Saints edge thriller after Gloucester fightback

Rory Hutchinson's try-saving tackle proved crucial as Northampton held on to beat Gloucester

The Prem

Gloucester (7) 35

Tries: Jordan 2, Joseph, Venter, Fasogbon Cons: Byrne 5

Sin-bin: Byrne (72)

Northampton (31) 37

Tries: Pearson, Litchfield, McParland, Hendy Cons: Belleau 4 Pen: Belleau 3

Sin-bin: Hendy (50), Pearson (53), Lockett (64)

Northampton withstood a ferocious second-half fightback from Gloucester at Kingsholm to secure their first Prem win of the season.

It looked like the Saints were suffering a nightmare repeat of their opening-day draw with Exeter Chiefs last week, when they lost a 33-7 half-time lead by failing to score after the break.

They sprinted into a 31-0 lead in front of a stunned Shed as Tom Pearson, Tom Litchfield, Archie McParland and George Hendy secured the bonus point inside 35 minutes.

Gloucester summoned the spirit of the Chiefs from last week as Northampton again fell apart, lock Cameron Jordan getting the hosts on the scoreboard before half-time and then Will Joseph, James Venter, and Jordan again putting them within striking distance as three Saints players were sin-binned for repeat infringements.

Afo Fasogbon looked to have won it in dramatic fashion with Gloucester's fifth try, giving Ross Byrne an easy conversion, but Northampton cleared their heads and, after Byrne was yellow carded, Anthony Belleau coolly kicked the resulting penalty to win it.

Both teams badly needed a win after Gloucester lost their opening game at Sale Sharks last week, whilst that second-half shocker felt like a defeat for Saints when they had been brilliant in the first half.

They set about repeating the first half dose against a Gloucester side which had won their previous seven home games, with Pearson crashing over and then Tom Litchfield bursting through an alarming gap in the Cherry and Whites' defence to make it 14-0 after just 10 minutes.

Belleau added a penalty and with Gloucester making mistakes in defence and attack, Saints were ruthless as the superb Rory Hutchinson made a break and fed McParland, and then McParland went down the blindside from a scrum and sent George Hendy over.

Jordan scored a vital try late in the half from a tap-and-go, allowing the ghosts of last week to haunt the Northampton dressing room at half time.

Joseph's superb dummy and sprint reinforced those doubts, with Belleau's penalty giving Northampton some respite.

After Joseph's fine running try, the Gloucester pack took command, hammering away at the Saints line and forcing a series of offsides.

Hendy was first to see yellow, Pearson followed him to the bin within five minutes and the home side powered on, Venter crashing over from a ruck a yard out, and Jordan doing likewise to get Saints firmly in Gloucester sights.

After Tom Lockett had become the third visitor sent from the field, Hutchinson came up with an incredible try-saving tackle to deny Ben Loader , but Gloucester were not to be denied as Afo Fasogbon gleefully dived over under the posts to make it 35-34.

Byrne's sin-binning for a deliberate knock-on gave Northampton the lifeline they were desperate for, and when Belleau kicked the resulting penalty they managed to see the game out.

Gloucester head coach George Skivington told BBC Radio Gloucestershire:

"I suppose the positive is we were looking down the barrel at half-time and almost managed to climb the mountain and get the win.

"Obviously the first half wasn't good enough. Our combinations aren't quite there yet defensively, particularly off some set-plays, but in attack we got ourselves in some good positions and fumbled the ball a lot in their 22.

"We didn't feel we were a million miles off in the first half, albeit what the scoreline looked like, so we tried to put our pedal to the floor second half, but to have a first half like that in the Premiership is very hard to come back from.

"I was still confident in our game and we just needed to back what we were doing and really commit to the plan and I thought the boys did that (after the interval)."

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

"There's not a team in this league, particularly at home, that's going to roll over.

"We had to dig very deep, not helped by some injuries which meant we went down to 14, and some really poor discipline that meant we went down to 13. Three second-half yellow cards is not acceptable.

"I thought we showed tremendous fighting spirit and it spoke volumes about where the squad's at.

"We talked after last week about how you stop momentum, how you wrestle momentum back when you've lost it, and credit to the players who did that – to finish the game in their 22 with the ball says a lot about the lesson we've learned."

Gloucester: C. Atkinson; Loader, Joseph,S. Atkinson, Thorley; Byrne, Williams; Knight, Blake, Fasogbon, Thomas, Jordan, Basham, Venter, Mann.

Replacements: Innard, McArthur, Laulala, Alemanno, Bokenham, Taylor, Englefield, Edwards-Giraud.

Northampton: Hendy; Todaro, Hutchinson, Litchfield, Martin; Belleau, McParland; Iyogun, Walker, Miller Mills, Coles, Van Der Mescht, Scott-Young, Chick, Pearson.

Replacements: R. Smith, Fischetti, Kundiona, Lockett, Brown, Weimann, Thame, Pater.

Referee: Adam Leal