Scott-Young delighted to reach Saints half century

Angus Scott-Young was thrilled to come away with a 47-17 win against Sale Sharks alongside his Northampton Saints teammates on Friday, as the 27-year-old Australian brought up his 50th appearance at the Club. 

A ruthless first 40 minutes at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens helped Saints secure their 12th consecutive home win in the Gallagher Premiership, with tries from Tommy Freeman, George Furbank, Ollie Sleightholme (2), Tom James and George Hendy all but wrapping up the bonus-point win before half-time.

Saints would add a seventh score through James Ramm after the interval while Sale could only offer efforts from Luke Cowan-Dickie and Joe Carpenter, plus seven points from Rob du Preez’s boot, in response. 

And Scott-Young – who has now made half a century of appearances in Black, Green and Gold in just his third season as a Saint – was delighted to mark the milestone with a resounding win.

“How good to get my 50th cap with a great win at the Gardens?” said Scott-Young.

“It was a great bounce back as a team from last week’s result, some of the backs were on fire. That’s the Saints brand of rugby – we love to shift the ball, attack whenever we can. 

“To be honest, not much changed for us from last week from a game-plan point of view, we still went out there to put our DNA on the park. Some unlucky stuff went against us against Tigers but this week it fell our way which was awesome.”

Sale looked to take an early control of the Round 5 clash when du Preez opened the scoring with a penalty in the game’s second minute, but from there the momentum sat firmly with Northampton.

It was Man of the Match Freeman who first opened Saints’ account before setting up a captain’s score for Furbank just moments later, and Northampton would add three more tries before the half-hour mark as they well and truly capitalised when Sharks lost Alex Wills to the sin bin. 

A Sleightholme brace sandwiched James’ effort and with an intercept score from Hendy just before the break notching up Saints’ sixth try of the evening, it was exactly the kind of rugby Scott-Young and his teammates had hoped to be playing.

“We knew it was always going to be a physical battle,” the back rower said. “Sale are a side that bring that physical presence. 

“But when we run our DNA, when we get our game onto the park, anything can happen.

“We’ve had to grind out some tough games already this season, but we had a great blow out in the first half. 

“It’s exciting to play in games like that, you don’t really know what’s going to happen and I’m glad we got the best of it.”

Saints’ attentions now quickly turn to the next challenge, as they take to the field again on Friday night – this time to face third-place Bristol Bears at Ashton Gate (25 October, kick-off: 7.45pm).

Scott-Young added: “Bristol have been a bit of a bogey team for us the past few years, and especially when we play down there at Ashton Gate. 

“They’re a dynamic team that’s full of surprises. We’ll have to play some of our best rugby to counteract them when they’re playing their game. They’re always more dangerous at home but we’re looking forward to it.”