who flew over the road for a well timed strive.
Smith transformed fantastically from the touchline, however Sale responded with a Ford drop-goal to make sure the hole was 10 factors with 20 minutes to go.
Saints refused to go quietly and after Sleightholme flew via the center, the house aspect stored pushing to permit Mitchell to complete issues off.
Smith transformed to chop the hole to a few factors with 14 minutes remaining because the noise and stress entered a special stratosphere.
Northampton have been flying ahead they usually had the lead when awarded a penalty strive for Opoku-Fordjour tackling from an offside place following some fast pondering from Mitchell.
There was nonetheless time for a Sharks line-out likelihood in dwelling territory, but it surely was stolen and Northampton ran the ball clear earlier than booting it out to safe the win.
“We did some decent stuff in the second half. We drove the pace and got a bit more of our game on the pitch,” the Northampton director of rugby Phil Dowson stated. “Sale are a good side, they shut us down in the first half and we didn’t convert any of our pressure.
“That they had one alternative and scored, which put them within the ascendancy at half-time. However we stated at half-time that it was completely OK and that we had completed quite a lot of good issues.
“We weren’t upset in any way as a coaching group, we just knew we had a bit more and against good groups, you sometimes have to wear them down and figure out where the space is.
“Within the second half, Fin Smith, Alex Mitchell and George Furbank did that. Truthful play to the squad for actually turning it on within the final 20 minutes. We tried to play a bit faster within the second half and be extra optimistic by way of how we needed to play.”
Earl returns, Vunipola sent off as Saracens beat Newcastle
England back rower Ben Earl returned from injury as Saracens got back to winning ways in the Gallagher Premiership with a 37-19 victory over bottom side Newcastle Falcons.
It was Earl’s first action in nearly two months following a leg injury and the 25-year-old, who had made a big impression during the World Cup earlier in the year, helped his club put recent losses to Northampton and Sale behind them.
The champions remain fifth in the table, but they are set to be without Mako Vunipola for several weeks after he was sent off for a headshot on Bryan Byrne off the final play.
Rory Jennings kicked the first points of the game for Newcastle inside two minutes before a prolonged spell of Saracens pressure eventually led to hooker Theo Dan barging his way over from close range.
Manu Vunipola missed the conversion and Falcons were next to strike when, from a loose pass in his own team’s 22, Adam Radwan hacked the ball clear on two occasions before his searing pace allowed him to follow up and go clear.
Jennings added the extras and then banged over a penalty from just over 40 metres soon after to increase the visitors’ lead to 13-5.
Mano Vunipola quickly narrowed the gap to five points with a penalty of his own, but the hosts had a let-off when a Iwan Stephens ‘try’ on the counter was ruled out for a knock-on by Guy Pepper just before the openside hacked clear.
Within a minute, Sarries scrum-half Ivan van Zyl struck after quickly taking a penalty for a high tackle, and Mano Vunipola’s conversion gave his side the lead, one they retained after Jennings sent a shot from his own half wide.
The Falcons fly-half did kick his side in front again with his third penalty, soon after Olly Hartley had been denied a score due to a forward pass by Van Zyl.
But the visitors could not hold on until the break as Juan Martin Gonzalez dummied before gliding over off the final play of the first half.
It meant Saracens turned around 22-16 ahead, with Mano Vunipola and Jennings then exchanging penalties in the early stages of the second half to keep the gap at six points.
The inevitable raft of replacements, coupled with the worsening conditions, hurt the game’s flow, but Saracens had their bonus point after 64 minutes when they were awarded a penalty try as a driving maul heading for the Newcastle line was collapsed.
Falcons captain Callum Chick was sent to the sin bin as a result and he was still off the field by the time Mako Vunipola squeezed his way over before his late red card took some of the shine off for Saracens.
Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall was hopeful that Vunipola could be given a reprieve by the tribunal that will follow.
“On Mako’s purple card, we’ll see as a result of he was a part of a double-tackle,” McCall said.
“He got here in second, the first tackler affected the physique peak of the ball provider, so we’ll see what the panel should say in a few days’ time.
“In terms of the performance, into a very strong wind I think we had 90 per cent of possession and territory in the first half and probably did a lot of good things to achieve that.
Smith Stars as Harlequins see off Gloucester
Harlequins ended 2023 in style by dispatching struggling Gloucester 32-26 at Twickenham to keep them in firm contention for the Gallagher Premiership play-offs.
A crowd of 75,000 watched Quins conjure five tries despite slippery conditions – but injuries to Joe Marler and Dino Lamb took some of the shine off their sixth win in 10 league matches.
From the moment outstanding wing Nick David went over in the eighth minute they led opponents who fell to an eighth successive Premiership league defeat, equalling their worst ever losing run in the competition.
Solely Newcastle sit under Gloucester within the desk however they defied their lowly place to topic Quins to an anxious end with two late tries decreasing the deficit to 6 factors.
Marcus Smith dazzled once in a while and was named man of the match, however captain Alex Dombrandt was additionally influential in making certain the membership’s annual festive get together at Twickenham went off as deliberate.
A pre-match downpour didn’t douse Quins’ ambition as they struck early when a quickly-taken penalty despatched Danny Care shuttling throughout the sector till David arrived to straighten and rating.
Gloucester hit again with a properly labored strive for Adam Hastings however they then produced successive knock-ons within the moist circumstances, inviting strain and contributing to their line being breached twice in 4 minutes.
David added his second after a dummy enabled Smith to speed up into house and provide his wing the scoring go, within the course of exposing the vulnerability of the visiting defence.
Gloucester have been additionally gradual to react with a chip off the surface of Care’s boot and Domnbrandt punished the error by gathering and touching down.
In distinction to their leaky defence, Gloucester have been sharp in assault and it took a last-gap deal with by Oscar Beard to forestall Santiago Carreras from scoring within the left nook.
A line-out maul was then stopped inches quick and the strain on Quins’ whitewash evaporated, permitting them to drive downfield the place Dombrandt bounced off a problem from Zach Mercer, one among his rivals for the England quantity eight jersey.
The house aspect’s fourth strive was a bitter-sweet expertise for Lamb, who marauded over after being given a possibility by slick dealing with solely to injure an arm within the act of scoring.
Gloucester have been decided to go down preventing and so over went George McGuigan from shut vary, leaving his aspect simply 10 factors behind.
The door appeared to have been slammed shut on their comeback simply three minutes later when sturdy carries from Andre Esterhuizen and Joe Launchbury propelled Quins ahead till Care exploited an absent ruck defence to the touch down.
David’s very good sport continued with a try-saving deal with on Ollie Thorley however substitute wing Jonny Might succeeded the place Thorley failed because the match entered the ultimate 10 minutes.
Gloucester had their tails up and one other assault led to a penalty strive however the clock ran out on their last throw of the cube.
