Premiership: Newcastle Falcons 8-44 Northampton Saints - First win in five for Saints

Tom Collins opened the scoring for the Saints in their victory at Kingston Park

Northampton Saints ended a run of four straight defeats with an emphatic win over a poor Newcastle at Kingston Park.

Joel Hodgson's penalty put the hosts ahead, but tries from Tom Collins and Courtnall Skosan, and two Dan Biggar penalties gave Saints 20 unanswered points for a 20-3 half-time lead.

Byron McGuigan drove over to give Falcons faint hope at 23-8.

But Saints put the game beyond doubt as Josh Matavesi, George Furbank and Tom James all crossed in the final quarter.

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In a meeting between two sides out of form, home advantage looked likely to play a big part, with the Falcons having lost just once in front of their own fans since April, while Saints had lost five of their previous seven matches on the road.

But aside from a tight opening 15 minutes, it was mostly one-way traffic as Northampton eased to only their second win at Kingston Park in six visits and moved up to fifth in the Premiership, while Newcastle remain eighth after a third straight defeat.

Opportunities were scarce in an error-strewn opening quarter, with Hodgson's boot giving Falcons a slender lead after failing to capitalise on two early penalties in the Saints 22.

But Saints never looked back after Collins showed good footwork in chasing down Rory Hutchinson's kick through to touch down.

South African back Courtnall Skosan raced away to score his eighth Saints try

The visitors had failed to crack a resilient Saracens defence despite plenty of pressure the previous weekend, but found the Falcons far more accommodating and Matavesi sliced through the hosts to send Skosan away for the second try.

Biggar slotted two penalties as the visitors dominated, helped by a rising error and penalty count from the sluggish Falcons who struggled to build phases.

Wales fly-half Biggar landed a drop goal to extend the lead to 20 points, but the Falcons had renewed hope when McGuigan drove over from a maul after a line-out catch and drive following a penalty finally paid off.

But the hosts handed their hard-won momentum straight back as successive penalties gave Saints the chance to easily push Falcons back towards their line where Matavesi touched down.

Furbank ran on to Collins' kick through to finish off a fine Saints move to seal the try-scoring bonus point before Biggar's fourth conversion took his tally to 17 points and capped a perfect afternoon off the tee.

There was to be one more blow as the Falcons subsided, Furbank making the break and racing 30 metres before giving James a clear run to the line.

Newcastle: Brown; Earle, Orlando, Burrell, Carreras; Hodgson, Schreuder; Cooper, McGuigan, Davison, Peterson, Robinson, Van der Walt, Welch (c), Chick.

Replacements: Blamire, Brocklebank, Tampin, Fearns, Graham, Stuart, Connon, Wacokecoke.

Sin-bin: Van der Walt (28)

Northampton: Furbank; Skosan, Dingwall, Hutchinson, Collins; Biggar, Mitchell; Waller, Matavesi, Hill, Ribbans, Ratuniyarawa, Wood, Ludlam (c), Harrison.

Replacements: Fish, Iyogun, Painter, Coles, Wilkins, James, Litchfield, Freeman.

Sin-bin: Harrison (28)

Referee: Matthew Carley (RFU).

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