Premiership: Newcastle Falcons 14-16 Northampton - Saints record first win

Curtis Langdon (centre) powered in to score a try for Saints, but it was Fin Smith's boot that made the difference against Newcastle Falcons

Northampton Saints recorded their first victory of the Premiership season at Newcastle Falcons, who remain the only side yet to win in the competition.

Brett Connon and Fin Smith kicked two penalties apiece in a try-less first half in soggy, cold conditions.

Curtis Langdon then powered over for Saints, Connon converted a third penalty kick to reduce the arrears for Falcons, but Smith followed suit to add to the visiting side's tally.

Iwan Stephens crossed late on for bottom club Newcastle but Connon's missed conversion left them short.

Phil Dowson's Saints might feel they were fortunate to get one over his former club, given Falcons had the better of plenty of metrics throughout the contest.

Notably in the first half, Falcons bossed the scrum, were effective at the breakdown and competed well at the line-out in a game played largely between the 22s.

Yet they seldom bent the Northampton line despite their sizeable pack, and the fact most of their points came from kicks was evidence of that, also taking into account the slippery ball, which made handling more difficult.

To the visitors' credit, they fashioned the game's first clear opportunity when they did get over the gain-line and Langdon found fresh air to bustle over the chalk.

Falcons eventually came close to snatching back to level late on, after Northampton had George Hendy sin-binned for repeat offences by the team, as numerous pick-and-go drives led to the ball whipped wide for Stephens to dive in.

The kick from the touchline brushed the post and Falcons head coach Alex Codling will again rue his side coming close, picking up their second bonus point of the season.

Newcastle head coach Alex Codling told BBC Radio Newcastle:

"My overriding emotion is frustration. We had lots of possession first half, we didn't really make it count. And ultimately, one mistake [costs us] - congratulations to Northampton they took their one chance.

"Again we were pushing at the end, very similar to Gloucester last week but we couldn't get over the line. We're not a million miles away but it's frustrating for us, the players and the supporters.

"Stick with us, it's a young group, we'll keep working - it's not an easy challenge. We'll roll into training on Tuesday and attack Harlequins with the same vigour."

Northampton director of rugby Phil Dowson told BBC Radio Northamptonshire:

"I think away from home in conditions such as this you have to stick it in, show some grit, and we've done that in a big way.

"We could have made it easier on ourselves first-half discipline-wise, but our composure to stay on track was very, very good and we got what we deserved.

"Some things come from the scrum, a few issues we'll have to look at there and shore up because it gave them a foothold in the game, but also at the breakdown we tried to make sure we made better decisions and put them under pressure."

Newcastle: Obatoyinbo; Radwan, Penny, Jennings, Stephens; B Connon, Stuart; Brocklebank, Blamire, Tampin, Van Der Walt, de Chaves, Cross, G Pepper, Chick.

Replacements: Byrne, Brantingham, McCallum, Hawkins, McDonald, O'Sullivan, Lockwood, Orlando.

Northampton: Furbank; Seabrook, Dingwall, Hutchinson, Hendy; F Smith, James; E Waller, Langdon, Davison, Munga, Coles, Scott-Young, Pearson, Graham.

Replacements: Cruse, A Waller, Millar-Mills, Lockett, Moon, McParland, Grayson, Litchfield.

Sin-bin: Hendy (73).

Referee: Hamish Smales (RFU)

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