Premiership: Northampton 24-18 Bath: Saints secure second successive win

Tom Pearson scored his fourth try of the season for Northampton

Northampton Saints spoiled Tom Dunn's 200th game for Bath as they registered a second successive Premiership win.

Tom Pearson and Alex Coles crossed for Saints, but two other Toms - Du Toit and De Glanville - replied as Bath went into the break two points behind.

George Hendy scored Northampton's third try following a lineout before Dunn was sent on as a replacement.

Bath forced a series of turnovers as they pressed forward but Ben Spencer's lone penalty was all they could muster.

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The victory enabled Northampton to move up to fourth and just one point behind their opponents, having begun the league campaign inauspiciously with back-to-back defeats by Sale and Bristol.

Both sides had an England player back from the World Cup in their starting XVs - Saints club captain Lewis Ludlam and Sam Underhill for Bath.

The two sides exchanged early penalties before a missed tackle by Du Toit and excellent pass by Tom James enabled Pearson to power through for his second Premiership try of the season - and fourth overall.

Prop Du Toit atoned as he crossed following a break by Cameron Redpath, only for James to help restore Northampton's lead, showing neat footwork before an offload on the inside to Coles.

De Glanville went over in the corner to cut the deficit, but he mishandled the ball into touch early in the second half and following the lineout, Hendy eluded Underhill and Orlando Bailey for Saints' third.

Spencer's penalty meant Bath could still win with a converted try but Premiership debutant Sam Harris, sent on when Will Muir suffered an attack of cramp, was brought down seven metres short after an excellent break and the chance disappeared when Max Ojomoh knocked on.

Saints director of rugby Phil Dowson told BBC Radio Northampton:

"We probably made it a little bit difficult for ourselves but managed to pull through.

"Last week and this week, the game has come down, in the last two minutes, to the defence and that's credit, clearly to the players, but also [defence coach] Lee Radford.

"We were frustrated last week with the scrummaging performance and we've gone pretty hard at it. Paul Hill came in with a brilliant attitude and tremendous energy. He's a very good player and I'm delighted he showed what he's capable of.

"I think we only got into their 22 in the second half once, so that ability to go from the kick battle in the middle of the field to actually turning the screw and getting into their half to create pressure, whether that's through penalties or opportunities to score, that was an area we were slightly off."

Bath scrum-half Ben Spencer told BBC Radio Bristol:

"We gave ourselves opportunities to win, especially in the last 15 minutes, but couldn't quite get over the line.

"Our discipline released a little bit of pressure at vital moments, but credit to Saints, they are a good outfit.

"There are small margins [in this kind of game], we've spoken about that in the last couple of weeks - you only need to look at what South Africa did in the quarters, semi and final [of the World Cup], they were all one-point games [and they won them] and we were within a score today.

"There's a long way to go in this competition, the spirit's still high and the group has a lot of confidence in the way we're playing."

Northampton: Furbank (capt); Freeman, Dingwall, Hutchinson, Hendy; F Smith, James; A Waller, Langdon, Millar Mills, Moon, Coles, Scott-Young, Pearson, Ludlam.

Replacements: Cruse, E Waller, Hill, Munga, Graham, McParland, Sleightholme, Seabrook.

Bath: De Glanville; McConnochie, Ojomoh, Redpath, Muir; Bailey, Schreuder; Obano, Annett, Du Toit, McNally, Lee-Warner, Reid (capt), Underhill, Coetzee.

Replacements: Dunn, Schoeman, Stuart, Ewels, Barbeary, Spencer, Harris, Hennessey.

Referee: Adam Leal

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