Saints thrash Newcastle to end losing run

Gallagher Premiership

Northampton (40) 61

Tries: Coles, Davison 2, Mitchell, Kemeny, Freeman, Pearson 2, Hutchinson Cons: Smith 6, Hutchinson 2

Newcastle (0) 0

Northampton Saints ended a run of three straight Premiership defeats as they hammered Newcastle Falcons 61-0 at the Cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens.

Falcons were all at sea as Trevor Davison's brace and tries from Alex Coles and Alex Mitchell secured the try bonus point in just 15 minutes.

Josh Kemeny and Tommy Freeman pushed the lead out to 40-0 at half-time as Newcastle's hopes of ending a 26-month winless away run were sunk without trace.

Tom Pearson added two quick tries after the break before Rory Hutchinson's last-gasp score heaped more misery on the scoreless visitors.

A year which had brought a first Premiership title in 10 seasons had threatened to fizzle out as Saints kicked off third from bottom, just a place above their visitors.

But superb form on home soil, combined with the Falcons' hapless record on the road, allowed Phil Dowson's men to cap 2024 with a fourth league win of the season.

Newcastle had won two of their previous four league outings, but were dealt a blow by three late withdrawals before kick-off - losing hooker Jamie Blamire and Kieran Wilkinson to illness, and full-back Ben Redshaw to a shoulder problem.

And the defending champions hit their stride early, with George Hendy's line break teeing up Coles to cross, before Saints prop Davison powered over from close range for his second Saints try.

Davison crashed through a soft-centred Falcons defence for an unlikely brace against his former side, and Mitchell capitalised on more sleepy defending from a 5m tap penalty to secure a super-swift bonus point.

It looked all too easy when Freeman's break gave Kemeny an unopposed run to the line.

And even a yellow card for the impressive fly-half Fin Smith - perfect off the tee with 12 points - failed to derail Northampton's adventure as Freeman stretched out to add a sixth score while the hosts were down to 14 men.

Saints took the chance to rest England scrum-half Mitchell for the second half, among three changes at the interval, but it did not disrupt them.

Pearson added two close-range scores in four minutes, the first teed up by a barging run from Samoan replacement Iakopo Mapu.

The visitors huffed and puffed in attack in an attempt to avoid a first shutout of the campaign, but the Premiership's lowest points scorers lacked the spark to pick a way through a determined defence before Hutchinson pounced on a loose ball to scorch away.

While answering a few critics over their stuttering title defence, Northampton will face a much sterner task when they host Premiership leaders Bath in eight days' time, while Newcastle host Harlequins on Friday.

Northampton Saints director of rugby Phil Dowson told BBC Radio Northampton:

"We've got so much quality and so much capability in the group which you can see in performances like today. Start to finish we were very good.

"I know the fans are disappointed from last week (a 39-24 defeat by Saracens), and the coaching group, but the players most of all, they're out there and don't want to be in that position.

"The best opportunity to rectify that was today and I thought you saw how engaged the group were and how desperate they are.

"We've got to be careful we don't see false dawns every other week. We need to make sure our performance levels continue to rise, and keep pushing and that we understand the symptoms of success."

Newcastle Falcons director of rugby Steve Diamond told BBC Radio Newcastle:

"We were lucky to get nil. Let's be honest, we were beaten in every area.

"You can forget the long travel, it did take us nine hours which is ridiculous, and we did have three or four cry-offs, but it just shows the difference between those that have and those who have not at the moment.

"Our squad isn't able to cope week on week playing the bigger squads like this and Bath last week.

"The lads try. We need some better quality players, we need a larger squad to compete in the Premiership than we have at the moment."

Northampton: Hendy; Freeman, Litchfield, Dingwall (c), Sleightholme; Smith, Mitchell; West, Walker, Davison, Munga, Coles, Kemeny, Pearson, Pollock.

Replacements: Langdon, Haffar, Green, Mayanavanua, Scott-Young, Mapu, McParland, Hutchinson.

Sin-bin: Smith (31).

Newcastle: Brown; Radwan, Hearle, Doherty, Stevenson; Connon, Stuart; McCallum, Fletcher, Palframan, De Chaves, McDonald, Lockwood, Gordon, Chick (c).

Replacements: Byrne, Rewcastle, Hancock, Hawkins, Van der Walt, O'Sullivan, Metcalf, Spencer.

Referee: Luke Pearce.