Leeds produced an outstanding defensive performance to beat Northampton 26-19
and move into second place in the Zurich Premiership.
The home side maintained their unbeaten record by withstanding a late
Northampton fightback from an 18-6 half-time deficit which was increased when
Chris Hall dived onto a kick through by scrum-half Alan Dickens on the hour.
That gave Leeds a 26-12 lead and despite mounting several promising attacks,
the visitors could only breech the home defence once as lock Rob Hunter emerged
from beneath a pile of players to claim a try which Paul Grayson converted.
It was a magnificent effort by Saints with up to a dozen first-team regulars
absent through injury or international duty.
But it proved ultimately fruitless, apart from securing them a bonus point as
narrow losers.
In reality they were able to stay close thanks to Grayson's boot, the former
England man kicking four penalties and the conversion.
His faultless kicking game kept Leeds to an 18-6 half-time lead despite
dominating possession and territory.
The Tykes, unbeaten at home this year, made it clear from the start that their
guests were facing a huge challenge.
They roared into the start of the game and sustained pressure ended when Braam
van Straaten put a kick over the Northampton defensive line and centre George
Harder beat three of his team-mates to claim the opening try.
Former Springbok van Straaten then knocked over the conversion and a penalty
to take his side out to 10-0.
More pressure from Leeds on the Northampton line bought a second try on the
quarter hour. Neat inter-play from fly-half Tristan Davies and full-back Dan
Scarborough enabled the latter to dive over.
That went unconverted and the rest of the half lacked either a sustained
recovery by Saints or a possible killer blow by the Tykes.
Grayson added his team's points through two penalties, either side of a
three-pointer from van Straaten.
The victory pushes Leeds into second in the table, two points ahead of
Leicester who defeated league leaders Gloucester on Friday night, and three
points adrift of the table-toppers.
Teams:
Leeds: Scarborough, Emmerson, Harder, van Straaten,
Hall,
Davies, Dickens, Shelley, Rawlinson, Holt, C. Murphy, Palmer,
Mather, Ponton, Popham.
Not Used: O'Keefe, Regan, Campbell, P. Murphy, Hogg, Hegarty,
Rock.
Sin Bin: Palmer (65).
Tries: Harder, Scarborough, Emmerson.
Cons: van Straaten.
Pens: van Straaten 3.
Northampton: Beal, Sleightholme,
Reihana, Leslie, Ripol,
Grayson, Howard, Sturgess, Richmond, Morris, Phillips, Hunter,
Blowers, Fox, Soden.
Not Used: Miles, Budgen, Lord, Hepher, Bass, Brooks, Tucker.
Tries: Hunter.
Cons: Grayson.
Pens: Grayson 4.
Att: 4,017
Ref: Roy Maybank (RFU).
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