Leaders Gloucester overcame a Carlos Spencer inspired Northampton to maintain
their unbeaten record this season on Kingsholm.
Former All Black Spencer sparkled in the first half, carving out two Saints
tries, but Saints eventually paid the price for losing the forwards battle and
giving away penalties.
Spencer weaved his magic to give the Saints the advantage they needed early
on. The fly-half executed a sublime chip and chase after opposite number Ludovic
Mercier miscued a clearance kick. Spencer picked up and offloaded to a waiting
Steve Thompson, not out of place in the second row, who touched down with ease.
Bruce Reihana added the conversion but the Gloucester fans soon had something
to cheer about when summer signing Peter Richards left Northampton in their
tracks. The scrum-half, stealing the ball from the back of the ruck, was let
loose to dart 40 metres up field to score.
Mercier kicked the conversion and then two further penalties but, despite
conceding careless penalties from forward passes and a knock-on, the Saints
somehow managed to claw their way back into the game and create an eight-point
lead by half time.
Northampton centre Jon Clarke was the man to turn the tables though it was
Gloucester's sloppy handling that really was the home side's undoing.
First Richards fluffed a pass from the back of the ruck to Mercier who then
offloaded an impossible ball to Mike Tindall. The England centre could not
gather up and instead Clarke scooped the ball up and carried over to score.
Reihana added the conversion to hand the visitors the lead and, despite then
losing prop Dylan Hartley to the sin-bin, Damien Browne finished a superb Saints
try, all started by the mercurial Spencer in Gloucester's own 22. Reihana again
added the two points.
But the second-half re-start did not go to plan for Northampton as a defiant
Gloucester hemmed the Saints back in their own 22.
Northampton's front row forward Dan Richmond and Tom Smith were both shown the
yellow card within minutes of each other. Four penalties later and Gloucester
finally nailed a try with James Forrester carrying from the back of the scrum
and then popping the ball up to Jake Boer.
James Simpson-Daniel conjured up a 65th-minute converted try thanks to a
wayward pass from Spencer. The wing pounced on the ball and darted 65 metres up
field to put Gloucester back in front 25-21.
Reihana gave Saints hope when his penalty took them to within a point of
Gloucester but another Mercier penalty sealed a home win.
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