A brace: Luther Burrell
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Northampton made it four wins from four in the Aviva Premiership after seeing off Worcester 37-31 with a bonus-point at Franklin's Gardens.
Luther Burrell scored two of the three tries that gave Saints a 25-3 first half lead in what looked liked it would be a one sided match.
Burrell's tries came after 18 and 23 minutes and were calmly converted by Stephen Myler.
This was before Vasilly Artemyev added a third on 29 minutes. Artemyev found himself free 20 metres and took a fantastic reverse pass from Phil Dowson that came from a Rhys Oakley off load.
Courtney Lawes went over early in the second half for the hosts fourth try and secured the bonus point.
It looked like it was going to be a dreadful day for Warriors when Mike Haywood crossed the line on 59 minutes.
But after inspired substitutions Worcester were able to respond, four of their replacements making sure that they left Franklin's Gardens with at least a try scoring bonus-point of their own.
Johnny Arr and Josh Matavesi scored tries in space of two minutes.
But that was not the end of it, Josh Drauniniu scoring on 70 minutes with still more to come after James Currie turned over for Warriors to counter-attack, Ollie Hayes forcing his way over from line-out ball.
The scorers:
For Northampton:
Tries: Burrell 2, Artemyev, Lawes, Haywood
Con: Myler 3
Pen: Myler 2
For Worcester:
Tries: Arr, Matavesi, Drauniniu, Kvesic
Con: Goode 4
Pen: Goode
Northampton: 15 James Wilson, 14 Ken Pisi, 13 George Pisi, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 Vasily Artemyev, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Lee Dickson, 8 Rhys Oakley, 7 Phil Dowson, 6 Courtney Lawes, 5 Christian Day, 4 Samu Manoa, 3 Paul Doran Jones, 2 Dylan Hartley (c), 1 Soane Tonga'uiha.
Replacements: 16 Mike Haywood, 17 Alex Waller, 18 Brian Mujati, 19 Mark Sorenson, 20 Tom Wood, 21 Martin Roberts, 22 Ryan Lamb, 23 Dom Waldouck.
Worcester: 15 Chris Pennell, 14 Nikki Walker, 13 Alex Grove, 12 Joe Carlisle, 11 David Lemi, 10 Andy Goode, 9 Shaun Perry, 8 Semisi Taulava, 7 Sam Betty, 6 Chris Jones, 5 Dean Schofield (c), 4 James Percival, 3 John Andress, 2 Aleki Lutui, 1 Matt Mullan.
Replacements: 16 Ollie Hayes, 17 Ceri Jones, 18 James Currie, 19 Craig Gillies, 20 Matt Kvesic, 21 Jonny Arr, 22 Josh Matavesi, 23 Josh Drauniniu.
Referee: Tim Wigglesworth
Assistant referees: Stuart Terheege, Peter Huckle
Timekeeper: Tony Turner
Comments
Jediboy says...
This really was a game of 2 halves. Good followed by bad, really bad.
Saints looked good with ball in hand for 60 mins. They were well organised and looked dangerous.
Then came the subs. Too many too quickly. Saints lost their shape and looked lost. Not good from the bench at all. But I'll happily take 5 points.
Posted 18:16 22nd September 2012