Saints win thanks to Haywood double

Editor

Northampton Saints edged out an important victory over Worcester Warriors by winning 24-14 at Franklin’s Gardens on Saturday.

Fron-trow forward Mike Haywood scored two of the hosts’ three tries after Teimana Harrison had opened their account early on.

Worcester took the lead through Josh Adams’ score, but failed to threaten their hosts once they had fallen behind until Bryce Heem’s late try.

Wynand Olivier’s excellent break allowed Worcester to take an early lead at Franklin’s Gardens, when the outside centre found full-back Adams who was brought down, but manager to reach the line at arm’s length. Ryan Mills added the conversion in testing conditions.

Northampton opened their account through the determination of England international Harrison, who powered his way to the whitewash through the Warriors defence, allowing Stephen Myler to level the scores from the tee, before kicking his side into the lead with a penalty.

]Northampton then extended their lead when Luther Burrell’s clever offload in the tackle found Kieran Brookes, who spilled the ball, but hooker Haywood was on hand to pounce on the loose ball and score. Myler’s conversion gave the hosts a 10-point lead at the interval.

Thirty-three minutes of scoreless action passed, but it wasn’t for the want of trying, with both teams mounting promising attacks before the deadlock was eventually broken.

The scoreboard added to in the 73rd minute when Haywood carried over for his second of the game, as Northampton worked an impressive driving maul towards the whitewash. Myler slotted from range to take the scores to 24-7.

The visitors found a late consolation having played through a remarkable number of phases, using their forwards to carry round the corner before shipping it out to wing Heem to dot down.

The final kick of the game saw Ryan Lamb bisect the posts with ease against his former club.

The scorers:

For Northampton:
Tries: Harrison, Haywood 2
Cons: Myler 3
Pens: Myler

For Worcester:
Tries: Adams, Heem
Cons: Mills, Lamb

Northampton: 15 Ahsee Tuala, 14 Ken Pisi 13 Nafi Tuitavake, 12 Harry Mallinder, 11 Ben Foden (c), 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Teimana Harrison, 7 Calum Clark, 6 Jamie Gibson, 5 Christian Day, 4 Michael Paterson, 3 Kieran Brookes, 2 Mikey Haywood, 1 Alex Waller
Replacements: 16 Charlie Clare, 17 Ethan Waller, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Api Ratuniyarawa, 20 Sam Dickinson, 21 Lee Dickson, 22 James Wilson, 23 Juan Pablo Estelles

Worcester: 15 Josh Adams, 14 Bryce Heem, 13 Wynand Olivier, 12 Jackson Willison, 11 Perry Humphreys, 10 Ryan Mills, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Dewald Potgieter, 7 Sam Lewis, 6 Phil Dowson, 5 Will Spencer, 4 Donncha O’Callaghan (c), 3 Nick Schonert, 2 Niall Annett, 1 Ryan Bower
Replacements: 16 Jaba Bregvadze, 17 Na’ama Leleimalefaga, 18 Biyi Alo, 19 Tevita Cavuabti, 20 Marco Mama, 21 Luke Baldwin, 22 Ryan Lamb, 23 Chris Pennell

Referee: Craig Maxwell-Keys
Assistant Referees: Greg MacDonald, Roger Baileff
TMO: Trevor Fisher