Saints hold on as epic fightback falls short

By GARY FITZGERALD

Northampton….32pts

Tries: Sleightholme 5, 53; Matavesi 12, Collins 43, Augustus 49

Conversions: Grayson 44, 50

Penalties: Grayson 24

Newcastle………31pts

Tries: Penny 32, 40; Carreras 60, Blamire 65, Wacokecoke 70

Conversions: Connon 33, 40, 70

Eddie Jones visited the Gardens to run his eye over some potential autumn Test recruits and witnessed a breath-taking contest with Saints grabbing the spoils by the skin of their teeth.

The England boss would have had the likes of Falcons hooker George McGuigan on his radar – with Jamie George out injured for a while – plus speedy wing Adam Radwan. He would also have been keen to see the likes of Saints' stars Lewis Ludlum, Alex Coles, Ollie Sleightholme, George Furbank and Fraser Dingwall in action.

As it was, Jones was treated to a ten-try thriller which saw Falcons, defying their indiscipline during a game which saw three yellow cards, staging a remarkable late recovery when trailing 32-14, and scoring three tries in ten minutes before finally losing out at the end.

Saints director of rugby Phil Dowson said: “I'd prefer to have games where we finish more than one score ahead! It was frustrating; we had so many opportunities to win it but let them come back into the game. Games like that become a flip of the coin at one point.

“We have to make sure we are better in the last ten minutes. We are playing in fits and starts. We were dominant for so long but Saints flew out the blocks and into a 10-0 lead courtesy of two wellworked tries from prolific wing Sleightholme and hooker Sam Matavesi.

But Newcastle were ahead by the break. Fullback Tom Penny crossed for the first of his two tries when the Saints defence opened up nicely for him with Brett Connon adding the extras.

The tide had turned and Falcons pressed hard again on the home line with referee Jack Makepeace sending Saints' lock Dave Ribbans to the sin bin for killing a ruck and the visitors stole the lead with Penny diving over for his second try.

Falcons lost Sebastian de Chaves to the sin bin for deliberate obstruction as Saints looked set to retake the lead in the right hand corner, when lock came back from an offside position to block Alex Mitchell's pass wide.

Saints quickly made their superior numbers tell by stretching the play and wing Tom Collins was in acres of space to walk over the line to celebrate a third try. Grayson converted, having earlier landed a penalty.

Falcons were reduced to 13 men briefly when centre Ben Stevenson's clumsy high tackle on Hutchinson left the Saints man dazed and needing an HIA.

Stevenson was sent to the sin bin and Saints, returned to full-strength with Ribbans back on, capitalised with No.8 Juarno Augustus surging over in the left corner. Sleightholme followed suit as he grabbed his second in the 53rd minute.

Falcons, however, almost rose from the ashes with three tries in the final ten minutes. Argentine wing Mateo Carreras showed his class by weaving in and out of Saints players on a 70- metre run for his fifth try of the season.

Replacement hooker and England man Jamie Blamire burrowed over for another try just after entering the battle whilst another replacement, George Wacokecoke, dashed through a hole in the Saints defence to set up a tense finale.

But Saints managed to hold out for the win.