Seven-try Saints dent Bristol hopes of home play-off

Northampton's Tommy Freeman goes over to score in a chaotic first half which featured six tries

Gallagher Premiership

Northampton 48 (27)

Tries: Mitchell, Langdon, Freeman 2, Iyogun, Augustus, Pollock Cons: Smith 4, Hutchinson Pens: Smith

Bristol 31 (12)

Tries: Bailey, Ibitoye 2, Williams, Marmion Cons: MacGinty 2, Williams

Northampton Saints put a further dent in Bristol Bears' home Premiership semi-final hopes with an enthralling 48-31 victory at Franklin's Gardens.

In a frenetic first half, Deago Bailey scored first for the visitors before Alex Mitchell, Curtis Langdon and two efforts from Tommy Freeman gave the home team a commanding lead.

Gabriel Ibitoye's spectacular effort on the verge of half-time brought Bristol back into the game, but further tries from Emmanuel Iyogun, Juarno Augustus and Henry Pollock put the game beyond the visitors despite late consolation efforts from James Williams, Ibitoye and Kieran Marmion.

The result leaves Bristol fourth on 47 points, four points behind second-placed Leicester Tigers, while the Saints move up to seventh.

Following their poor recent run of form, Bristol knew a win was vital in their efforts to secure a home semi-final in the play-offs and they started strongly.

Camped in the Saints' twenty-two, Rich Lane played the final pass to release Bailey on the outside, who burned past Rory Hutchinson to score in the corner.

But that lead did not last long.

Saints struck back through Alex Mitchell; the England scrum-half dummying magnificently to break the Bristol line, before sidestepping Bailey in front of the appreciative home crowd.

The Saints then doubled their lead with a try scored in unusual circumstances.

With the ball kicked through into the Bristol half, first Finn Smith then Pollock were stripped of it by separate Saints' defenders, before the ball rebounded off the posts for Langdon to dive on it and score.

The Saints' third score of the day was rather more prosaic.

Following a lengthy period of pressure in the Bristol twenty-two, the home team eventually found a gap on the outside, with James Ramm feeding Freeman to dive over in the corner.

Saints irresistible

Phil Dowson's men were playing champagne rugby and came very close to a fourth when Ramm went over again following an intricate attacking move, only for the referee to rule that a pass earlier in the move had gone forward.

The Australian was in the thick of it again at the other end of the field just minutes later, delivering a textbook tap tackle to prevent Kalaveti Ravouvou from scoring an almost certain try as Bristol split the home defence.

With the match being played at a frantic pace, the Saints secured the try bonus point soon after as Freeman forced his way over from short range after being fed by Mitchell.

But Bristol, stung by the Saints onslaught, had a trick to play of their own just before half-time.

Ibitoye's attempted kick ahead was charged down before falling into the hands of Harry Randall, who burst upfield before returning the ball to the flying winger.

Smith tried to tackle him, but Ibitoye slipped from the fly-half's grasp and waltzed over the line as Saints' defenders collided around him.

Henry Pollock (centre) makes a break for Northampton in a match that was not short on attacking intent

Down by 15 points at half-time, Bristol tried to attack from their own twenty-two after the restart, but with Lane driven back by Freeman, the ball was spilled, allowing Iyogun to gather and force himself over the line for the Saints' fifth score.

Following repeated Saints attacks the home side were in again.

With Bristol unable to get out of their own half, Augustus powered his way over from close range, despite the attentions of Ravouvou.

The intensity barely dropped as the final 10 minutes beckoned, with Saints inches away from a seventh score as Tom Seabrook knocked on following a length-of-the-field counter-attack initiated by Alex Coles.

But with the game gone, Bristol continued pressing. Siva Naulago found himself in space down the wing, driving into the Saints half.

The ball was then recycled by Steven Luatua, who in his 150th appearance for the Bears fed Williams for Bristol's third.

Replacement Tom James then fed Pollock for the Saints' final try, before Ibitoye and Marmion restored some respectability to the scoreline with a late flourish.

Northampton Saints director of rugby Phil Dowson told BBC Radio Northampton:

"The middle 50 minutes I thought we were excellent. We started a little bit shakily and we finished in the same vein with lots of changes, but for the main part I thought we executed what we were trying to do in both attack and defence.

"Every game is an opportunity to work on our performance, how we can get better, and I thought our breakdown skills and our application in the contact area was outstanding."

[On James Ramm's try-saving tap tackle] "It was like a 21-point swing, if that had gone in it would have kept them in the game. When you talk about chasing lost causes and working your tail off, that was it."

Bristol Bears director of rugby Pat Lam told BBC Radio Bristol:

"We started off really well and then we gave away some soft tries. It's the story of our last few games, we concede a lot of tries but some of the tries we just pop and give way too easy.

"The boys are putting their hands up and as Stevie [Luatua] said, we've got to get our skill level right if we want to play our game.

"I watched the body language after they scored, we were still pushing for the bonus point at the end, which was crucial. It keeps us in the top four with three to go - it's in our control, albeit we've got the big game against Bath."

Northampton: Ramm; Freeman, Dingwall, Hutchinson, Litchfield; Smith, Mitchell; Iyogun, Langdon, Millar Mills, Mayanavanua, Coles, Kemeny, Pollock, Augustus.

Replacements: Walker, West, Green, Lockett, Scott-Young, James, Seabrook, Glister.

Bristol: Lane; Bailey, Ravouvou, Janse van Rensburg, Ibitoye; MacGinty, Randall; Genge, Thacker, Lahiff, Caulfield, Owen, Luatua, S Grondona, Harding.

Replacements: Oghre, Thomas, Kloska, Mata, B Grondona, Marmion, Williams, Naulago.

Referee: Adam Leal.