Tight battle: Saints skipper Dylan Hartley
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A 75th-minute Tom May drop-goal and five Stephen Myler penalties gave Northampton a precious 18-14 away win over Bath at the Rec on Friday.
The home side got off to a flying start with a try in the opening few minutes, Nick Abendanon racing onto a perfectly judged chip through from Tom Biggs to score in the left-hand corner.
Olly Barkley failed with the conversion but he did add a penalty after 10 minutes to stretch Bath's lead and the men from the West Country had the better off the possession and territory in the opening quarter.
Their discipline let them down as the half wore on though and the concession of a series of penalties within kicking range allowed Myler to get Northampton back into the match and even edge them in front by 12-8 at the break.
There wasn't too much free-flowing rugby in the second half either though as the Saints seemed content to grind away and trust the reliable boot of Myler to kick their points and Bath struggled to create any clear-cut opportunities.
Two Barkley penalties to just one from Myler pulled the hosts back to within one point of Jim Mallinder's men and left the game finely poised heading into the final quarter.
And the tension showed as the previously flawless Myler missed with a drop-goal and a penalty and Barkley was unable to give Bath the lead with a three-point attempt of his own.
Tom May, who had come on as a replacement for the injured Ben Foden early in the second half, did succeed with a drop-goal attempt under pressure just a few minutes from time though to seal victory for Northampton.
It may not have been a match full of flair and finesse and sparkling quality but the Saints won't mind one iota as they move to the top of the Aviva Premiership table and hand Bath their first defeat of the season.
The scorers:
For Bath:
Try: Abendanon
Pen: Barkley 3
For Northampton:
Pen: Myler 5
Drop: May
Bath: 15 Nick Abendanon, 14 Kyle Eastmond, 13 Dan Hipkiss, 12 Ben Williams, 11 Tom Biggs, 10 Olly Barkley, 9 Michael Claassens, 8 Ben Skirving, 7 Carl Fearns, 6 Simon Taylor, 5 Dominic Day, 4 Stuart Hooper (c), 3 David Wilson, 2 Lee Mears, 1 Paul James.
Replacements: 16 Ross Batty, 17 Nathan Catt, 18 Anthony Perenise, 19 Dave Attwood, 20 Josh Ovens, 21 Mark McMillan, 22 Ollie Devoto, 23 Jack Cuthbert.
Northampton Saints: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Ken Pisi, 13 Dom Waldouck, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 Vasily Artemyev, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Lee Dickson, 8 Rhys Oakley, 7 Tom Wood, 6 Phil Dowson, 5 Christian Day, 4 Samu Manoa, 3 Tom Mercey, 2 Dylan Hartley (c), 1 Soane Tonga'uiha.
Replacements: 16 Mike Haywood, 17 Alex Waller, 18 Paul Doran Jones, 19 Mark Sorenson, 20 Courtney Lawes, 21 Martin Roberts, 22 Ryan Lamb, 23 Tom May.
Venue: Recreation Ground, Bath
Referee: Andrew Small
Comments
APV1 says...
@ jamesliveinhope - I didn't see it and was following Bath Rugby and Blue Black and White on Twitter. As such, I was getting a particulalry one-sided view.
Barkley's a 12 who can play 10. The sooner either Beaver or Heathcote are back, the better.
And I agree, Bendy is a superstar who's been overlooked for too long. His issue is his inconsistency. I think at test level, they prefer a slightly less ambitious player, who is less-likely to have a brain fart and cock it up. That's why they go for Foden or Brown.
Posted 10:51 17th September 2012
jamesliveinhope says...
@APV1 I agree that the ref was awful (is awful) - we seem to be getting to a stage where the officials ref by numbers as far as advantage is concerned, if posession is kicked away on knock-on advantage - the kicking side needs either to have gained advantage before the kick or from it.
That said, I'm not sure that we can blame him for the result. pretty sure Barkley missed a few kicks that were gettable and for the two rubbish calls that I saw which led to N/Hampton points we should consider that Biggs should have been off the park for 10 mins at a crucial part of the second half which he wasn't.
What troubles me more is the fact that we seem to have an electric back three at present who aren't getting the ball. Nick Abendanon has done enough in my opinion (especially with Foden's possible damage) to get into the EPS, hwos he going to feel comeo contract renewal time if he's not getting the ball when Lancaster is in the crowd.
Posted 18:57 16th September 2012
APV1 says...
Saints won - congratulations on a well-fought game.
Ref Small was terrible. I don't usually like to blame the ref, as they try hard, but this time he was bloody awful.
Posted 17:30 15th September 2012
jamesliveinhope says...
very disappointed, not only with the game but with the lack of ambition from Bath.
I have a theory, some of the worse home performances I have seen from Bath have been under the lights and I reckon that there is a problem picking out black jerseys (remember one match where the ball must have been passed into touch about six times).
Barkley is struggling at 10 which is a surprise because he enjoys a more expansive game and when the big score was needed late on I thought we would do it. I suspect his play is being inhibited by intruction from the bench.
The difference last night was in the respective form of the place kickers which is a disappointment for those of us who want to see a quality encounter.
My one worry is that getting Newcastle to lose by less does not encourage me that the playing style will be winning many trophies this season with Bath.
Hoping for better things when the aces are back in their places. (Heathcote, Barkley, Banahan in midfield)
Posted 16:02 15th September 2012
stumpy says...
only issue is NHSaints, is Northampton often look like a world class side early on in the season. It's towards the end their season always seems to run out of air. I say run out of air because firstly, the players are often exhausted, as the AP season is a long one, and Mallinder doesn't seem to have mastered the art of rotating squads yet. Also, they seem to crack in big play off games like Finals. However, they are playing stunning rugby, and I hope they get the dividends they've deserved for a while this season.
Posted 01:08 15th September 2012
NHSaints says...
Even with all the messing around Mallinder is doing with personel at the minute saints come away from a tough venue with a solid if unremarkable victory...I don't like to 'fire warning shots' this early in the season but I reckon this could be Saints' year...
Posted 22:46 14th September 2012
Jediboy says...
Well done Saints. Great result. Not pretty but they not always are. Credit to Bath. That was a tough game and if I was a Bath fan I'd be disappointed with that result.
APV1 - commiserations. Bath, I would say, we're probably the better team tonight.
Posted 21:54 14th September 2012