Northampton, out of Europe and the Tetley's Bitter Cup, stormed back from a shock defeat at Harlequins to crush Gloucester in the Zurich Premiership at Franklin's Gardens.

This result means Saints have announced themselves as serious championship contenders after an indifferent start to the season when they meekly surrendered the Heineken Cup in the group rounds.

There were 19 points from the boot of England scrum-half Matt Dawson, taking over the kicking role from his sidelined former England half-back partner Paul Grayson.

But the biggest cheer of the afternoon came right at the end when veteran winger Harvey Thorneycroft, now only a part-time player, scored his 100th try for the midlands club in a career that stretches back 11 years.

Saints, inspired by former All Blacks flanker Andrew Blowers, outscored the Cherry and Whites by three tries to nil.

But a rousing clash hung in the balance until the final minutes, although Northampton always seemed to just have the edge.

Two players were sin-binned - Gloucester number eight Junior Paramore for a high tackle on Dawson moments after putting in three punches as he tackled Ben Cohen, while home centre Luca Martin was yellow carded when he took Chris Yates out in a tackle off the ball.

It was Gloucester who made the stronger start, with their scrum seriously upsetting the midlanders, and after eight minutes scrum-half Elton Moncrieff scraped over a drop goal.

Dawson and Simon Mannix exchanged penalties before centre Matt Allen, whose place is under threat from new signing John Leslie, forced his way over for a try in the 22nd minute after England wing Cohen had opted to run a tap penalty.

It was ferocious encounter and referee Steve Leyshon called captains Pat Lamb and Kingsley Jones together in the 32nd minute to calm things down.

There was no let-up in the intensity as Dawson made it 13-6 at the interval with his second penalty.

Dawson and Mannix swapped three penalties apiece while Northampton, down to 14 men, turned on the power with Cohen diving over wide out on the left and Thorneycroft putting the icing on the cake in the final moments.

Teams:

Northampton: Shaw, Thorneycroft, Martin, Allen, Cohen, Hepher, Dawson, Pagel, Rutherstone, Stewart, Brouzet, Rodber, Blowers,Pountney, Lam.

Replacements: Thompson for Rutherstone (78), Phillips for Rodber (78).

Not Used: Todd, Seely, Malone, Tucker, Hyndman.

Sin Bin: Martin (70).

Tries: Allen, Cohen, Thorneycroft.

Cons: Dawson 2.

Pens: Dawson 5.

Gloucester: Hayward, Greenslade-Jones, Little, Yates, Catling, Mannix, Moncrieff, Woodman, Azam, Vickery, Fidler, I. Jones, Ojomoh, K. Jones, Paramore.

Replacements: Simpson-Daniel for Little (54), Gomarsall for Moncrieff (54), Fortey for Azam (40), Eustace for Fidler (40), Boer for Ojomoh (67).

Not Used: Cornwell, Deacon.

Sin Bin: Paramore (32).

Pens: Mannix 4.

Drop Goals: Moncrieff.

Att: 7,225

Ref: Steve Leyshon (RFU).

Zurich man of the match: Andrew Blowers.