Gloucester consolidated their position at the top of the Zurich Premiership in
an outstanding win at Northampton.
At a packed Franklin's Gardens the leaders started with ferocious intensity as
they pinned the home side in their own half in the opening 10 minutes.
That intensity brought almost instant reward with the Cherry & Whites scoring
after just two minutes.
From a line out on the Saints 22 the Gloucester pack drove on to the try line
with hooker Olivier Azam holding the ball as they crossed the line with fly-half
Ludovic Mercier adding the conversion to make it 7-0 to the visitors.
The awesome start continued to unsettle the home side as the visitors added a
further three points after 11 minutes following handling in a ruck. Mercier
added the points to make it 10-0.
The Saints finally got into the Gloucester half with purpose after breaking
out of their own 22. It was finally stopped just five metres short of the try
line illegally by Gloucester's second row Rob Fidler, who was sent to the
sin-bin after 18 minutes.
With the extra man the pressure told with centre John Leslie diving over to
score after 19 minutes following a switch move with fly-half Paul Grayson eight
metres out and virtually under the posts. Grayson converted to make it 10-7 to
the visitors.
The Saints continued to press but with the Gloucester pack totally dominant in
the scrum the home side found it difficult to form a secure base to launch their
attacks.
Gloucester went further into the lead just on half time when Mercier added his
third kick after the Saints were caught offside to make the half time score 13-7
to Gloucester.
Eight minutes into the second half Grayson had a chance to cut the deficit
with a penalty but he shot wide.
Two minutes later Gloucester's Mercier added a further three points to the
visitors with a drop-goal.
The Saints fly-half made amends for his earlier penalty hit in the 54th minute
to cut the lead to 16-10 and added a further penalty in the 66th minute to make
it 16-13.
The former England international had a chance to tie the scores in the 73rd
minute but he hooked his shot wide.
Though they tried the Saints could not break down a stubborn Gloucester
defence and the visitors held on.
Teams
Northampton: Beal, Reihana,
Jorgensen, Leslie, Sleightholme,
Grayson, Vass, Smith, Thompson, Budgen, Williams, Phillips,
Hunter, Pountney, Soden.
Replacements: Richmond, Stewart, Lord, Fox, Howard, Brooks, Tucker.
Tries: Leslie.
Cons: Grayson.
Pens: Grayson 2.
Gloucester: Paul, Garvey, Fanolua, Todd, Delport, Mercier,
Gomarsall, Roncero, Azam, Vickery, Fidler, Cornwell, Boer,
Buxton, Paramore.
Replacements: Stuart-Smith, Amor, Beim, Caves, Molloy, Forrester,
Eustace.
Tries: Azam.
Cons: Mercier.
Pens: Mercier 2.
Drop Goals: Mercier.
Att: 12,500
Ref: Steve Lander (RFU).
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