Northampton Saints duo enhance England prospects in stunning demolition of Bayonne
Tommy Freeman celebrates scoring Saints' first try against Bayonne in 2024.
Northampton Saints produced an exceptional display to confirm their place in the Champions Cup round-of-16 with a stunning 61-14 triumph over Bayonne.
Leading the charge were Tommy Freeman and Tom Pearson, who were superb in the victory and very much put themselves in Six Nations contention.
Freeman surely confirmed his place in the England squad, which is named next week, after opening the scoring and consistently causing problems for the visiting defence.
Pearson may find it more difficult, given the depth the Red Rose have at openside, but his hat-trick, combined with the physicality and work rate he brought, was hugely impressive.
His back-row team-mate, Courtney Lawes, also shone and deservedly touched down, and he was joined on the scoresheet by Curtis Langdon, Alex Waller (twice) and Tom James to complete a Champions Cup rout.
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The Saints have been outstanding over recent weeks and set the tone early on when Freeman latched on to Rory Hutchinson’s kick to touch down.
It was a dreadful start for Bayonne, and they reacted terribly to that setback, conceding twice more before the third quarter had ended.
Both were scored by international prospect Pearson. The first was from close range after a lineout error from the Frenchmen, but the second came at the end of a sweeping move.
Bayonne had no answer to the hosts and were incredibly lacklustre, with Northampton scything through their defence at will.
It wasn’t long before the hosts were over again when centre duo Hutchinson and Fraser Dingwall combined, resulting in Alex Mitchell feeding Lawes to touch down.
The horror show continued for the visitors, and Phil Dowson’s men crossed the whitewash twice more in the first half as Langdon and Waller scored from close range for a staggering 42-0 advantage at the break.
Two quick-fire efforts at the start of the second period from Pearson, which completed his hat-trick, and Waller suggested that the Saints could rack up 80 points on Friday.
👏 Tom Pearson rounds off his hat-trick!#InvestecChampionsCuppic.twitter.com/qKa2vmpYxk
— Planet Rugby (@PlanetRugby) January 12, 2024
However, Bayonne did finally stem the bleeding with the hosts only scoring once more when another free-flowing attack ended in James touching down.
The French side also managed to get across the line twice themselves through Tom Spring and Aurelien Callandret, but it was an embarrassing evening for the away team.
Benetton hammer Newcastle as Ospreys progress
Meanwhile, in the Challenge Cup, Ospreys full-back Iestyn Hopkins’ two tries helped his side to a 25-3 win over Perpignan to book a place in the last 16.
Newcastle Falcons’ 57-18 defeat at home to Benetton not only saw them exit the competition but ensured Ospreys’ progress.
Wing Keelan Giles also scored for Ospreys, with fly-half Dan Edwards kicking 10 points for the Welsh club, who lost Wales hooker Dewi Lake to injury just five minutes in.
Newcastle’s Argentina prop Eduardo Bello crossed for the hosts in the first half as the Falcons, looking to end a 13-match losing streak in all competitions, took an early 10-0 lead against Benetton.
However, the Italian side hit back to establish a 22-13 advantage at half-time thanks to tries from Tomas Albornoz, Onisi Ratave and Tommaso Menoncello.
Murray McCallum added another score for Newcastle after the break, but Benetton, who moved top of Pool 2, ran in further tries from Ratave, Ignacio Mendy, Menoncello, Alessandro Izekor and Jacob Umaga to secure a convincing win.