Match Report: Northampton Saints 90 – 0 Gloucester

Northampton Saints secured a first home semi-final in nine years on Saturday afternoon, after a record-breaking 90-0 victory over Gloucester Rugby.

The men in Black, Green and Gold were 40 points up at the break as George Furbank, Fraser Dingwall, Ollie Sleightholme, Alex Mitchell and Curtis Langdon (2) all crossed the whitewash.

Alex Waller and Alex Moon then scored emotional tries after half-time on their final regular season appearances at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens, before man-of-the-match Sleightholme sealed his hat-trick with two more scores, and Sam Matavesi, Emmanuel Iyogun and Tom James all added to the rout off the bench.

The highest points total ever amassed by a home side in the Gallagher Premiership was also, unsurprisingly, Saints’ record win in the league – and sealed their semi-final berth in some style.

FIRST HALF

The men in Black, Green and Gold had the first try of the game in under a minute. Saints went wide off a lineout from halfway, and the ball came through the hands of Dingwall, Fin Smith and Juarno Augustus before finding George Hendy out wide. He broke the defensive line and made it to the Gloucester 22 before shipping the ball onto Furbank for the score. Birthday boy Smith added the extras from the tee, and Saints were 7-0 up.

The hosts had a second ten minutes later. The Cherry and Whites had deliberately knocked on, giving Saints a penalty, and after Smith kicked to the corner, Augustus came close with a boisterous carry. When the ball came wide, Dingwall found a gap and dove over the line. Smith again added the extras giving his side a 14-point cushion.

Sleightholme, who had been lively in the opening quarter, got his 12th try of the league season on the 20-minute mark. Saints won a penalty against the head, and after Mitchell’s quickly-taken kick, fly-half Smith looped a pass over the top for the wing to score his first of the afternoon.

Saints wrapped up the try bonus point when Langdon crashed his way over the line after the hosts put multiple short-range phases together, and the hooker added another score for good measure on 35 minutes – again forcing his way through multiple defenders.

Mitchell then mustered a sixth try before the interval, dotting down under the posts after Courtney Lawes turned the ball over from a ruck on the Gloucester ten-metre line. Furbank broke free of a Cherry and Whites challenge and made it up to the 22, before passing inside to the scrum-half for the score.

SECOND HALF

Early on after the break, Lawes stole a Gloucester lineout inside their own 22 to re-gain possession, and from the same phase of play the ball found the hands of Waller – who, from 20 metres out, evaded numerous tacklers and dove over the line to bring out the loudest cheer of the afternoon so far from Northampton’s supporters.

Saints then hit the 50-point mark when replacement Matavesi got in on the act with his first touch of the ball at the back of a driving maul. Another replacement, Iyogun, nabbed the next score on his 50th appearance in Black, Green and Gold – collecting an offload from Freeman a couple of metres out.

Sleightholme twice showed his searing pace down the right wing to secure a hat-trick, showing Gloucester’s defenders a clean pair of heels, but in-between those lungbusting efforts it was Moon who picked up from a ruck close to the line to dive over.

The hosts then scored the most-impressive try of the game with ten minutes left to play. James collected the ball inside his own 22 and made it up to the ten-metre line, before a flurry of offloads saw Saints make it into the Gloucester half. Temo Mayanavanua found Freeman, and the England international passed back inside to James to finish off the move he started.

The 14th and final score of the afternoon came just a couple of minutes from time, as another dominant Saints driving maul made it over the line, with Matavesi again coming up with the ball.

The record-breaking victory secures Saints a semi-final spot back at the Gardens in a few weeks’ time, and Northampton go into the final game of the regular season next week away to Bath looking to secure top spot.

LINE-UPS 

SAINTS: Furbank, Hendy, Freeman, Dingwall, Sleightholme, Smith, Mitchell; A.Waller, Langdon, Davison, Moon, Coles, Lawes(c), Scott-Young, Augustus.
Replacements: Matavesi, Iyogun, Millar Mills, Mayanavanua, Graham, James, Odendaal, Seabrook.

GLOUCESTER: Hathaway, Hearle, Hillman-Cooper, Reeves, Morris, Atkinson, Varney; Vivas, Socino, Knight, Clark, Thomas, Tuisue, Ludlow (c), Clement.
Replacements: Scarfe, Elrington, Balmain, Eite, Nixon, Chapman, Adderly-Jones, Jones.