The reigning Premiership champions Northampton Saints hosted relegation struggling side Newcastle Falcons, to kick off 2015.
Northampton one of the highest point scorers in the season so far had the first good chance of the game from a lineout within the Falcons 10. Saints number 8 Manoa was given the ball by Dickinson who won the ball in the lineout. The big American 8 surged through the channel only to be stopped just short of the line. Scrum half Dickson then knocked the ball on from the following break down.
It took only 8 minutes for Myler to score a penalty allowing the Saints to take the lead early on. Myler is closing in on 2000 points in a Saints shirts and this was another easy 3 to his tally. Exactly eight minutes later the fly half was involved yet again as he rounded off a superb team try to extend his sides lead. Welsh winger George North caught the ball on the side line and quickly found Ken Pisi. The American burst through the Falcons defensive line passed the ball off to Dickson, he found Burrell who drew in the last defender. Burrell simply passed the ball out to Myler who dived over for the try. A superb try deserved a great conversion and Myler added that to make it 10-0 after 16 minutes.
However the Falcons hit back straight away, a inch perfect kick from Catterick was dived on by centre Harris for a try. The try did in fact fo to the TMO to ask if the try should stand but the try stood and the conversion was added to make it 10-7. Catterick then added a penalty just five minutes later to turn the game on its head.
But it was the reigning champions who took the lead yet again in this match. George North recieved the ball from Foden who then skinned multiple Falcons players. North found Manoa who was taken down illegalaccorsing to the referee, with an advantage in hand Myler stabbed through a grubber kick which bounced perfectly for George Pisi to dive over the line. Then as always Myler added the conversion to make it 17-10.
The half finished 17-10 to the Saints who played superbly and deserved the lead at the half time break.
Myler scored first in the second half with an easy penalty after five minutes to take Northamptons lead back to 10 points. Newcastle were then reduced to 14 men when second row Josh Furno intentionally prevented Northampton from playing the ball at a ruck.
The Northampton Saints scored their third try of the night just minutes into the sin bin. A rushed kick deep within the Falcons have saw the ball fall kindly for Ken Pisi. He found Foden who rushed passed his man with ease, passed it back to Ken Pisi who drew in a helpless fullback in and passed it off to Clark who dived over the line for a try. For once Myler missed a conversion but only just from a tight angle.
The bonus point was all the Saints were searching for now and they found it with 20 minutes to go. A Northampton lineout was won by Manoa and the Saints formed a maul which had momentum going forward, the ball was dropped by Clark but the referee had already peeled away to award the penalty try as the Falcons players were accused of bringing down the maul intentionally. The conversion from Myler meant that the English fulback surpassed 2000 points in his Saints career.
But yet again the Falcons hit back and kept their faint hopes alive with a try similar to the Saints last try bar the penalty try. The maul was gaining larege momentum and fast and 21 year old hooker McGuigan dived over the line. The conversion was then good by Katterick. However the away team was not doen there. They scored arguably the try of the night courtesy of fullback Tait. A break in the Saints defensive line wasd exploited by Penny and eventually thanks to some quick hands, Tait was able to dive over line to narrow the deficit to just 8 with the conversion from Katterick.
But the game was wrapped up by Luther Burrell when he scored a try. Foden threaded the ball threw via the boot to George North on the wing, the Welshmen was able to break away from his opposite number and offload the ball to Burrell who was able to dive over the line for the try, the conversion was added by Wilson.
Oddly enough Newcastle Falcons who are sat in second from last in the Premiership never gace up despite whenever they conceded a try. They scored from yet another maul and Mayhew dived over the line for the try. Katterick then kicked yet another conversion to bring the game to within eight points with two minutes to go.
But neither scored after that and the Saints secured a try bonus point win and the Falcons had to settle for just the try bonus point.
My man of the match would have to be Foden who excelled both defensively and with the ball, causing a lot of trouble which led to tries.