Gloucester 35-37 Northampton: Saints hold out to deny Cherry & Whites record comeback

The visitors struck first in the 5th minute through Tom Pearson after some superb running by George Hendy tore through the Gloucester defensive shape retreating the hosts to their five metre line. A quick ball out the back of the ruck from Archie McParland found Pearson and the flanker dove through untouched. Anthony Belleau converted with his first kick of the match.

Northampton’s brilliant start continued when some more superb line running allowed Tom Litchfield to exploit the space between the Gloucester centres to score just outside the posts in the 10th minute. Belleau converted once more.

A quiet period mid-way through the first half was overshadowed by some confusion between referee and TMO about a high tackle on Callum Chick as both sides discipline was beginning to become lack lustre.

The poor discipline from Gloucester ended up costing them three points as Belleau maintained his 100% record from the tee after Will Joseph was penalised for an offside call.

Ollie Thorley thought he scored the hosts first on the 27th minute but it was called back after he dropped the ball on the line.

Northampton got their third on the half hour mark after a sloppy knock on by Seb Blake set up a scrum in a superb decision and a shocking miss tackle allowed for Rory Hutchinson to offload to McPartland to waltz over the line. Belleau converted once more.

The bonus point was wrapped up by half time for the visitors after Hendy exposed some shambolic positioning by Charlie Atkinson who’s Tom Daley style dive couldn’t stop the full back from bundling over. Belleau’s conversion made it 31-0 with five minutes left of the first half.

Gloucester got a consolation try just before the half when a string of Saints penalties set up some superb field position and Cam Jordan powered through to put the hosts on the scoreboard.

Gloucester came out the gates firing, some great overlapping play was finished off by Will Joseph who ran from the half way line into the end zone after sending half the Saints side to the shops with a superb dummy. Byrne converted his second of the match.

Belleau didn’t let the Gloucester momentum last long after he converted his second penalty of the afternoon just five minutes later to increase Northampton’s lead to 20 points.

Northampton were reduced to 14 man in the 48th minute after a string of penalties on their own try line saw Hendy sent to the bin. This quickly turned into 13 when Tom Pearson followed suit after more defensive penalties.

Gloucester made advantage of the extra two men quickly after James Venter scored with the first phase of possession after Pearson’s sin bin. Byrne converted again to maintain his success rate from the tee.

Gloucester secured the try bonus point in the 62nd minute as Cam Jordan got his second of the match with some more textbook forward carrying off of the back of the ruck. Byrne converted once more reducing the deficit to six points.

A third Saints yellow card saw Tom Lockett sent to the bin for another offside infringement in the 64th minute.

Gloucester took the lead for the first time after an audacious swan dive by tighthead prop Afo Fasogbon in the 70th minute. Some strong running by Ben Loader put Gloucester into great attacking position and a delightful ball by Tomos Williams gave Fasogbon the space to bring out his inner Chris Ashton with a great dive. Byrne converted to put the hosts up by one.

Byrne was then sent to the bin for an intentional knock on. Belleau converts the resulting penalty to put the Saints back in front, to the jeers of the shed.

ATTENDANCE – 11,174

Tries: 5 ( Jordan 40’ 63’, Joseph 41’, Venter 54’, Fasogbon 70’)

Conversions: 5 ( Byrne 40’ 41’ 54’ 63’ 70’)

Penalties: 0

Yellow cards: 1 (Byrne 72’)

Red cards: 0

15. Charlie Atkinson 14. Ben Loader 13. Will Joseph 12. Seb Atkinson 11. Ollie Thorley 10. Ross Byrne 9. Tomos Williams (c) 1. Ciaran Knight 2. Seb Blake 3. Afolabi Fasogbon 4. Freddie Thomas 5. Cam Jordan 6. Josh Basham 7. James Venter 8. Jack Mann

Replacements: 16. Jack Innard 17. Archie McArthur 18. Nepo Laulala 19. Matias Alemanno 20. Hugh Bokenham 21. Harry Taylor 22. Caolan Englefield 23. Josiah Edwards-Giraud

Tries: 4 (Pearson 5’, Litchfield 10’, McPartland 30’, Hendy 36’)

Conversions: 4 (Belleau 5’ 11’ 30’ 36’)

Penalties: 3 (Belleau 24’ 46’ 73’)

Yellow Cards: 3 ( Hendy 49’, Pearson 53’, Lockett 64’)

Red cards: 0

15. George Hendy 14. Edoardo Todaro 13. Tom Litchfield 12. Rory Hutchinson 11. James Martin 10. Anthony Belleau 9. Archie McParland 1. Emmanuel Iyogun 2. Henry Walker 3. Elliot Millar Mills 4. Alex Coles 5. JJ Van Der Mescht 6. Angus Scott-Young 7. Tom Pearson 8. Callum Chick (c)

Replacements: 16. Robbie Smith 17. Danilo Fischetti 18. Cleopas Kundiona 19. Tom Lockett 20. Fyn Brown 21. Jonny Weimann 22. Toby Thame 23. James Pater

1. Ciaran Knight - 5/10 – Was good at the breakdown, scrummaged well and was decent in the maul game also.

2. Seb Blake - 4/10 – The Gloucester lineout was faulty at best today; it wasn’t all his fault but the hooker couldn’t connect with his jumpers.

3. Afolabi Fasogbon - 7/10 – Scrummaged well and won a couple of vital scrum penalties, it wasn’t the best performance he has produced in recent memory but he wasn’t poor either. His swan dive for a score was audacious and grants a higher grade.

4. Freddie Thomas - 4/10 – Made a few handling errors from the lineout and gave away a couple of costly turnovers but was good defensively and his second half performance was much better than the first half.

5. Cam Jordan - 8/10 – Ran hard and strong, got onto the scoresheet twice and was a shining light in the Gloucester pack.

6. Josh Basham - 5/10 – Made a solid defensive impact and grew into the game well.

7. James Venter - 6/10 – His work rate was excellent and he covered lots of ground and made a good defensive impact.

8. Jack Mann - 6/10 – Mann carried with poise and tackled with precision a solid day from the former Glasgow Warrior.

9. Tomos Williams - 8/10 – He was excellent controlling the tempo and provided a pair of sublime assists.

10. Ross Byrne - 6/10 – Kicked well and also distributed play efficiently along both the hands and through his boot.

11. Ollie Thorley - 5/10 – Dropped the ball over the line in the first half but his impact in the second half was superb.

12. Seb Atkinson - 4/10 – Missed a couple of tackles and his positioning left a lot to be desired but grew into the game much like many of his teammates in the second half.

13. Will Joseph - 7/10 – Some superb running and attacking output helped elevate the performance of his team mates. A beautiful try also.

14. Ben Loader - 5/10 – Took the high ball well and ran effectively but missed multiple tackles which led to scores.

15. Charlie Atkinson - 3/10 – His positioning was shambolic in the first half; he’s not a natural full back and that was clear.

Replacements - 7/10 – The replacements changed the game for the hosts; they completely changed the game and elevated the Gloucester performance.

Inches away from a fairytale comeback: If Gloucester had managed to hold onto their late lead then it would’ve been the first time in the premiership that a side had won after being 31 points down. Ross Byrne was fingertips away from an interception and the resulting yellow card gave the Saints a penalty. Tony Belleau made good of this opportunity and struck the ball through the posts providing Saints with a two point win.

Saints lack discipline: Three yellow cards almost blew it for the visitors who lead by 31 points just before half. Multiple infringement penalties kept giving Gloucester the metres they needed and if the Cherry and Whites had just converted one of their two dropped tries then they would’ve run away with a win.

Saints missing their Lions: The Saints putting in such a strong first half display even with their Quarter of British and Irish Lions is a testament to the depth of the east midlands side. When the superstars return, the performances of Northampton will be at a whole new level, but seven points in their opening two games is a great outcome to what could’ve been very lack lustre.

Gloucester’s injury woes: Gloucester were down multiple players today who fans would’ve expected to start. Keen to not call it an “injury crisis”, Gloucester Director of Rugby George Skivington stated “off the top of my head, there’s probably ten players out, Arthur Clark broke his foot, Luds broke his hand, just bee some freak injuries.” Its not just Gloucester who’s squad has been ran thin, Bristol and Saints have both been ravaged with injuries and it’s clear the lack of a preseason has had a massive impact on the Gallagher Prem sides.

“Referee the obvious stuff” - Saints Director of Rugby, Phil Dowson mentioned about the lack of consistency with refereeing and TMO. "The back foot is the same, the offside is the same.” Saints had three yellow cards today and they all came from repeated offside penalties, something Dowson was not happy with. There is an argument that the referee tonight was overly trigger happy with his whistle, multiple times were advantages cut short when maybe play should’ve been allowed to reach its course. Discipline is something that can make or break a teams performance but Referee, Adam Leal was clearly not best pleased with both sides trying to get an unfair advantage.