Fin Smith and Tommy Freeman lay down England markers as Northampton Saints hammer Sale Sharks
Northampton Saints laid down an emphatic marker with a 47-17 bonus point victory over Sale Sharks.
Northampton Saints laid down an emphatic marker with a 47-17 bonus point victory over Sale Sharks on Friday evening in the Premiership.
Phil Dowson’s charges were in a ruthless mood claiming the quickest bonus point so far this season when Orson James crossed for their fourth try in the 30th minute.
The Saints ran in a sensational six tries in the opening 40 minutes, three of which came while Sale’s Alex Willis was in the sin bin, opening up a 40-10 lead by half-time – Luke Cowan-Dickie scoring the visitor’s opening try with Robert du Preez adding the extras and a penalty.
James Ramm would score their only try of the second half in the 60th minute but by that time the damage had already been done.
With George Ford in doubt for the Autumn Nations Series, Fin Smith produced a sublime performance racking up 12 points and two try assists and was pipped to the Man of the Match Award by Tommy Freeman who made a claim for the starting number 13 white jersey with a stunning showing scoring and assisting a try.
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Where Northampton were wasteful in defeat at Leicester last Saturday, they were lethal against the Sharks at Franklin’s Gardens, where they crossed six times in the first half.
It also meant their winning run at home will now extend beyond a year, with Saints racking up an 18th consecutive victory on their own patch on a night Sale will want to quickly put behind them.
Sale were forced into a late change on their left wing with 20-year-old Alex Wills coming in for Tom O’Flaherty, who had a hamstring injury, to make his first Premiership start.
Rob du Preez’s second-minute penalty opened the scoring for the Sharks, but Northampton were soon on the board when Fin Smith’s grubber kick was missed by Sale full-back Joe Carpenter, allowing Tommy Freeman to get the ball down and score.
Northampton were over again in the eighth minute when Freeman charged onto Rory Hutchinson’s ball inside before timing his pass outside to put captain George Furbank in the clear.
The Sharks momentarily got themselves back in the game as a driving maul led to Luke Cowan-Dickie scoring to reduce the gap to 12-10.
However, the visitors’ night fell apart after Wills was sent to the sin bin for taking George Hendy out in the air, with Northampton going on to score three tries in six minutes.
James Ramm, a blood replacement for Furbank, set up the first two, his long pass giving Sleightholme a walk-in before the winger’s kick ahead bounced kindly for the Australian allowing him to put Tom James in the clear.
That was the bonus point in the bag for the Saints after 24 minutes and try number five followed when Tom Roebuck missed Smith’s kick to the left wing to gift Sleightholme his second of the match.
There was still time for one more score for the hosts before half-time as Hendy intercepted Waisea Nayacalevu’s pass to run in unopposed, taking the score to 40-10 at the break.
Sale had the first try of the second half as the forwards worked the visitors to under the Northampton posts before Du Preez’s pass gave Carpenter an easy finish.
Superb defence by Henry Pollock to hold up Gus Warr then prevented the Sharks scrum-half from pulling back another score before Roebuck denied Sleightholme a hat-trick at the other end by tackling him into touch.
Any question of a Sale comeback was silenced in the 61st minute when yet more loose play from the visitors led to Ramm, now on permanently, gliding through a gap to go clear for Northampton’s seventh try of a successful night.
Northampton Saints v Sale Sharks
Northampton Saints: 15 George Furbank (c), 14 George Hendy, 13 Tommy Freeman, 12 Rory Hutchinson, 11 Ollie Sleightholme, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Tom James, 8 Henry Pollock, 7 Tom Pearson, 6 Angus Scott-Young, 5 Chunya Munga, 4 Gavin Thornbury, 3 Trevor Davison, 2 Robbie Smith, 1 Emmanuel Iyogun
Replacements: 16 Curtis Langdon, 17 Tarek Haffar, 18 Elliot Millar Mills, 19 Callum Hunter-Hill, 20 Josh Kemeny, 21 Archie McParland, 22 Tom Litchfield, 23 James Ramm
Sale Sharks: 15 Joe Carpenter, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Waisea Nayacalevu, 12 Sam Bedlow, 11 Alex Wills, 10 Rob du Preez, 9 Gus Warr, 8 Dan du Preez, 7 Ben Curry (c), 6 Tom Curry, 5 Hyron Andrews, 4 Ernst van Rhyn, 3 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Si McIntyre
Replacements: 16 Harry Thompson, 17 Tumy Onasanya, 18 James Harper, 19 Ben Bamber, 20 Sam Dugdale, 21 Nye Thomas, 22 Tom Curtis, 23 Luke James
