Saints pick up maximum against Exeter

Entertaining game: Saints win

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Teams

• Exeter
• Northampton

Northampton made it back-to-back wins in the Aviva Premiership with a 24-21 victory over Exeter on Sunday.

Saints claimed all five points from the home fixture thanks to tries from Christian Day, Phil Dowson, Luther Burrell and Dylan Hartley.

A nip-and-tuck first fifteen minutes was halted by Day, who was on the end of a break launched following a wayward kick from Ignacio Mieres.

Ryan Lamb was wide with the conversion, but he was on target with the extras ten minutes later as the visitors added to their lead courtesy of a try from Dowson, which was scored after Lamb had made the initial burst to set up the attack.

The Chiefs had it all to do, but they roared back in the closing stages of the first period to take an unlikely lead with them into the interval.

They got the ball rolling on 30 minutes when great work down the right from Josh Tatupu created the opportunity for Phil Dollman to score. Mieres was on target with the extras, and added two penalties before half-time to make it 13-12 to the Chiefs as the teams headed down the tunnel.

The Chiefs added to their lead with ten minutes of the second half played courtesy of a third penalty from Mieres, but the rest of this contest belonged to the Saints.

Burrell breached the Exeter defence following a sustained period of pressure to put the hosts back in front, and less than ten minutes later they had a cushion.

Hartley completed a neatly worked line-out move to make it 22-16, with replacement Stephen Myler's conversion putting eight points between the sides.

The Chiefs rallied in the closing stages of the game, but, by this stage, time was against them, and, when Matt Jess got over in the corner with seconds remaining following a flowing combination of passes, it was little more than consolation at the Gardens.

The scorers:

For Northampton:
Tries: Day, Dowson, Burrell, Hartley
Con: Lamb, Myler

For Exeter:
Tries: Dollman, Jess
Con: Mieres
Pen: Mieres 3

Northampton Saints: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Ken Pisi, 13 George Pisi, 12 Dom Waldouck, 11 Vasily Artemyev, 10 Ryan Lamb, 9 Lee Dickson, 8 GJ Van Velze, 7 Tom Wood, 6 Phil Dowson, 5 Christian Day, 4 Samu Manoa, 3 Brian Mujati, 2 Dylan Hartley (c), 1 Soane Tonga'uiha.
Replacements: 16 Mike Haywood, 17 Alex Waller, 18 Tom Mercey, 19 Mark Sorenson, 20 Rhys Oakley, 21 Martin Roberts, 22 Stephen Myler, 23 Luther Burrell.

Exeter Chiefs: 15 Luke Arscott, 14 Josh Tatupu, 13 Ian Whitten, 12 Phil Dollman, 11 Matt Jess, 10 Ignacio Mieres, 9 Will Chudley, 8 Richard Baxter, 7 James Scaysbrook, 6 Tom Johnson, 5 Aly Muldowney, 4 Tom Hayes (c), 3 Craig Mitchell, 2 Chris Whitehead, 1 Brett Sturgess.
Replacements: 16 Simon Alcott, 17 Ben Moon, 18 Chris Budgen, 19 James Hanks, 20 James Phillips, 21 Kevin Barrett, 22 Gareth Steenson, 23 Sireli Naqelevuki.

Referee: JP Doyle