Northampton hold off Falcons comeback for victory

Tom James scored Northampton's fifth try as they narrowly beat Newcastle

Gallagher Premiership

Newcastle (10) 34

Tries: Blamire, Doherty, Hearle, Stevenson, Pepper Cons: Connon 3 Pen: Connon

Northampton (28) 35

Tries: Wright, Green, Smith, Glister, James Cons: Hutchinson, Smith 4

Northampton Saints kept their slim Premiership title defence hopes alive with a five-try victory at Newcastle.

Saints fell behind to Jamie Blamire's try but responded with four tries before half-time from hooker Craig Wright, prop Luke Green, Fin Smith and debut winger Will Glister.

Centre Connor Doherty replied for Falcons just after the break before Saints scrum-half Tom James went over to push the visitors out to a 35-15 lead.

But they were Saints' last points as Newcastle got back into the game with tries from wingers Alex Hearle and Ben Stevenson to take a bonus point, before Max Pepper's try four minutes from time earned them a losing bonus as well.

Northampton made 14 changes from their Champions Cup quarter-final victory against Castres but it made little difference as they took all five points from Kingston Park for a first away win in the Premiership since January 2024.

They need maximum points from their remaining games to stand any outside chance of reaching the top four and remain eighth in the table, eight points behind fourth-placed Gloucester.

They got the job done in the north east as 21-year-old Wright scored on his first Premiership start for their opening try, and then quickly opened up what appeared to be an unassailable lead.

Three tries came in the final seven minutes of the first half as tighthead Green powered over before Smith, an early replacement, took Rory Hutchinson's pass to cross and 19-year-old Glister scored a debut try after Hearle failed to take a high ball on the right wing.

When James added a fifth try after the interval following Smith's break and a pass inside from centre Burger Odendaal the game looked done, but Newcastle found a response.

They swung play from a maul on the right to the left wing where Hearle finished strongly, before replacement hooker Ollie Fletcher floated a pass for Stevenson to score in the same corner.

That secured Newcastle their first point and when Pepper intercepted to run 80 yards to score, there was just a point in it for the final three minutes.

But that was where the drama ended and Falcons conceded a 12th defeat of the season to stay bottom of the Premiership with consultant director of rugby Steve Diamond watching from the stands in the first match of his six-game ban.

Newcastle senior coach Alan Dickens told BBC Radio Newcastle:

"The end of the first half, they scored three tries and that was massive and it was disappointing because we did a lot of good things to put them under pressure.

"We were in the game in the last 15 minutes and to take two bonus points is a step in the right direction.

"It's the first time we've earned a try bonus at home for the first time in two years."

Northampton Saints scrum-half Tom James told BBC Radio Northampton:

"Whenever you come up here it's never easy and they [Newcastle] stuck around really well and any win up here is a good win.

"We had new guys coming in and some others playing out of position but you have to be resilient and adjust and we kept going.

"You can lack a bit of confidence and be a bit rusty when you haven't played for a while but when we got it right and played with tempo we caused them lots of problems."

Newcastle: Obatoyinbo; Hearle, Doherty, Clark, Stevenson; Connon, Stuart; Brocklebank, Blamire, McCallum, Hawkins, De Chaves, Lockwood, Neild, Chick (c)

Replacements: Fletcher, Rewcastle, Palframan, Baker, Leatherbarrow, Pepper, Arnold, Spencer

Northampton: Ramm; Glister, Odendaal, Hutchinson, Seabrook; Charlie Savala, James; West, Wright, Green; Munga, Lockett, Scott-Young, Pearson, Mapu.

Replacements: Walker, Haffar, Millar Mills, Mayanavanua, Augustus, Mitchell, Smith, Witheat

Referee: Luke Pearce