Northampton 34 - 14 Newcastle: Falcons' wings clipped

NORTHAMPTON overcame the absence of their England quartet to convincingly defeat lowly Newcastle at Franklin's Gardens and go top of the Aviva Premiership.

The home scrum was so dominant that the Saints should have won by a greater margin and not waited until the last action of the match before securing their bonus point with a fourth try.

Newcastle took a surprise lead after two minutes when Jimmy Gopperth kicked a 40-metre penalty after the Saints were penalised at a ruck.

The Falcons were then dealt a blow when centre Gcobani Bobo was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on after 14 minutes.

The Saints took advantage to level the scores five minutes later when Micky Young was penalised for not releasing the ball and Stephen Myler kicked the 30-metre penalty.

Minutes later they should have been in front after a succession of five-metre scrums eventually saw the ball moved sweetly along the line only for Paul Diggin to drop a good pass with the line beckoning.

Bobo returned for the visitors to coincide with the departure of Northampton No.8 Roger Wilson with a leg injury.

However, Northampton maintained the pressure and took the lead after 26 minutes.

From a scrum 20 metres from the line, Lee Dickson broke through the defence to score a solo try which Myler converted.

The Falcons protested to referee Nigel Owens about obstruction but to no avail.

The home side were beginning to dominate proceedings and nearly scored a second try, but after consultation with the TMO, Christian Day was adjudged to have been pushed into touch before grounding the ball.

With three minutes of the half remaining, Myler's clearance kick was charged down to allow the Falcons a rare period of pressure.

However, they could not take advantage as Gopperth missed with both a penalty and drop-goal attempt to leave the Saints 10-3 ahead at the interval.

Northampton had their opponents in terrible trouble in the scrum and after five minutes of the second half they pushed the Falcons' pack fully 30 metres.

Newcastle coach Alan Tait admitted his side were overpowered in the scrum as the Saints went top of the Premiership with a victory set up by their forwards' domination.

"Our set piece wasn't good enough," Tait said."We were outpowered in the scrum and from that base it's impossible to build up any momentum.

"Either Northampton were really, really good in that area or we were really poor."

The Falcons did at least score the best try of the game Manning, and Tait added: "We showed what we could do with some good ball by scoring a good try through Manning, but Northampton gave us a good lesson today."

On the Saints' hotly disputed try from Dickson - when Falcons players complained to the referee about crossing and obstruction - Tait added: "I've had a look and there seemed to be a lot of runners who blocked our defensive line."

Saints coach Jim Mallinder said: "The first half was very frustrating. Our set piece was dominant and we needed to be sharper to reward our dominance, but credit to Newcastle for they hung in there."

Northampton were minus their England squad quartet and Mallinder added: "It's never ideal to lose your four best players plus Bruce Reihana, and it's ideal to take your chances in the first half.

"We didn't do that but we kept our patience and were rewarded with late scores."

The Saints lost Dickson and Roger Wilson with ankle injuries and Mallinder added: "They are both still hobbling but it is too early to give a diagnosis.

"Both players were due for a rest in any event."

Scorers: Northampton: Try: Dickson, Tonks, Ansbro, Downey. Cons: Myler 4. Pen: Myler 2. Newcastle: Tries: Manning. Cons: Gopperth. Pen: Gopperth 2.

Northampton: Tonks; Diggin, Clarke, Downey, Ansbro; Myler, Dickson; Tonga'uiha, Sharman, Mujati, Clark, Day, Dowson, Wood, Wilson. Replacements: Long, Dreyer, Mercey, Sorenson, Easter, Powell, Geraghty, Cornwell. .

Hawks: A. Tait; Fielden, Bobo, Eves, Amesbury; Gopperth, Young; Brookes, Vickers, Ryan, Levi, Swinson, M. Wilson, Pennycook, Hogg. Replacements: Graham, Shiels, Hall, B. Wilson, Williamson, Pilgrim, Manning, Catterick.

Referee: N Owens (WRU).

l Meanwhile, Exeter recorded their first away Aviva Premiership victory with an impressive 23-9 win against high-flying Saracens at Vicarage Road.

Fly-half Ryan Davis, making his first Premiership start, was their hero as he touched down for one of two Exeter tries in his personal haul of 18 points.

Brett Sturgess scored the visitors' other try to seal a contest which had otherwise seen Davis and his Saracens counterpart Andy Goode trade penalties.

In a week of massive media attention surrounding Saracens' signing of Wales star Gavin Henson, Goode declared his intention to show that he would take some shifting from the No.10 jersey but, from the moment his first opportunity to shine ended in disappointment as he hooked a seventh-minute penalty, it was not to be the Englishman's day