Premiership: Northampton 38-13 Newcastle - Saints stay top after routine Falcons win

Tom James scored his second try in three Northampton games as he started in place of England scrum-half Alex Mitchell

Northampton Saints went into the Six Nations break top of the Premiership after beating bottom side Newcastle Falcons 38-13.

Saints - who were missing seven players on England duty - led 19-13 at the break as Courtney Lawes and Sam Matavesi added to a penalty try, while Adam Radwan responded for Newcastle.

Tom James' try sealed a Northampton bonus point after the break.

Newcastle missed three good chances to score before Ollie Sleightholme and Juarno Augustus added to Saints' tally.

It means Northampton open up a seven-point gap at the top of the table - although that gap will be cut if Exeter Chiefs win at Saracens later on Saturday.

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It was a 12th successive league loss for Falcons this season and a 15th in a row going back to March.

It was the final game under the interim stewardship of Micky Ward, before former Sale Sharks boss Steve Diamond takes over as consultant director of rugby on Monday.

Newcastle drew first blood through Louie Johnson's seventh-minute penalty after Callum Chick raced three-quarters of the length of the pitch following an interception.

Five minutes later Lawes went in from close range for Saints, but Newcastle retook the lead as Radwan scored from the right after a three-pass move across the field after a five-metre scrum.

Midway through the half Freddie Lockwood stopped Sleightholme from scoring from an offside position, leading to a penalty try and 10 minutes in the sin-bin for the Newcastle flanker.

Despite being down to 14 Newcastle had one of their best spells of possession and Johnson added a second penalty 11 minutes from half-time, but Saints' dominance at the scrum eventually told as Matavesi was mauled over from a line-out five minutes later after the hosts kicked a penalty to touch.

James went in under the posts 11 minutes after half-time following Rory Hutchinson's break before Newcastle tried and failed to go over after being encamped in the Northampton 22.

Radwan was stopped on the line by Lawes, Lockwood was held up over the Saints line, and Matias Moroni knocked on as Newcastle failed to turn territory into points.

They were made to pay for not converting their chances when Sleightholme ended a four-pass move to score down the right wing for his seventh try of the season.

Augustus got the sixth try with four minutes remaining as he dived through a tiny gap between defender and flag in the right corner after Sam Graham had been stopped a metre from the line after gathering a superb Hutchinson kick.

Northampton director of rugby Phil Dowson told BBC Radio Northampton:

"The most important thing is to see some of those lads who haven't had an opportunity get an opportunity.

"The energy from the week was for those guys to step up and show what they're capable of, and I think for large parts of that they did that.

"19-13 was exactly what we expected - very, very scrappy - and it takes time for the smoothness and the cohesion over time, you take five people out of that group and it makes a big difference.

"At times we looked as good as ever and that's a credit to the players that stepped in."

Newcastle forwards coach Micky Ward told BBC Radio Newcastle:

"The disappointing thing is 45 minutes in there was six points in it.

"Even in that first half we've probably had a couple of tries away, we've made a couple of mistakes and let them off the hook in the first half.

"We came out after half-time and were right in it, then they just slightly got away from us.

"We've had a lot of entries into the 22, we've had one held up over the line, went off on our own agenda on another, and we haven't been clinical in there, whereas they get a chance to score and the game's slightly different.

"It's gone from being a six-point game, you're into a 13-point game, and then they get ahead again."

Northampton: Hutchinson; Hamer-Webb, Odendaal, Litchfield, Sleightholme; Savala, James; A Waller, S Matavesi, Davison, Mayanavanua, Munga, Lawes, Ludlam (capt), Graham.

Replacements: R Smith, Haffar, Millar Mills, Moon, Augustus, Scott-Young, Braley, J Matavesi.

Newcastle: Obatoyinbo; Radwan, Moroni, Hutchison, Stevenson; Johnson, O'Sullivan; Brantingham, Byrne, McCallum, Hawkins, de Chaves, Lockwood, Pepper, Chick (capt).

Replacements: van Vuuren, Brocklebank, Bello, Cardall, Bainbridge, Stuart, Jennings, Carreras.

Sin-bin: Lockwood (22), Jennings (80).

Referee: Sara Cox.

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