Northampton chalked up their second win of the week grinding down Leeds Tykes to ease their relegation worries.

The hard-earned victory lifts the Saints above Harlequins and the Tykes to fourth-from-bottom in the Zurich Premiership table.

A nightmare run of nine successive league defeats saw them going into the Christmas holiday in bottom spot.

But after half an hour, with tries from Andrew Blowers and Ben Cohen in the bag, it looked as Saints were on course for a try bonus point.

But the Tykes dug in and were unfortunate to come away empty-handed after a late surge failed to produce the points they needed for a priceless losing bonus point.

New coach Budge Pountney will look back on the week with some relief, although he could be without his inspirational scrum-half Mark Robinson for most of January.

It was Leeds, whose last win was against Northampton at Headingley on November 5, opened the scoring with a 12th-minute penalty from fly-half Gordon Ross in a frequently fractious clash that at times turned into a survival dog fight.

Flanker Richard Parks was fortunate to stay on after throwing punches at a scrum and lock Scott Morgan was involved in a tussle with prop Chris Budgen.

Referee Steve Leyshon just about managed to keep a lid on matters as the game frequently threatened to boil over.

Northampton dominated the first half and went ahead with a try from flanker Blowers, back after a three week break following concussion, in the 19th minute.

Northampton had been prone this season to handing the initiative back and straight from the restart Ross kicked his second penalty for Leeds.

But England winger Cohen, currently playing in the centre for the midlanders, burst through for a score after fly-half Shane Drahm had split the visitors' defence.

Drahm, the second half hero of Monday's 22-21 thriller at London Irish, converted and added a 63rd minute penalty to stretch Saints' lead to 15-6.

The home side were helped by a nightmare performance from veteran former England full-back Tim Stimpson who fumbled his way through the game before being scythed down by a crunching tackle from scrum-half Johnny Howard to end a miserable afternoon.

Ross kicked his third penalty after 68 minutes to put Leeds in bonus point territory.

The pack made life difficult for Saints throughout the second half but a 72nd minute penalty from Drahm following a brilliant break-out from full-back Bruce Reihana relieved the pressure.

Leeds' winger Matt Cardey was unlucky not to pull back a try in the dying minutes that would have given Leeds the bonus point they at least deserved.

Teams

Northampton: Reihana, Rudd, Cohen, Stcherbina, Human, Drahm, Howard, Emms, Thompson, Budgen, Seely, Lord, Blowers, Krige, Beattie. Replacements: Starling for Rudd (64), Jones for Howard (80), Richmond for Thompson (64), Sturgess for Budgen (67), Browne for Lord (57), Fox for Krige (51).

Not Used: Grayson.

Tries: Blowers, Cohen.

Cons: Drahm.

Pens: Drahm 2.

Leeds: Stimpson, Cardey, Bell, Snyman, Christophers, Ross, McMillan, Shelley, Regan, Gerber, Morgan, Palmer, Hyde, Parks, Rigney.

Replacements: Rees for Snyman (73), Kerr for Gerber (41), Murphy for Morgan (63).

Pens: Ross 3.

Not Used: Holt, Dunbar, Dickens, Wright.

Att: 12,001