Wasps gave Northampton a lesson in converting chances into points at
Franklin's Gardens.
The Saints created half a dozen scoring chances but only came away with one
try, a superb solo effort by replacement wing Rhodri Davies three minutes from
time.
By contrast Wasps soaked up long spells of pressure, fashioned a clinical try
for scrum-half Eoin Reddin and then killed off any hint of a comeback with an
interception effort by Rob Hoadley in the dying seconds.
Wasps fly-half Alex King added three penalties and a conversion, while Bruce
Reihana responded with a conversion and penalty for Northampton with Carlos
Spencer landing a drop-goal.
Northampton had plenty of confidence after a run of five wins in the six games
going into this Premiership contest, much of it injected by Spencer and
Reihana's enterprise with the ball in hand.
And they appear to have found some more durable forwards, too, with South
African prop Pat Barnard impressing on his home debut and Sam Harding lively in
the back row.
But despite missing a sizeable international contingent Wasps had plenty of
power to spare with Lawrence Dallaglio on the bench alongside Simon Shaw, who
has recovered from the back injury which forced him to pull out of England
training.
Up front they handed New Zealander Joe Ward a first start at hooker in place
of France's Raphael Ibanez with Peter Bracken drafted in at tight-head.
More attention, though, was focused on Tom Voyce at full-back, who broke a
Premiership record by making his 57th consecutive league appearance, overtaking
Newcastle and England centre Jamie Noon.
Voyce threatened early on for Wasps in a frantic opening period when both
sides were intent on running the ball, even if he did struggle in defence where
his pace got him out of trouble.
King nudged the champions in front with two penalties in the opening 10
minutes as his side dominated territory and controlled the ball.
But they could have been trailing by the break as Saints created plenty of
chances, notably when they were playing against 14 men after Rob Hoadley was
sin-binned for a late tackle on John Rudd.
Rudd and Mark Robinson were the most guilty when neither could find support
runners after making impressive breaks while Reihana was just beaten to the ball
by Voyce after one of Spencer's delicate kicks had opened up the defence.
Spencer got them on the board, though, with a well-taken drop-goal and Reihana
opened his account with a 40-metre penalty.
The full-back was short with another long-range effort immediately after the
break, prompting McGeechan to send Shaw and Dallaglio into the fray in the 47th
minute.
The move paid off five minutes later as Dallaglio powered his way off the back
of a midfield scrum, broke the first tackle and off-loaded to John Hart, who
linked with Voyce to send scrum-half Reddin on a 30metre sprint to the corner.
King could not convert but he added a penalty 12 minutes from time to stretch
the lead to eight points.
Wasps soaked up the pressure after that with prop Chris Budgen getting over
the line only for referee Rob Debney to rule he had been unable to ground the
ball.
It took a wonderful solo score from Davies to give Northampton a chance, after
the replacement eluded Neil Baxter's challenge before chipping the ball over
Voyce and winning a 30metre race for the line.
Reihana converted but Northampton needed to run the ball out of defence after
the kick-off that followed and Spencer's pass was picked off by Hoadley who ran
in from 25 metres to ensure his side closed to within three points of leaders
Sale at the top of the table.
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