Saints at sea after Biggar’s red card

By ROGER PANTING

Gloucester ……..31pts

Tries: Thorley 4, Rapava-Ruskin 7, Alemanno 21, Socino 47

Conversions: Hastings 4, 7, 21, 47

Penalties: Hastings 52

Northampton….21pts

Tries: Augustus 32, Hutchinson 38, Haywood 66

Conversions: Biggar 32, 38; Furbank 66

DAN Biggar was sent off in the 52nd minute to ruin any chance of Northampton progressing to the quarter-finals.

Saints were trailing 28-14 when the Welsh fly-half was guilty of a head high challenge on his Lions team-mate Chris Harris and the remainder of the game was a formality as Gloucester secured a home tie against either Saracens or Cardiff.

They fully deserved to do so as the first half hour saw them produce their best rugby of the season to build up a 21-0 lead with backs and forwards combining in a thrilling display of power and creativity.

Ruan Ackermann and Val Rapa-Ruskin were at the forefront of their grunt with Ollie Thorley and Mark Atkinson providing the fireworks but, once again, Gloucester displayed their habit of allowing teams back into the game when they should be out of sight.

Despite battling hard, Saints were clearly second best with only Juarno Augustus and Lewis Ludlam taking any real credit from individual performances.

Their exciting backs were largely held in check and were not able to reproduce the superb tries they scored on their last visit to Kingsholm in the Premiership fixture in March.

It made a welcome change that both clubs respected the junior European competition by fielding full-strength sides to provide a compelling contest.

Northampton had the first chance of points but Biggar's penalty attempt hit the post before Gloucester struck in style. From a lineout in their own half they executed a preplanned move to perfection. This saw blindside wing Thorley flying into the line in the outside channel to receive a pass from Atkinson before accelerating away to score.

Three minutes later, Gloucester scored a second when George Furbank was caught in possession by Louis Rees-Zammit and when the ball was recycled, Thorley made ground to send Rapava-Ruskin over.

Saints' nightmare start continued when Courtney Lawes first departed with a wrist injury before his replacement, Alex Coles, was sin-binned for persistent team infringements as his side struggled to cope with the hosts' driving maul.

Immediately, Gloucester picked up their third try when Matias Alemanno forced his way over but that was the only score in Coles' absence.

For the first half-hour, apart from three bursts from Augustus, Saints had struggled to land a blow but the South African No.8 succeeded in getting his side on the scoreboard by powering over from a lineout.

Two errors in quick succession from Santiago Carreras allowed Saints to be in contention at halftime. First, the Argentinian full-back knocked on before a stray pass gave Rory Hutchinson the chance to stroll over and leave Saints 21-14 behind at the break.

Gloucester extended their advantage when an unstoppable forward drive saw Santiago Socino win the touchdown before Biggar was sent off with Hastings kicking the resulting penalty.

Saints showed spirit with a try from Mikey Haywood but Gloucester's explosive start coupled with the visitors ill-discipline proved enough to see them home, even though they lost replacement Alex Craig to a late red card for dangerous play.

Over you go: Juarno Augustus of Northampton Saints scores their first try

PICTURE: Getty Images